Discontinued Products

SMT Mini-Mod Kit

SMT Mini-Mod Kit

In 2013, when the first surface-mount MXL microphones began to appear, we created a "mini mod" targeting the few through-hole components on the board. It was a clever upgrade, in that it delivered a remarkable sonic upgrade considering its impulse-buy price.

We discontinued the kit because MXL developed a second surface-mount design that, essentially, could not be modified -- every component you'd want to change was a tiny surface-mount part.

By that time we had developed the MP-V57 PCB kit, which fits all the mics that the SMT Mini-Mod did, offering a far superior audio product.


Jim Williams Advanced Mod

Jim Williams / Advanced Mod Kit

The first version of our acclaimed transformerless circuit kit was sold as a bag of parts to be installed onto the MXL-branded circuit boards. Although commercially successful, this product had several shortcomings:

  1. It left the DC circuit largely untouched, which left some performance on the table.
  2. It required desoldering many components from the cheap imported PCBs, leading to lifted pads and broken traces that are difficult to repair.

We revised and improved this circuit, and created our own custom circuit boards -- which allowed us to reduce the number of interconnect wires needed, and to provide space for higher-quality capacitors, and to incorporate a dual-purpose switch (pad or pattern). The PCBs are now in their 3rd generation; the circuit kit delivers an astounding sonic upgrade from the stock microphone.

See the "new and improved" Advanced Mod: the MP-V57 PCB kit.


Basic Circuit Mod for MXL

MXL "Basic" mod / MXL "Capacitor Swap Plus" Mod

Our first line of circuit mod kits included a "Basic Mod" option, later rebranded the "Capacitor Swap" mod. It contained new signal caps, bypass caps, and instructions for rewiring the high-impedance circuit to get rid of the worst-sounding capacitor in the microphone. It packed a lot of upgrade into a relatively simple mod, and was friendly to novices because of the low parts count.

But this product was not compatible with surface-mount microphones, so we dropped it from the product line.


MP 03-XF

MP 03-XF Microphone

For a brief period, we sold unbranded 3-pattern FET condenser microphones, under the terrible name "MP 03 XF." This mic was essentially identical to the Golden Age FC3, and similar to the CAD GXL3000. The circuit was a 2-stage emitter follower JFET design, with a 2:1 output transformer.