Tape Op #100 Review

Welcome, Tape Op readers!

We are excited to have our "990B PCB Kit" and capsules reviewed in issue #100 of the greatest pro audio magazine in the world. If you want to jump immediately to the products described in the review, click here for info on the RK-47 capsule and 990B PCB kit.

If you haven't read the review, here are some of our favorite parts:

The results surprised and amazed me. On playback of the first takes, I was stopped in my tracks, staring at the speakers. On listening to the lead vocal, my first unedited thoughts were, "I must have this," and "this sounds expensive."

[The mic was] not natural-sounding, but supernatural-sounding -- and freaking beautiful.

The self-noise of these mics is astonishingly low.

The build manual, which includes color photographs, is excellent and is probably the best DIY instruction set I've seen.

Distractions from the road to success

The middle part of the review is a bit painful to read; every fear, everything that might possibly go wrong with the mod, is explained in detail. This was an unusual response. The vast majority of emailed reviews we get from customers are filled with glowing praise. (See a few samples on our Testimonials page.)

In the end, despite the dozen potential disasters that never actually occurred, the reviewer's mic worked perfectly. That is, of course, the commonest outcome. It is telling that the reviewer has since purchased a matched pair RK-47 capsules, and a pair of 990B PCB kits too.

Don't own an MXL 990? We have you covered.

If you don't have an MXL 990 to mod, we would direct you to our MP-V57 PCB kit. It contains all the same sonic magic of the 990B PCB kit, but in a form factor that fits more than a dozen common "donor" microphones -- the MCA SP-1 ($49), the MXL 2006, the MXL V63M, the MXL 550, the MXL V250, the MXL 910, the CAD GXL2200, the Gauge ECM-87, etc.

See also the RA-23 Microphone Kit, which includes the aforementioned PCB set plus a beautiful black and silver microphone body to install the circuit board into.

Not ready for DIY? We have you covered.

We have a limited supply of pre-modified microphones available for sale. They're built and tested in the US, and include a warranty. Click for more info on pre-built, pre-modified microphones.