Cool.

Okay, understood. So the non-Xformer (i.e. the cable connector pin) green and black wires are then taken out of the ciruit, correct?

Just for future purposes, when removing the cathode follower, it looks like then the negative side secondary would then be grounded along with pin 7 and 8 of the tube?

Also, when doing this, are

1. The leads that go to pin 6, 7, and 8 disconnected from the tube and then grounded or

2. Are pins 6, 7, and 8 part of that ground?

Green and black are gone, yes.

Remove cathode follower is easy and nicely described by another forum member in an earlier post.

Remove Cathode:Pins 6,7,8 are removed from where ever they are wired to. Then they are tied/shorted to eachother, then they are sent to what ever convenient ground you can send them to.

Remove R8.

Connect C8 to where Pin 1 of the tube and R2 meet.

Hi Guys,

I've been reading about this mod on every forum I can find quite extensively and I finally got an Apex460 of my own.

Right off the bat I want to thank everyone who's contributed information here, because I'm one of those people who's pretty mechanical, but doesn't have a clue about how these circuits work without guidance.

I understand all the mods mentioned here, but there is something that Dave Thomas mentioned a couple times in another thread that hasn't been mentioned and unfortunately he didn't go into great detail about it. I'm hoping that someone here "in the know" (and I know there are many) could help me out.

Anyway, Dave mentions that he replaces the coupling capacitor (C8) with a larger mylar of 2.2usd (nothing new),but then he says that he "bypasses a larger value electrolytic with a faster .01ufd". In a later reply in the same thread he says, "I replace the 1ufd with a 2.2ufd and parallel it with a .01ufd". He says that this helps with transient response.

What capacitor is he talking about that parallels C8?

Could it be C6 or C7?

If anyone knows what he's talking about and can describe which cap to change to .01ufd I would greatly appreciate it.

Incidentally, I fired up the 460 and tried some mellow vocals out today and I gotta say, it does sound pretty nice. I changed the tube to an EH12AY7 and it did clean up, but I was surprised how well it sounded with the 12AX7, on MY voice. Can't wait to do the mods!!

Thanks,

Lucio

I do remember Dave mentioning that as well in one of the earlier posts in that original thread, I'm not sure either what he was referring to.

I can tell you that what inspired me to get into all this was the original mod he did to my 460. In that mod C8 was change to a 1.5uf mylar cap (since I don't use mylar, it sounded grainy next to other caps I was using). Then he removed C6, C7, C9 and C10. That's the basic mod. A new tube, 12AY7, he used an EH tube, it's ok but since I changed it to a NOS tube.

Beyond that is changing the capsule, transformer, removing cathode bias (cool sounding if you are looking for a more vintage thing) upgrading all other parts.

Good luck with your mod.

MPCNYC,

So Dave used a 1.5ufd in your mic. I wonder if this was before or after we wrote about using a 2.2ufd. I'm sure either will work.

I found out that paralleling the capacitors means that they both go into the same holes. I just don't know if it's necessary, seeing that no one seems to do it.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

Lucio

IMO you could play with different values. Depending on the transformers impedence different things will happen with regards to the low end. I've tried different values from .67uf to 1.8uf, all seem to be usable it just depends on what you are looking for.

I'm pretty sure that post that dave put up about the 2.2uf value was way before I got my mod from him.

Thanks for the info. So I guess even Dave has changed the way he does these mods. Good to know.

Something else if you can. I checked the capacitor/resistor values against the schematic and found some differences:

-C4 says 650v/102k instead of 1000p/630v.
-C3 says CBB22/630v/223k instead of 0.022uf/400v.
-C5 says CBB21/630v/223J instead of 0.022uf/400v.
-R6 says 51M instead of 200M.
-C7 says L52/104 instead of 0.1uf/63v.
-C9 and C10 says L62/104 instead of 0.1uf/63v. Can these be removed with stock trans?

Are these values alright or should I match the schematic?

Also, I noticed that resistors R5, R6 and R9 look like flat capacitors (tan/brown color), all others look like "regular" resistors. Is this right?

One more, is there one site that I can go to, to get the caps or maybe a popular store that I could go buy them? I'm searching on line, but they all look different. The Ansars look like electrolytics with a wire out each end. Is that what they look like?

Sorry for all the questions. I researched this quite a bit, but opening up the mic is quite different than reading about it.

I appreciate your help, thanks.

Lucio

That looks like what is stock in mine. What's written on the part is sometimes a part # which sort of may refer to the value in a veiled sort of way.

The flat resistors are planar resistors. There should be 2 51meg, one 1k meg and one 200meg, don't have the schematic in front of me at the moment but I believe R6 is 200meg, R9 is and R5 is 51meg (I replace them with a 50meg Ohmite Slim-Mox 102 style resistor) and R10 is 1k meg.

It may work ok removing C9/C10 with the stock transformer. A friend of mind did and it seems to be sounding great with no problems.

Another good thing that I've done is make up a few good cables, instead of the really long, not so good chinese one it comes with, I think I use gotham GAC-7 tube mic cable, about $1.60 per foot from Redco.

Depending what you are looking for you can get pretty much everthing at Digikey. I also order some more high endy sort of resistors and caps from parts connexion.

All the resistors are right except R6. It's a 51M and should be a 200M, so I need to change that at least. Will it do any damage with the 51M in there?

Thanks for the site recommendations. I found the Cinemag site and found the 2480 on there, but how do you order one from them?

I feel like an idiot trying to find this stuff.

Thanks again for your help.

Lucio

...I would order the Cinemag from Peluso, he buys in large quantities so it may save you about $10 or so. The different value can't "hurt" anything it may sound different, it's worth checking out.

Cool, Peluso it is, thanks.

I rechecked the circuit board and R6 is 200M, so all is good. I must've gotten crossed up while turning the mic around trying to trace everything.

Thanks for all your help.

Lucio

Hey guys,

I've tried about every modification described thus far.

The last thing was the cathode follower. I think something is up here. I get no mic signal when the p.s. is rolled over to omni. But as I slowly move towards cardiod I get signal again, but the funny thing is, it's on what used to be the backside of the mic, before I removed the cathode follower.

Any ideas what I did?

Okay,

Not sure what that was, but it's back to normal. I think I had a cold solder joint.

I resoldered tube pins 6,7, and 8, that connect to ground. Boy, this thing sounds really really good.

honkyjonk,

There's a step in removing the cathode follower that I just found out about that I don't think has been mentioned here.

You have to disconnect the heater to that side of the tube, which is tube pin 5. On my mic, pin 4 and 5 are connected and there is a yellow wire connected to 5. Disconnect the 2 pins and run the yellow wire to 4 only. This will prevent the right side of the tube from heating up unnecessarily.

Lucio

O.K. I'm starting to get paranoid here. First I couldn't figure out how to order off the Cimemag site and now the Peluso site looks the same.

How do I order the Cinemag 2480 transformer from the Peluso site?

I looked in the parts area and they have capsules, tubes and shockmounts, that's it.

Do I just email them about it?

I even did a google search. No one sells them.
I know ya'll are getting them somehow.

Thanks,

Lucio

You have to call or email either of them. Peluso has taken credit card over the phone from me in the past. John Peluso is a really nice guy and has been alway happy to answer any of my questions.

With Cinemag you email them with what you want and then they will send you a PayPal invoice.

Thanks man, I appreciate it alot.

I just found a couple sites that still have Black Gates but they only have 100uf 50v instead of 100uf 25v. I realize that the voltage indicates the maximum the cap can handle and I know that some dropped the voltage from 400v down to 250v for C8, but will it be a problem using 50v when C6 was originally 25v?

Craig even changed C1 and C2 from 1uf 400v to 100uf 25v, so I'm a little unclear as to how loose these values are.

Thanks,

Lucio

higher voltage should be fine. Just make sure the part will fit in the mic.

About C1 and C2, I must have missed a "0" there. Should be 250V. I'll go back and edit my post.