AKG D190e - is this mic a secret?

[John Willett]

But what does he use on Concertinas?

Bagpipes - to start the fire.

[mellowsouls]

Hello chaps.

Opening up an old thread here, but I have the gooseneck variant of this (D590) but the foam around the capsule is long gone.

Can anyone with a serviceable D190 post some pictures of the capsule with the grill off please? I’m going to try to fashion my own replacement!

[Arpangel]

When I first got this mic, I hated it, I hated it then, and I hate it now.
I can’t think of one positive thing to say about it, it’s almost like the same companies devastation called the C1000, it’s awful, let’s not get romantic about either of them.
The D202 on the other hand, fantastic.

[Nazard]

My brother had a D190 from new, which he gave me a few years ago. He didn't use it much because he used to borrow one of my D202s instead! So it looked immaculate, (but didn't sound it).

However, the D190 is around somewhere and if I can find it and take the grill off, I shall post some photos.

[Tim Gillett]

Hello chaps.

Opening up an old thread here, but I have the gooseneck variant of this (D590) but the foam around the capsule is long gone.

Can anyone with a serviceable D190 post some pictures of the capsule with the grill off please? I’m going to try to fashion my own replacement!

Sorry I dont have a 190 to disassemble and photograph (although the foam may have also long since disintegrated) but probably the important thing will be sourcing some suitable thin foam sheet to fashion into a suitable shape around the transducer, possibly cutting out multiple v sections and gluing to make a roughly spherical shape. It's a fairly compact head so probably not much room inside for the foam. I remember making such replacement inner foam wind filters for some of my older mics. Of course a standard external windsock would be a quicker and easier way to reduce the wind blasts.

I havent used 190's since 1976 when I used two of them to record some flute and guitar.

[Sam Spoons]

The D190 had a sintered windshield, not sure if it even had foam inside (I did have one back in the day and definitely dismantled it but can't remember for sure, gut feeling is that it didn't though). It was not a great mic, definitely the budget end of the market despite the apparently 'revolutionary' windshield basket. AKG have made a few turkeys though, I have a C5900 and D3600 (reasonably priced electret capacitor and dynamic stage vocal mics respectively) both of which died years ago. They were actually pretty good sounding mics but the internal construction, particularly the capsule suspension in the C5900, was very badly designed and the electronics was not very robust either.

[Arpangel]

The D190 had a sintered windshield, not sure if it even had foam.

Don’t you just hate that word "sintered" ugh, anything "sintered" is to be avoided.

[shufflebeat]

"Sputtered!"

Should only be seen in crime novels.

I feel a new thread coming on.

[Arpangel]

"Sputtered!"

Should only be seen in crime novels.

I feel a new thread coming on.

"Crimped" is another one...ugh.
Anything that is sintered as well as being crimped and sputtered has to be the pits.

[Drew Stephenson]

"Security is not a dirty word Blackadder. Crevice on the other hand..."

[Arpangel]

"Security is not a dirty word Blackadder. Crevice on the other hand..."

I think this is one for the Musicians Lounge, or the Musicians "Lunge" as I like to call it.

[VTypeV4]

I love my D190e, great on brash sources such as snare and brass instruments.

[The Red Bladder]

AKG is a funny company in that it made a series of very ropey budget mics of which the 190 was one. The D1200 and the D202 (I have four of these) are magnificent on drums and brass and are definitely a 'secret weapon'.

Back in the 60s and 70s, there were loads of rubbish dynamic mics being sold by almost every company. Even Sennheiser put out some dogs onto the market right after the war. But between the dross, a few gems were to be found like the MD441, MD421, D222, D202, D1200.

[Arpangel]

AKG is a funny company in that it made a series of very ropey budget mics of which the 190 was one. The D1200 and the D202 (I have four of these) are magnificent on drums and brass and are definitely a 'secret weapon'.

Back in the 60s and 70s, there were loads of rubbish dynamic mics being sold by almost every company. Even Sennheiser put out some dogs onto the market right after the war. But between the dross, a few gems were to be found like the MD441, MD421, D222, D202, D1200.

The D202 is a great vocal/spoken word mic, mine has a huge hum on it for some reason, I must fix it.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I know the D190e was a budget mic in the grand scheme of things, and no where near the quality of the D202 and its ilk... but then neither was the price.

When I was at university I did a lot of work with the Students' Union rigging and operating PA systems for gigs and events.

I think we had six D190s, and, as I recall, they weren't terrible. I remember using them a lot on toms, and on sax and brass. I think I used them as kit overheads quite a lot too... (probably helped to counter the horrible piezo tweeters in the PA systems we used early on...)

The D190s were used alongside a lot of other typical mics of the day -- lots of Shure SM57s and 58s, and we used the original AKG D12s on kick drums. The memory is fading, but I think we also had some SM87s -- there were definitely some phantom-powered mics in the system, anyway -- and on 'special occasions' I borrowed two or four D202s from the student radio station...

I remember recording a couple of final year students in a flute/piano modern jazz duet concert using the D202s, and that recording became part of their degree submission!

[The Red Bladder]

The D202 is a great vocal/spoken word mic, mine has a huge hum on it for some reason, I must fix it.

If it has one of those mini-Tuchel plugs, then they often get wired up incorrectly as they were different from the Sennheiser wiring on the 441 and the 421.

I got two of mine off eBay for £75 the pair because the vendor thought they were defective - I took a punt on the cables being wired as per the Sennheisers and that is exactly what had happened. They still had the frequency response test-plots and the guarantee card with them - I wonder if I should send the cards in!

[MOF]

"Sputtered!"

Should only be seen in crime novels.

Well that rules out all gold sputtered membranes in condensor microphones then.

[MOF]

The memory is fading, but I think we also had some SM87s -- there were definitely some phantom-powered mics in the system

I think the SM87 was released in the last two or three decades Hugh, almost certainly not in our college days. I couldn’t easily find its history on the Shure website. The phantom powered microphones might have been from the AKG 451 family.

[mellowsouls]

FWIW, I don’t think it’s a great mic, I just don’t like throwing things away!

I do really rate the D130 as a drum overhead, though...

[Hugh Robjohns]

I think the SM87 was released in the last two or three decades Hugh

1983/84 apparently, so a little after my time at uni... so can't have been that, then! I'm going to have to trawl through the photo albums and see if I can spot what it was anywhere!

The phantom powered microphones might have been from the AKG 451 family.

We didn't have that kind of budget!

[The Red Bladder]

Another secret mic is the SM59. Silky top-end ideal for high-hat, but was originally designed to be a reporter's mic as it had the most remarkably low wind and handling noise. It's almost spooky, as one pats the mic to hear if it is on and gets nothing - but speak into it and you come booming across!

[Martin Walker]

Well it's very rare that I can help with mic-related questions, but it so happens that like Hugh I used a D190 in my student days, and still have it over 40 years later, so I've just opened it up and taken some photos.

No foam is involved!

Martin

[resistorman]

Another secret mic is the SM59. Silky top-end ideal for high-hat, but was originally designed to be a reporter's mic as it had the most remarkably low wind and handling noise. It's almost spooky, as one pats the mic to hear if it is on and gets nothing - but speak into it and you come booming across!

I used to use those with a portable JVC cassette deck. They really need a quiet high gain preamp, though, or a Cloudlifter. Gave mine to a friend starting a studio.

[MOF]

I think the SM87 was released in the last two or three decades Hugh

1983/84 apparently

That’s earlier than I thought.

so a little after my time at uni... so can't have been that, then! I'm going to have to trawl through the photo albums and see if I can spot what it was anywhere!

The phantom powered microphones might have been from the AKG 451 family.

We didn't have that kind of budget!

You were lucky, it was almost an unwritten rule that PA/stage systems only used Dynamics. Condensers were said to be too delicate.

[shufflebeat]

...and we used the original AKG D12s on kick drums.

I remember the first time I heard our drummer with a new (old) D12 in the kick and our new (old) folded 18"s.

We were a band.

"Sputtered!"

Should only be seen in crime novels.

Well that rules out all gold sputtered membranes in condensor microphones then.

It would be a niche crime novel certainly but I'd buy it.