Mojave Audio MA-100 Small Diaphragm Tube Condenser Mic

In 1985, David Royer (Royer Labs) started producing hi-quality condenser microphones on a small scale from his garage in Fullerton, CA.  Today these mics are highly sought after by engineers and producers for their precision, character and design.  After reading some back story about David, I decided to buy a Mojave MA-201fet when I was in the market for a general "all-purpose" mic and found that it gave a great sonic representation of just about anything.  It has since become my "go-to" mic for recording!  When it came time to record drums recently for my band The Sour Notes, I thought I'd give a pair of MA-100s a try as overheads.  These small diaphragm tube condensers feature two interchangeable, 3-micron capsules, Jensen transformer and a military-grade JAN 5840 vacuum tube.  I ran them through a slightly overdriven UA 4-710d preamp, which gave me a crisp, bright response that sat great in the mix!  I set them up about 3-feet above the hi-hat and floor tom and used a Beta-52 on the kick, 2-57s on the top & bottom snare and an Octava MK-319 5-feet in front of the kit.  Check out the final mix below by Danny Reisch and mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.

Song: Mannequin (Wire cover) on BandCamp

Video: Recording drums with Mojave MA-100s and Jordan Johns


by Jared Boulanger (singer/guitarist at The Sour Notes)

X-Mas wasn't too chilly with the Mojave Audio MA-300...

Over the holiday weekend I took a test-drive with the MA-300 large-diaphragm condenser microphone from Mojave Audio. Initially, I was skeptical about it. I had never heard of ‘Mojave Audio’ as a brand until recently, and I had assumed that it was a semi-affordable condenser to compete with AKG or Audio-Technica. I quickly found out that there was a lot more to the company and the mic than I could have anticipated.

Mojave Audio is a relatively new company, created by ‘ribbon microphone’ legend David Royer. If you aren’t familiar, Royer reintroduced ribbon microphones to the world in the late 1990’s, and became an instant legend for doing so. Royer’s work has often been compared to the quality of leading German products, and his mics are regarded as a studio essential for achieving rich and warm tones.

The MA-300 is loaded with JAN military-grade vacuum tubes, a 15- DB pad, as well as a high-pass filter, and multiple patterns (which is the only difference between cardioid sibling MA-200). It’s multiple patterns are controllable from a converter box, which allow it to use cardioid, figure-8, and Omni patterns. This converter box sends it’s own phantom power, and it can handle phantom power added additionally, which is handy if you want to use it in large mic set-ups.

To start, I set it up to record some chimey acoustic guitar. It instantly sounded so gratifying. It focused on high-mids, and cancelled out any problem frequencies that often occur on recording acoustic guitars. Instantly upon play-back, the guitar sat out in the mix, with a warm tone and the exact frequency range I wanted to it to sit in. I was so impressed!  Perhaps it’s the JAN tubes in them, but this mic instantly sounds golden. Recently I tested the P-67, which I was also immensely impressed by (see Colin Laflin’s awesome P-67 review), but the MA-300 achieved the sound I was peronsally wanting to hear from Peluso’s replica.

Next I moved onto testing it on vocals, and yet again, it performed flawlessly. The vocals sat in the mix pre-EQ or compression almost exactly where they needed to be. It handled lows smoothly, and in the high mid-range (1kHz+) is where the mic added compression like warmth and voice. Something I didn’t get to try that most demos and reviews of the MA-300 praise is its ability as a drum room/overhead microphone. 

I highly recommend checking out this awesome product from Mojave Audio, and the best way to take the test drive I did on your own recording is to rent it from Rock N’ Roll Rentals!!! You can get it for a “Reservation Rate” (Tues/Wed/Thurs-Monday) for $29 or on a monthly rental for $64, which is a real steal for getting to know this and other recording microphones!

-William Glosup

MA-101fet Condenser Mics

The MA-101Fet from Mojave Audio is a small diaphragm, solid state condenser mic that comes with interchangeable omni and dynamic capsules. They were designed by David Royer, renowned for his Royer Ribbon mics.  I got to try out a pair of these one weekend to road test them. Now I have only a modest set up consisting of a Tascam 8ch. USB interface, a Dell, and a couple of run of the mill mics. I used the 101's on everything I did as I was writing a song but only with the dynamic capsules (my room is a perfect square). On electric guitar, I set one about three feet back from the grill and off axis from the cone. The mic delivered a smooth response that was very easy on the ears as it is designed for use in high SPL sources. Acoustic was no exception. One on the bridge and one on the octave gave me a nice accurate blend with good color. Surprisingly sweet low end. For kicks I used one for vocals as I was scratching out ideas and I did not want to put it down. It was amazing how smoothly the mic captured my otherwise kinda harsh vocal timbre. Smoked my NT-1 (unfair comparison). I did not get to use them on my drum kit though that would've been an ideal testing ground. That's where you come in, so come rent them. :)
reviewed by Rene