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)

Tour without bringing your own gear!... sort of

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon in NYC...  The only problem was that I didn't find out my band The Sour Notes were officially selected until the previous week, meaning the band would have to jump on a plane last minute and travel across the country for a 'one off' show without our gear.  The venue we were playing did have a minimal backline, though not accommodating (speaker cabinets without 'heads')... so, since we couldn't make a tour out of it and drive our gear up there in the van, we had to come up with an alternative to 'checking in' our precious tube amps at the airport.  Luckily, Electro Harmonix has a nifty line of portable guitar amplification that fits in your carry-on bag called the 22-Caliber & the 44-Magnum, which my band-mate Chris and I both used instead of our amps.  We plugged them straight into 4-10 cabs at the venue and were amazed at how great they sounded.  The 22-Caliber & 44-Magnum power amps are easy to use, having just a volume knob and a bright/normal switch that gives you two tone options.  In my opinion, these little boxes of magic sound just as real as a guitar amplifier and can even 'break up' a little when dialed right.  So, if you're already a minimalist pack-er and want to travel even light-er, look into renting the EHX 22-Caliber & 44-Magnum power amp magic boxes from us at Rock N Roll Rentals!!!  They, like us...  are show-savers!!!

by Jared Paul Boulanger

"You got any a dem Nooomans?"

The answer is 'Yes', we have a wide variety of Neumann Microphones available for rent at our warehouse.  Neumann is an industry standard for high quality studio mics from Germany.  I recently took home a pair of Neumann TLM 102 cardioid mics to try them out while recording a string quartet on a song for my band The Sour Notes.  I set up the pair of TLM 102's in an X-Y configuration in the middle of the string quartet who were arranged in a 'half-moon' shape about 4 feet away.  I was immediately surprised how well the TLM 102's captured the sharpness of the violins without sounding too-bright, which many large diaphragm mics tend to do.  The mic's are a little 'hot' and on the mid-range-y side, but after some minor adjustments with seating the string quartet, like moving the cello furthest away, I was able to get a nice blend of high, mid and low end from them.  The mic's really made recording that day a breeze and with the right stereo panning you can get them to sit nicely in the mix with plenty of room to breathe.  I'd recommend these mics to anyone recording strings, acoustic guitar, hand-percussion, tamborines, etc...  To my ears, they seem to work well with the types of sounds you would want a little dark while retaining it's clarity.

-Reviewed by Jared Paul Boulanger