Manley_Reference_Cardioid_Tube

Manley Reference Cardioid Microphone
Features And Specifications | Retail Price | Reviews | User Raves | See it bigger!

The Reference Cardioid Microphone shares the same electronic attributes as the Gold Reference Series, but has a center-fixed cardioid-only capsule with a thicker gauge (6 micron) gold sputtered diaphragm. With the similar film thickness and construction, similar high frequency resonance (a little edge), similar proximity effect and pretty good immunity from pops and sibilance problems, our Reference Cardioid more closely recalls how many of the vintage European tube mics such as the beloved U47 sounded like when they were new. Its rich tonal balance and liquid character is consistently admired for instruments such as guitars, drum overheads, saxophone, and especially vocals. With your present mic, if you find yourself leaning on your compressors and boosting 5 or 10K to score a bit more testosterone, then the Reference Cardioid just might be the mic you’re looking for to cure what ails ya. If you seem to be constantly boosting 12-18K and trying to get a clean, intimate sound, then probably the Reference Gold would be the safest bet.

If you want to sound like God, then use the mic Don LaFontaine uses! The Manley Reference Cardioid mic. And have a voice like his too. Don just redid his studio. Here's an article from Mix Magazine.

March 2006:
The Manley Reference Cardioid Mic made Etta James's new album cover! She sang all her vocals through this very mic.

You can buy her new record on Amazon.

It was recorded summer 2005. Here are some pix from the session.

We love you Etta!

Check out the Manley Reference Cardioid mic being used by Adrian Uribe for Spanish language overdub voice over work in the new Garfield 2 movie.

"In A World..." The Manley Reference Cardioid Mic is used by famous VO folks like Randy Thomas and Don LaFontaine. We are proud to be part of The Voice of God!

HOW TO CONVERT
If you need to make a conversion, print out those pages and then request the schematic from
Paul in our Tech Support department here. Or if you want to stick with the 6072 tube, you can try to find some on the open market. We have none in stock anymore.

Photo by Janne Ketola

Trouble shooting hints:

How to change the O-RINGS:

The mic suspension is held onto the mic by a set of red silicone o-rings connecting FIVE pillars surrounding the mic, one set on the top and the other on the bottom of the mic. There are two sets of stainless steel screws and spacer nuts that hold the silicone o-rings onto these points and all you do is loop the o-rings onto these posts inner and outer. We double up the o-rings for extra security. So put two of 'em on each point. As shown in the pictures.

If you needs to order more o-rings, please fill out our PARTS ORDER FORM and request 20pcs Part Number ORING02 which is RED SILICONE O-RING #114 and we'll sell those to you for $10.00 retail plus shipping.

How to change a TUBE:

Disconnect the power cable at the mic. Do not remove the mic suspension. You never need to.

Remove the three phillips screws at the base (red part) of the mic that hold the case on.

Grasp the body of the mic with one hand, grasp the base with the other hand.

Carefully pull at the base of the mic (sometimes a slight twist will help), and slide the base out of the body
just enough to expose the tube

Grasp the tube while holding the tube socket, and wiggle and pull to remove it. Install a new tube and put the case back on.

BUZZ! My mic started buzzing! Those damn bees...

First thing I would check is that all the case/chassis screws are in nice and tight
and making good ground to exposed metal.
Remove the 3 x silver phillips screws that hold the cover/case onto the
mic. You can slide the body of the mic up a little bit to check the holes on the base.
Slide up and wiggle. (The base and guts of the mic are all contained by a sub-chassis.)
Make sure there is silver metal on the case housing in the
countersink and also under them on the base piece. Use a 1/4" drill bit in
your hand and turn and press the drill bit a few times to make sure you have
exposed silver metal showing in those places. Put the screws back and test.

Next: There are some little set screws
around the circumference of the base piece hiding in their holes. Using
1/16th allen key, back them out and run them back in. These are the guys who
hold the XLR connector in place. We use stainless steel ones these days.
Try those and re-test.

If the buzz is still there, with the mic on, see if touching the screen or
top of the screen makes any buzz go away. Hold the XLR cable shell so you are
making the ground path. If the screen is loose, it will need to be expoxied
back in place with silver conductive epoxy. If touching the case makes the
buzz go away then we still have grounds not being made so repeat steps 1 & 2.

Next would be to replace the tube with any good working 12AX7 or 6072 you
have kicking around to see if it is the problem.

Next would be more advanced, checking the power supply volts, especially the
heater regulator to make sure you have 12V coming off him...
looking for a bad cap in the PSU that isn't doing his job of removing ripple, etc.
If nothing you try works then we'll arrange an RA# for you to send it in.
You can fill in the service form here to get that going or to request a schematic.

You can even use the Manley Reference Cardioid to mic up champagne!

Photo courtesy of Douglas Henderson.