MXL V69ME Tube Replacement

ORIGINAL: kevinb511

I just replaced the stock MXL tube in my V69 with a Mullard 12AT7 and wow, what a difference. It sounded good to me before, full and warm but not as much silk as I like, but when I replaced the tube it was like night and day. Still warm and full but now has that silky high end. Unbelievable mic for under $300. I know a lot of folkes on these forums have this mic so I wanted to pass on the info incase anyone wanted to try it. It was very easy.

Where did you get the Mullard ?

Im doing the same thing. Bought a NOS Mullard 12AT7 from KCA for $22.

http://www.kcanostubes.com/

Zumba.

PS Heres a good discusssion on new tubes for the MXL69

http://www.chrismilne.com/uadforums/viewtopic.php?t=213&highlight=mxl+v69

ORIGINAL: no criminal intent


...PS Heres a good discusssion on new tubes for the MXL69...

http://www.chrismilne.com/uadforums/viewtopic.php?t=213&highlight=mxl+v69

That link isn't working...

I ordered Mullards (2) NOS 12AT7's from TubeDepot.com...$19.95 per tube (plus an optional Low Noise & Microphonics testing at an additional $4.00 per tube)...

Total cost: $47.90 + $3.95 FedEx shipping = $51.85

Ordered them Thursday, according to FedEx tracking link (provided by TubeDepot's email confirmation to me) they should be delivered Monday A.M.

Am looking forward to testing the mod (now just need to figure out exactly how to do it after inspecting the innards of the mic when I removed the shell casing...looks like a pretty delicate operation)...Any suggestions or explanations would be appreciated!

UPDATE:

Received my Mullard tubes today (Monday - 6/05)...

Switched out the tube on one V69-ME (and, let me tell you, getting the rubber gasket around the tube's pins back into place after the replacement isn't very easy--I will be calling MXL about that later this morning for some "tips")...

I switched on the P/S and gave the tube a few (3 to 4) minutes to warm up a bit...Then I potted the mic channel on my mixer up gradually and immediately noticed an audible difference in the S/N ratio (it was much lower!)...Then I sang a few lines into it...Yeah, I'm impressed...After about an hour of the P/S being powered on I'm even more impressed...The "breaths" I took between phrases (perhaps undesirable to some but not to me) added "life" to the tracks that I hadn't heard before...

If you're not mechanically inclined, I don't suggest trying this modification on your own...Pay a technician $25 (or whatever) to do it because it's well worth it...In fact, it was such a PIA doing the tube replacement on the first mic, I'm going to take my other mic to a tech...As far as I'm concerned, the tube replacement adds a few hundred $$ to the mic's value (as to sound quality) so I'll gladly pay a few bucks to a guy who is used to working with tight fits and has the patience to deal with them...

If you want to try to replacement on your own...HERE'S A LINK to instructions on how to do it...

Bottom line: If you have an MXL-V69ME, this tube replacement is a good thing! If you're using "questionable" monitors, soundcards and/or headphones you may not notice the difference, but it's there...

ORIGINAL: jerkyseed

Hi,

I'm trying to replace the tube in my v69 with a 12AT7 tube.... I'm running into a few problems. The 12AT7 is much larger than the tube that came with the mic. Also, the new tube has 9 pins rather than 7 like the original. If it's not too much trouble, do you think you could explain how to do this? All the links to how to do this time out. Is there a 7-pin "mini" version of the 12AT7? Do you force the larger tube into the smaller space? Please help!!!

TJ

Something is wrong, the 12AT7 should be a nine pin unless they just cut some of them off. I would hold off trying to replace the tube till you can find out what the deal is. Maybe contact MXL and find out what kind of tube they are using. Your mic must be different then the others.