Ventura
Been here for ages!
maybe a quick primer is in order
Micophone technology has advanced a huge amount since the early days of
am[plified Accordion
so the first thing to realise, if you want to amplify an older accordion well,
to a professional, useful level of quality, remove and replace the old Mics
with a modern system
if you just want to amp it occasionally for fun, it is possible to re-furb
the older style factory Mics by replacing ALL the Wiring with new shielded cable.
you may find 3 types of Mic elements in an old accordion, none of these
older elements require a Bias voltage or phantom power. The oldest is
a Carbon element Mic, next is (Salt) Crystal elements, and the more modern
is the Moving Coil/Magnetic/DYNAMIC mic element
carbon and crystal Mics excite the base material through a diaphram which creates a signal
widely used, crystal elements have very poor low frequency response, and wild high
freqency harmonics and peaks which contribute to runaway Feedback, and are
very difficult to EQ or otherwise control to an actual useful volume level. additionally,
Moisture and heat evaporate some crystals, while others have simply desintegrated
from shock vibration while traveling in the case. Peeling back the aluminum
body of a Cryatal Mic often reveals the positive and negative leads connected to air.
Dynamic elements can be identified as the round Magnet assembly is often visible
from the back.. like a tiny speaker, it just works in reverse with the moving coil
being energized by the permanent magnet and the motion generates the audio signal..
these are also noticeably heavier and a bit larger than crystal elements
Some dynamic elements found in accordions were very high quality and well made,
unfortunately they were often held in place with cork or early foam or compressed thick felts,
which have hardened with age
this is a problem because Mic elements need to be shielded from physical vibrations,
as they pick up those vibrations and amplify THEM too.. so the "signal to noise" ratio suffers.
think of a Mic stand that has lost it's rubber feet ages ago, sitting on a hollow raised
wooden Stage, and how every time someone takes a step you can hear it over the PA system.
older Mic systems in accordion were mostly simple wiring designs, with tone controls that
merely sink the higher frequencies to ground through a potentiometer, and no attempt
at equalizing the output from multiple elements side by side
(they just hoped they were relatively all more or less equal)
many older Mic systems summed the bass and treble mic's for a monophonic output
in pretty much ALL cases, 50 year old internal wiring has become brittle, everything
is cracked and desintigrating and usually leaves exposed copper wire which shorts out..
in many cases the flexing wire inside the bellows connecting the bass chamber to the
controls on the treble grill have simply broken. (copper wire has a finite stretch/flex point)
even simpler Mic systems just stick the Bass mic inside the bellows, with a monophonic output,
some combine a bellows belly mic with other mics under the grill, but these are out of
phase and work poorly
if your old accordion has decent quality Mic Dynamic elements, you can re-mount them
and re-wire them and shine up the connecting jacks and spray the volume controls with contact cleaner
modern Mic systems use Powered (Electret) mic elements. even the cheapest of these has a
better response pattern (typically flat 20 - 20,000 Hertz) than old accordion Mics.
The biggest difference in modern elements used in Accordion systems is the higher quality
electrets like the Sennheiser and Panasonic are highly directional, and so resistant to feedback,
as well as being crafted to accept higher sound pressure waves without distorting.
regarding directional, consider the little clip on Mic you see used on TV interviews,
and that come with most simple wireless kits.. or the type hidden in your phone or computer..
these OMNIDIRECTIONAL elements pick up from all directions fairly well and are decent for
recording and ZOOM meetings
but onstage, the guitarist and drummer have their own amps and mics, they don't need
(or want) the little cheapie mic you clipped on to your bellows strap to amp them up too.
so your mics are better off INSIDE the grill and accordion body, where they are somewhat
shielded from stage noise, and if they are higher quality feed-back resistant CARDIOD pattern
elements that is the best
not all modern systems offered for Accordion installation are equal.. one brand name
sets their elements into machined aluminum slugs that are often glued into place
under the grille.. very susceptible to vibration..
Kits are available for the do-it-yourselfers, and most quality accordion shops
will offer one or two models with installation.. if you are handy with a soldering iron
and can read a schematic, it is not that difficult to build your own if you can
source a few decent Electret elements from a parts supply house. Simple
op-amp circuits are freely available on the web for audio use with low-battery drain.
there are many other discussions on Mic systems available on the web and this forum
Micophone technology has advanced a huge amount since the early days of
am[plified Accordion
so the first thing to realise, if you want to amplify an older accordion well,
to a professional, useful level of quality, remove and replace the old Mics
with a modern system
if you just want to amp it occasionally for fun, it is possible to re-furb
the older style factory Mics by replacing ALL the Wiring with new shielded cable.
you may find 3 types of Mic elements in an old accordion, none of these
older elements require a Bias voltage or phantom power. The oldest is
a Carbon element Mic, next is (Salt) Crystal elements, and the more modern
is the Moving Coil/Magnetic/DYNAMIC mic element
carbon and crystal Mics excite the base material through a diaphram which creates a signal
widely used, crystal elements have very poor low frequency response, and wild high
freqency harmonics and peaks which contribute to runaway Feedback, and are
very difficult to EQ or otherwise control to an actual useful volume level. additionally,
Moisture and heat evaporate some crystals, while others have simply desintegrated
from shock vibration while traveling in the case. Peeling back the aluminum
body of a Cryatal Mic often reveals the positive and negative leads connected to air.
Dynamic elements can be identified as the round Magnet assembly is often visible
from the back.. like a tiny speaker, it just works in reverse with the moving coil
being energized by the permanent magnet and the motion generates the audio signal..
these are also noticeably heavier and a bit larger than crystal elements
Some dynamic elements found in accordions were very high quality and well made,
unfortunately they were often held in place with cork or early foam or compressed thick felts,
which have hardened with age
this is a problem because Mic elements need to be shielded from physical vibrations,
as they pick up those vibrations and amplify THEM too.. so the "signal to noise" ratio suffers.
think of a Mic stand that has lost it's rubber feet ages ago, sitting on a hollow raised
wooden Stage, and how every time someone takes a step you can hear it over the PA system.
older Mic systems in accordion were mostly simple wiring designs, with tone controls that
merely sink the higher frequencies to ground through a potentiometer, and no attempt
at equalizing the output from multiple elements side by side
(they just hoped they were relatively all more or less equal)
many older Mic systems summed the bass and treble mic's for a monophonic output
in pretty much ALL cases, 50 year old internal wiring has become brittle, everything
is cracked and desintigrating and usually leaves exposed copper wire which shorts out..
in many cases the flexing wire inside the bellows connecting the bass chamber to the
controls on the treble grill have simply broken. (copper wire has a finite stretch/flex point)
even simpler Mic systems just stick the Bass mic inside the bellows, with a monophonic output,
some combine a bellows belly mic with other mics under the grill, but these are out of
phase and work poorly
if your old accordion has decent quality Mic Dynamic elements, you can re-mount them
and re-wire them and shine up the connecting jacks and spray the volume controls with contact cleaner
modern Mic systems use Powered (Electret) mic elements. even the cheapest of these has a
better response pattern (typically flat 20 - 20,000 Hertz) than old accordion Mics.
The biggest difference in modern elements used in Accordion systems is the higher quality
electrets like the Sennheiser and Panasonic are highly directional, and so resistant to feedback,
as well as being crafted to accept higher sound pressure waves without distorting.
regarding directional, consider the little clip on Mic you see used on TV interviews,
and that come with most simple wireless kits.. or the type hidden in your phone or computer..
these OMNIDIRECTIONAL elements pick up from all directions fairly well and are decent for
recording and ZOOM meetings
but onstage, the guitarist and drummer have their own amps and mics, they don't need
(or want) the little cheapie mic you clipped on to your bellows strap to amp them up too.
so your mics are better off INSIDE the grill and accordion body, where they are somewhat
shielded from stage noise, and if they are higher quality feed-back resistant CARDIOD pattern
elements that is the best
not all modern systems offered for Accordion installation are equal.. one brand name
sets their elements into machined aluminum slugs that are often glued into place
under the grille.. very susceptible to vibration..
Kits are available for the do-it-yourselfers, and most quality accordion shops
will offer one or two models with installation.. if you are handy with a soldering iron
and can read a schematic, it is not that difficult to build your own if you can
source a few decent Electret elements from a parts supply house. Simple
op-amp circuits are freely available on the web for audio use with low-battery drain.
there are many other discussions on Mic systems available on the web and this forum
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