• Groove Tubes Gt66

I just came back from checking out the new Groove Tube GT66 tube mic. I took my C-1 along to compare the two side by side. was a lot hotter than the C-1 (I don't know if that's because its a tube mic, or not) - The 66 has a much bigger, warmer bottom to it - The C-1 seemed to be cleaner through the mids.

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Both mics seem about the same at the higher ends. The 66 look and felt well made and even with the pad switch moved over to 10db, the mic was still delivering a strong signal to the board. An issue I had was with its lower frequnecy on my voice, maybe it was too much on the bottom end.

Anyway, I asked to have an Rode NTK to A/B and the GT66 just was so much better sounding than the Rode. Both are offered at the same price.$500. However, I was little disturbed that the 66 had no manual in the box. Even on the web site there is no technical info on the mic. What's up with that!

Will I buy one? Maybe, I'm in the market for a tube mic, but I still haven't made up my mind on this unit! I must admit, the C-1, for the price is a very good mic.the GT66 could be a good addition too! Just some random thoughts about a new mic.

OK, so i picked up this mic awhile back, and it was one of those NIB, closeout kinda deals where it was cheap enough to where i figured: 'WTF, if i don't like it I can always sell it for the same - or if not, only lose maybe a few bucks on it'. Anyway, so i try it out on my own voice just for a test & I'm more or less not all that impressed, but it didn't totally suck either - so i stick it back in the box & never use it for perhaps a year, thinking at some point it might find a home on the right track somewhere. I have plenty of other mics, and the meanwhile since, I've never found the occasion to pull it out. Fast-forward to a session I'm working on right now, and I've recorded these guys before, and they're a nu-metal/industrial-metal-ish type band, and the singer alternates between actual singing & cookie monster vocals in most of their songs. The first time i worked with them, we used the Soundelux E251c on the singing parts, and a Mojave MA-200 on the cookie monster stuff. Worked out great that way, actually.

And it wasn't that i didn't want him to growl into one of my more expensive mics, it's just that the 251c didn't really come across as well as the Mojave did with those type of vocal tracks. These guys are all about doing whatever sounds best, so they're a pleasure to work with in that regard, and the singer had no problem with the idea or execution of doing different parts at different times into different mics.

This time, I thought I'd see about trying something different, letting the singer do a take all the way through on the same mic, just to see if it affected the vibe of the vocals in a positive way. So which mic to try? I already knew that the 251c, which complemented his voice on the singing parts, but not on the cookie monster stuff, wasn't going to be it. We had already tried several other mics on him before, and they didn't sound as good on him for the singing parts, but one mic we hadn't tried was the GT-66, because i didn't even yet have it the last time i worked with them. So I set it up & away we went on a test track. Everybody liked the way it came across, on both the singing AND 'other' parts, so apart from one song that has no cookie monster stuff on it, and that we used the E251c on exclusively, we've been using the GT-66 on everything on this project so far, and it's working out really well!

It's got a nice kind of contour to it, and it sits well in a mix, it handles the cookie monster vocals really well, without even needing to engage the pad, and transitions between regular singing and that kind of stuff just fine (i'm using a Distressor after the preamp, at either a 3/1 or 4/1 ratio, depending on the song, to manage the huge jump in levels between the different vocal parts; and i'm running the mic through a Neve Portico 5012 preamp, using the 'silk' setting). Only problem i'm noticing with this mic is that it seems to skew towards the sibilant side of things, so I'm having to hit it hard with a de-esser; but i honestly can't say if that's a function of the mic, or a function of the fact that this guy tends to overstress sibilants. For example, a vocal line that reads: 'I don't know what you're talking about' is sung as: 'I dzzzon't know whatsssssure tsssstalking abouth-h-h-h'. Heh Overall, though, it's working out great. Really kinda pleasantly surprised! So, anyway, anyone else using these mics?

Groove Tubes Gt66

Just thought i'd throw out some observations & see what anyone else thinks of 'em.