to the signal. It can contribute much to the signal character, or it can degrade it
as well. Cheaply made transformers degrade the signal a bunch, but good
transformers are costly. This is the main reason studio product designers have
moved away from using transformers in general and moved toward the MUCH
cheaper “active” differential input stages made with FET or, worse, op amps
for both output sections of microphones and input stages of preamps or mixers.
However, in the golden years of recording, there were excellent quality
transformers placed in both the output stages of all ribbon mics, as well as the
input stages of the mixers... life was good, and nicely balanced too!
Today, however, due the the high cost of quality transformers and the very low
cost of solid state devices to make active input and output circuitry (and with
product catalogs spinning this as some kind of positive verbage like
“transformer-less inputs!”), high quality transformers at either end that can do
the math BUT not degrade the signal are a rare luxury. But luxurious sounding
they are! Adding a high-quality transformer to your mic or SSL console can
cost you hundreds of dollars each, yet still many engineers swear by
transformers over cheaper and common active input stages. But they also
have the added advantage of total electrical isolation, which is not possible
with active circuitry. Certainly a cheap transformer can add unpleasant
distortion and frequency loss and/or shift, so we don’t recommend that. But
it’s interesting that many customers of lower cost Chinese ribbon mics are now
retrofitting them a higher quality Western-made output transformer made in
Europe or here in the States that easily cost twice what they spent on the mic!
There is a noticeable improvement of course, as less degrading of the signal
path occurs. While it’s safe to say that the lower cost Chinese components in
general just do not measure up to the Western-made product, it’s also a fact
today that any highly labor intensive hand assembled product MUST be made
offshore if the target is to keep the price within reach of the common man’s
studio. That’s why we make mics in the same GT captive mic factory where we
have made our condenser mics for nearly 15 years, and use the similar formula
of importing the higher quality Western-made critical signal path elements like
capsule elements, tubes and transformers.
So the “GT Rule” with transformers is to go big
and
stay home! We went big,
and we looked no further than the 118 freeway to find our favorite
microphone transformer builder, Cinemag. This company has been a GT
partner/vendor for many years. Cinemag designed and produces our custom
multi-stage variable input transformer at the heart of the ViPRE mic preamp,
which sounds incredible! The Cinemag company is co-owned and operated by
Tom Reichenbach in Chatsworth, California. Making transformers is a lost art
today, but it’s a family tradition for the Reichenbachs; Tom learned from
GROOVE TUBES
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