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The eagerness with which obscure European microphones were welcomed by Western recordists says much about both parties. Dave Foister discovers the party is not yet over
After all this time you would have thought there would be no more surprises left in terms of unknown microphone manufacturers emerging from obscurity of Europe. We have seen so many, challenging the status quo for sheer value for money and shaking up the market in the process, but surely there can not be any more. Yet Mikrofonbau Haun, or MBHO, is little known, despite having been in the business for many years, and despite having manufactured capsules for other companies. MBHO has supplied capsules to the highly acclaimed Brauner, as well as for certain Audix models. In fact MBHO's own microphones are not entirely new to us; in the UK, Canford Audio stocked several models some years ago, originally appearing to see some of them as comparable to the extinct and much-lamented Calrec range. The full catalogue from MBHO is unusually comprehensive, including a measurement microphone, a boundary layer design, and a stereo array based on the Jecklin Disc (which MBHO also markets). More conventional studio models include both large and small diaphragms, and feature heavily the idea of a modular kit with interchangeable capsules in the manner of the AKG 460 and the Neumann KM100 range. A wide-ranging and well-specified set of heads can be used with a choice of preamp bodies, of which the most sophisticated is the MBC 603.
Outwardly the 603 is a very simple affair, a straightforward black stick with the capsule attachment at one end and the output XLR at the other. The MBHO logo and model number are engraved with unusual precision and clarity for microphones of this type, and these are the only marks breaking up an otherwise featureless black cylinder. There is no high-pass filter and no pad - all the usual adjustments are carried out by the selection of what is attached on the front.
Electronically the 603 is more advanced than the other MB bodies in that it uses a transformerless output stage, intended to give reduced coloration and better capabilities for driving long cables. Besides this it will operate on phantom-power sources as low as...