Nov. 16, 2023

The Green Bullet interview

Michael Pettersen And James Waldron join me on episode 98. In this episode we talk about the iconic Green Bullet microphone, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024. Michael is the Director of Corporate History at Shure microphones , and he tells us about the early design of the mic, what it was used for and about how it took years before Shure became aware that it was such an important mic for harmonica players. James runs SimpleMics.com, where he rebuilds vintage harmo...

Michael Pettersen And James Waldron join me on episode 98.
In this episode we talk about the iconic Green Bullet microphone, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024.

Michael is the Director of Corporate History at Shure microphones , and he tells us about the early design of the mic, what it was used for and about how it took years before Shure became aware that it was such an important mic for harmonica players.

James runs SimpleMics.com, where he rebuilds vintage harmonica microphones, including for some illustrious customers. James provides a harmonica-centric perspective on the Green Bullet and some detail on what is under the hood of the mic.

Both Michael and James help debunk some of the myths about the Green Bullet, as well as sharing their deep knowledge of its element, shell and other inner workings of this most legendary of harmonica microphones.

Links

Green Bullet mics website:
https://greenbulletmics.net/

James’ Simple Mics website:
https://www.simplemics.com/

Versions of the Green Bullet:
https://service.shure.com/s/article/what-are-the-different-versions-of-the-green-bullet?language=en_US

https://service.shure.com/s/article/history-of-the-model-520-green-bullet?language=en_US

Convert Green Bullet to use with XLR cable (low impedance):
https://service.shure.com/s/article/putting-an-xlr-on-the-green-bullet?language=en_US

Add a volume control and on/off switch:
https://service.shure.com/s/article/adding-a-volume-control-to-a-520d-green-bullet?language=en_US

Shure 520DX model:
https://www.shure.com/en-GB/products/microphones/520dx?variant=520DX

Videos:
Shure video on how the Green Bullet became the sound of blues harmonica:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlLniCG0lCw

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram

Support the show

01:29 - Michael and James join me to talk about the legendary Green Bullet microphone

01:37 - Michael is the Director of Corporate History at Shure

02:02 - What does the job ‘Director of Corporate History’ involve?

02:11 - Shure will be 100 years old in 2025 and started out as a philanthropic organisation, which is still follows to this day

03:32 - The Green Bullet is celebrating it’s 75th anniversary in 2024

03:44 - Shure’s first bullet shaped mics were released in 1939

03:56 - James Waldron runs SimpleMics.com, which rebuilds vintage harmonica mics from new and vintage parts

04:56 - greenbulletmics.net is a fantastic website written by Dave Kott, which James saved and keeps going

06:53 - History of the Green Bullet, model 520, and recently discovered the name of the person who designed the first bullet microphone (not Green Bullet)

07:34 - Bullet shape was designed after car headlight, not a bullet

07:42 - The Streamliner was the first bullet shaped mic, released in 1939, which was a ribbon mic

07:53 - Bullet shape was not designed to hold, it was just the cool design of the time

08:11 - Shure had no idea the Green Bullet was being used as a harmonica mic for many years

08:31 - The Green Bullet was originally designed for two way radio, public address systems, and uses like that

08:38 - One of Michael’s first tasks when he started at Shure in 1976 was to discontinue the Green Bullet, until he was inundated by letters from harmonica players

09:22 - Photos show the Green Bullet was being used by harmonica players very early in it’s life, from 1949 or 1950

10:00 - Shure were unaware of the Green Bullet harmonica use as they focused on profitable phonograph cartridges

10:42 - One of the reasons for the popularity of the Green Bullet (and JT30) is that they were cheap

10:59 - Green Bullet was originally designed for speech, and one is featured in the TV show MASH

11:48 - Green bullet was originally designed for speech, not harmonica

12:09 - Photos from south side of Chicago show the Green Bullet being used for vocals as well as harmonica

12:47 - Little Walter is the first person credited with playing amplified harmonica

13:06 - Did Little Walter definitely use a Green Bullet?

13:39 - James has a photo of Junior Wells using a Green Bullet

13:59 - Some of the early Green Bullets had crystal elements (the model 7 and 707), and James has found a small number of them working

14:54 - Shure and Astatic sourced their crystals from the same place (Brush Development), although they constructed their mics in different ways

15:39 - No definitive records of the first use of the Green Bullet, or which of the classic players used it and when

16:36 - May well have recorded using Green Bullets in the studio in the 1950s as no digital effects to add in post production back then

17:03 - Green Bullet is very durable and hard wearing, with elements used being developed in a military setting

17:29 - Difference between Controlled Reluctance (CR) and Controlled Magnetic (CM) elements is very minor

18:10 - The Black label and White label elements produced for the Green Bullet

19:51 - Michael thinks Shure maybe just changed the name from CR to CM because it was easier for customers to understand

20:39 - Another difference between CR and CM is with the bobbin

21:53 - Can people who own a Green Bullet tell if they have a CR or CM element?

22:22 - Each element will sound different, whether it’s CR or CM, for various reasons. So best way is to try before you buy

23:43 - Individual mics sound different, just like instruments do

24:25 - The player will also make the mic sound different

25:10 - Difference between the Black and White label elements, and are the black ones better?

25:55 - Some of the later elements made in Mexico (520D model) are also great elements

26:21 - Most harmonica players would say the Black label elements have a better bass response

26:44 - Different suppliers and components will make the mics differ over time

27:50 - Does James think Black labels are better?

29:04 - Recommend buying a mic from a reputable supplier so you know you’re getting a good one

30:34 - Meter readings are not very useful and different aspects that affect sound of a mic

32:04 - How an element works

34:15 - The Green Bullet is high impedance, with a higher decibel output level in order to drive guitar amplifiers

35:02 - Other Shure mics which are used for harmonica, which are ‘moving coil’ mics (not a CR or CM)

35:36 - Paul Butterfield was one of first players to use the Shure Unidyne 3 mic

35:59 - Green Bullet 520DX is dual impedance, and the 520D can also be converted between low and high impedance

37:01 - One advantage of low impedance is being able to use a longer cable, high impedance mics should not be used with cables longer than 20 feet

37:31 - James made some mics for Roger Daltrey of The Who fame

38:00 - Impact of using wireless systems with mics, with more modern ones with guitar jacks having high output which doesn’t impact mic output too much

38:38 - Wireless mics can impact the tone of the mic though, as the distortion is applied through the wireless mic transmitter, rather than directly from the mic

39:51 - Shane Sager (who plays harmonica with Sting) uses a wireless system with an impedance transformer

40:44 - The Green Bullet 520D model moved from manufacturing in the US to Mexico from 1985

41:11 - Mexican factory is 100% a Shure facility, with Shure employees

41:48 - James has found many great elements from those created in the Mexican factory for the 520D model, and generally are more consistent

43:24 - The Mexican produced 520DX model is a moving coil / dynamic mic, with Shure trying to make it sound as much like a CR as possible. The 520DX is the only Green Bullet Shure has built since 1997

44:29 - The shell of the Green Bullet, made out of die cast zinc

45:02 - Addition of a volume control on the 520DX was a great move

45:18 - The Green Bullet shell makes it heavy

46:01 - Shells made out of other materials, such as wood, with Michael questioning whether they resonate as well as die cast zinc

46:34 - Importance of the air tightness of the shell

47:19 - The pin holes in the Green Bullet are used for barometric leak, which maintains the pressure in the mic, such as if you take it on an airplane

48:51 - Volume controls being added to a mic will impact the output level, which has to considered against the advantages of having a volume control (such as cutting feedback and playing louder in a solo)

50:04 - Shure have released a video, featuring Sugar Blue, which highlights why the Green Bullet became popular with harmonica players

50:53 - People often switch up the mic they use

51:35 - James thinks crystals are so fragile that he insists customers pick them up by hand (he won’t post them)

51:57 - Shure đơn’t manufacture crystals now because they are so fragile. They last built mics with crystals in 1969-70

52:57 - There are some cheap crystal elements available from Japan, but the quality is debatable (although Dennis Gruenling does sell them)

54:18 - A guy contacted Shure recently who had discovered some Shure mics with crystal elements

54:58 - Some people like singing through a Green Bullet, with Elvis Costello singing through a 520DX

55:43 - Michael thinks Bob Dylan plays harmonica through a 520DX sometimes

55:54 - How to best look after a Green Bullet: with one suggestion is not to store them in the back of an amp due to the powerful magnets of the speakers

56:43 - Green Bullets are virtually indestructible, with the wiring the only real area likely to become damaged

57:14 - The glue on the element microphone can sometimes fail on the very early models. James has a contact who can repair this issue

WEBVTT

00:00:00.098 --> 00:00:03.061
Michael Pettersson and James Waldron join me on episode 98.

00:00:03.142 --> 00:00:09.913
In this episode, we talk about the iconic Green Bullet microphone, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024.

00:00:11.695 --> 00:00:23.954
Michael is a director of corporate history at Shure Microphones, and he tells us about the early design of the mic, what it was used for, and about how it took years before Shure became aware that it was such an important mic for harmonica players.

00:00:24.673 --> 00:00:31.562
James runs simplemics.com, where he rebuilds vintage harmonica microphones, including for some illustrious customers.

00:00:32.283 --> 00:00:38.149
James provides a harmonica-centric perspective on the Green Bullet, and some detail on what is under the hood of the mic.

00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:48.762
Both Michael and James help debunk some of the myths about the Green Bullet, as well as sharing their deep knowledge of its elements, shell, and other inner workings of this most legendary of harmonica microphones.

00:00:49.762 --> 00:00:52.307
This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas.

00:00:52.728 --> 00:01:02.085
Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Seidel Harmonicas.

00:01:24.257 --> 00:01:36.123
Hello Michael Patterson and James Waldron and welcome to the podcast Thank you, hi there So we got both of you on today to talk about the Green Bullets, the legendary microphone used with harmonica for a long time.

00:01:36.164 --> 00:01:39.066
So first of all, let's introduce yourself.

00:01:39.105 --> 00:01:43.430
So Michael, you work for Shure and you are the director of corporate history.

00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:44.710
Sounds like a great job.

00:01:45.251 --> 00:01:46.111
It is a great job.

00:01:46.352 --> 00:01:48.254
I prefer the term sage, actually.

00:01:48.453 --> 00:01:50.936
Yeah, I'm starting my 47th year at Shure.

00:01:50.977 --> 00:01:55.840
So I've had six careers here and have basically migrated into becoming the corporate historian.

00:01:56.180 --> 00:01:57.061
Yeah, it's a great job.

00:01:57.102 --> 00:01:58.222
I never intend to retire.

00:01:58.263 --> 00:02:00.745
Besides, my wife doesn't want me home all the time anyway.

00:02:01.218 --> 00:02:02.099
Fantastic.

00:02:02.138 --> 00:02:08.243
So the director of corporate history, so Shure obviously take that very seriously to give you such a role.

00:02:08.343 --> 00:02:11.067
So, you know, what sort of role does that have in Shure?

00:02:11.447 --> 00:02:13.908
Well, we'll be 100 years old in 2025.

00:02:14.068 --> 00:02:15.850
So we're planning some celebrations for that.

00:02:16.091 --> 00:02:20.093
We have an archive here of one of every product that we've made since 1932.

00:02:20.153 --> 00:02:22.757
That's when we started manufacturing products in 1932.

00:02:22.856 --> 00:02:26.020
I give tours of the company as well.

00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:32.425
Also involved in Shure's philanthropic arm as well, giving away products and so forth.

00:02:32.444 --> 00:02:35.609
But we're an interesting company because we're held by a trust.

00:02:35.688 --> 00:02:39.812
All the trust is held by the employees but we're actually run for the benefit of charity.

00:02:39.853 --> 00:02:41.175
Very unusual situation.

00:02:41.514 --> 00:02:41.814
Oh really?

00:02:41.835 --> 00:02:44.617
The whole company is run for the benefit of charity?

00:02:44.758 --> 00:02:45.239
Yep.

00:02:45.258 --> 00:02:45.900
That's fantastic.

00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.584
Is that something which was from the beginning or is it a more recent thing?

00:02:49.783 --> 00:02:50.564
That was what Mr.

00:02:50.604 --> 00:02:51.205
Schur set up.

00:02:51.566 --> 00:02:51.825
Mr.

00:02:51.866 --> 00:02:52.646
Schur and Mrs.

00:02:52.687 --> 00:02:52.866
Schur.

00:02:52.887 --> 00:02:53.228
So Mr.

00:02:53.268 --> 00:02:57.111
Schur ran the company and owned the company solely 1925 to 1995.

00:02:58.272 --> 00:02:58.532
Mrs.

00:02:58.573 --> 00:03:19.314
Schur owned the company and ran it from 1995 to 2016 and when she passed away that's when this kicked in but they were always very philanthropic they didn't spend money on themselves they gave it away to the communities and humanitarian efforts and cultural efforts and he wanted to make sure that went on when he was gone and when she was gone and it is so we're quite proud of that

00:03:19.776 --> 00:03:42.764
yeah fantastic so when people buy a Shure microphone they're giving money to charity then essentially yes fantastic yeah so yeah so you mentioned Shure is a hundred years old and shortly so but the other milestone which was sort of celebrating here is that the the green bullets that the 520 model of the green bullet which we'll be discussing today is 75 years old next year that's correct

00:03:42.925 --> 00:03:55.989
yeah introduced in 1949 though our first bullet-shaped mics go back to 1939 but the bullet-shaped mic the first one that had a controlled magnetic unit inside of a controlled reluctance element was the green bullet from 1949

00:03:56.710 --> 00:04:07.118
so we'll just introduce james now so hi james so you have a microphone company where you rebuild vintage mics from new and vintage parts and it's called simple mics.com

00:04:07.378 --> 00:04:39.733
that is correct i started simple mics about 11 years ago i've been a blues harmonica player since i was 15 so we won't even go into how long ago that was so i began rebuilding microphones phones using uh Shure components certainly the elements most of the time on the inside of these pieces and I sell specifically to blues harmonica players all over the world in fact last month I sold to five continents in one week

00:04:40.733 --> 00:04:44.377
wow great and you're in a band called walk that walk

00:04:47.341 --> 00:04:47.422
yeah

00:04:56.577 --> 00:05:19.997
so there's a fantastic website which is called greenbulletmics.net there'll be a link on the podcast page which was written by a guy called Dave Cott which has got a tremendous amount of information on it all about green bullets and microphones in general but especially about well obviously about green bullets and yeah so we're going to draw on some of that information so you you host that website for Dave don't you so you've got you've had some involvement with that website yourself

00:05:20.418 --> 00:05:58.718
yeah greenbulletmics.com as it was originally is probably the most most thorough repository of information that would be important to blues harmonica players as it relates to microphones so they focus primarily on the green bullet and they talk about Dave talked about pretty much every aspect you could imagine so he could not afford to keep the site running about five years ago so I guess I'm philanthropic as well I build websites as my primary day job.

00:05:58.999 --> 00:06:05.526
And so I thought that information should stay out there and available to people because it was so useful to me.

00:06:05.586 --> 00:06:12.894
So I created a new website because somebody in Japan had bought the domain name.

00:06:13.353 --> 00:06:18.899
We got it all together, made it a little more visually pleasing and easy to navigate.

00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:21.322
And Dave was very thankful.

00:06:21.742 --> 00:06:25.706
And I think the rest of the Harmonica community was also very thankful.

00:06:25.726 --> 00:06:58.283
Yeah, and I've got to say, again for anyone who wants to get more information on specifically around the harmonica elements the green bullet this is an essential read i did i read the website from cover to cover when i was doing my research for this i couldn't stop the loads of amazing information which really cleared a lot of points up in my head so obviously we'll try and cover some of that during the conversations today but obviously we won't be go down to the uh the level of detail that's on there so obviously people should go and check that website out is um it's amazing so uh yeah good job there james keeping it going so great so let's talk then michael about the history of the green bullet and yourself with that.

00:06:58.322 --> 00:07:05.192
So again, we're talking specifically here about the 520 model, which is the one we all know and love related to the harmonica.

00:07:05.213 --> 00:07:08.939
But as you've already mentioned, there were bullet-shaped mics before that.

00:07:09.220 --> 00:07:13.927
But the 520 model came out in 1949, as we've touched on already.

00:07:14.026 --> 00:07:15.069
That's correct.

00:07:15.189 --> 00:07:15.870
Just recently...

00:07:16.161 --> 00:07:22.466
We have about 500 boxes of offsite storage where we haven't looked at them since 1955.

00:07:22.567 --> 00:07:23.908
So I'm going through those boxes.

00:07:24.588 --> 00:07:30.194
And just recently, I found one that basically gave me the name of the person who designed the first bullet microphones.

00:07:30.353 --> 00:07:33.656
His name was Herb Palmleaf, and he worked at Shure in 1957.

00:07:33.956 --> 00:07:35.819
By the way, it wasn't really designed after a bullet.

00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.105
It was designed after the headlight structure on some of the 1930s cars, which also looked like bullets.

00:07:42.824 --> 00:07:49.591
But the very first bullet-shaped Shure microphone was a Model 5, and that was from 1939.

00:07:49.711 --> 00:07:53.255
It had a ribbon microphone inside, a ribbon element inside.

00:07:53.276 --> 00:07:56.879
And was that shape specifically so it was good to hold in the hand?

00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:02.384
Because the original sort of green bullets, they weren't sort of designed to necessarily be held in the hand, were they?

00:08:02.425 --> 00:08:04.487
No, they just looked cool.

00:08:04.708 --> 00:08:06.949
You know, streamlining was a whole thing in the 30s.

00:08:07.531 --> 00:08:11.435
It was the harmonica players that basically figured out, hey, these fit in their hands real well.

00:08:11.574 --> 00:08:17.721
As Schur was completely unaware that these things were being used as harmonica microphones phones for many many many years

00:08:18.101 --> 00:08:31.115
that was incredible when when you told me that and on that point as you say you sent me an advert an original advert for the uh for the green bill and there's absolutely no mention of harmonicas right you sure had no idea that it wasn't so it wasn't marketed towards harmonic players at all

00:08:31.175 --> 00:08:52.125
no to a radio public address systems very things like that you know we were just pretty much unaware of it i started assure in 1976 and one of my responsibilities in sales was that when the product was thinking about discontent being you discontinued, we would send notices out to the dealers that bought them saying, hey, here's your last chance to buy these.

00:08:52.725 --> 00:08:57.756
I was responsible for sending a notice out to a dealer's late 70s saying the green bullet was going away.

00:08:57.797 --> 00:08:59.099
Why was it going away?

00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:22.346
Because the target market that we thought two-way radio dealers and so forth just weren't selling many of them so we we sent out this this message and somehow this got to the harmonica players and this is way before email right we got phone calls we got postcards we got letters basically saying you guys are dummies this is the best harmonica microphone in the world and we were just kind of taken aback by that we just didn't know

00:09:22.768 --> 00:09:30.794
you know looking at the timing in the years you know when did the green bullet start becoming popular with harmonica players are we aware of that is that something james that you might be able to help with

00:09:31.375 --> 00:09:43.748
well the earliest uh photographs that I've seen of harmonica players are really from about the same time that microphone was released in 1949, 1950, 1951.

00:09:44.048 --> 00:09:49.794
There's a lot of photographic evidence of players using bullet mics as early as that.

00:09:49.955 --> 00:09:55.760
So Shor was really unaware because they didn't discontinue it to the late 70s.

00:09:55.801 --> 00:09:59.205
People have been using them for 25 years beforehand.

00:09:59.745 --> 00:09:59.904
Yep.

00:10:00.686 --> 00:10:06.552
The reason is our primary business Business back then, as far as what was giving us the most money, was phonograph cartridges.

00:10:06.974 --> 00:10:08.095
It was very profitable.

00:10:08.154 --> 00:10:10.017
We were making hundreds of thousands over the years.

00:10:10.357 --> 00:10:14.001
And we really weren't paying attention to small niche markets like the Green Bullet.

00:10:14.263 --> 00:10:14.783
Simple as that.

00:10:15.244 --> 00:10:22.373
And does it suggest that maybe the harmonica players were buying them secondhand and not new because you weren't aware of them?

00:10:22.413 --> 00:10:27.178
And like you say, you were going to your dealers and your dealers weren't telling you harmonica players were buying.

00:10:27.219 --> 00:10:29.601
Does that suggest that they were maybe being bought secondhand?

00:10:30.274 --> 00:10:31.336
It's feasible.

00:10:31.515 --> 00:10:34.821
They certainly were a lot less expensive than our Unidyne microphone.

00:10:35.081 --> 00:10:39.609
Our most famous microphone, the Elvis mic, the birdcage mic, that was probably four times as much.

00:10:39.668 --> 00:10:41.331
But James might have some comments on that.

00:10:41.572 --> 00:10:48.462
Well, I think the microphones that were cheap were the ones that they would use because they were inexpensive.

00:10:48.724 --> 00:10:57.538
Primarily the Green Bullet and its main competitor for the harmonica microphone world was the Aesthetic JT-30.

00:10:57.985 --> 00:10:58.787
Yep, agreed.

00:10:59.206 --> 00:11:08.254
Going back to the history then and what it was originally built for then, Michael, so reading the literature about this, you know, they were designed certainly for speech reproduction.

00:11:08.274 --> 00:11:11.076
Was that the main reason, the main design for them originally, yeah?

00:11:11.418 --> 00:11:13.038
Yeah, two-way radio.

00:11:13.318 --> 00:11:20.525
One of the things I like, though, so if you see, anytime you see, I think they probably rerun the television series MASH in the UK.

00:11:20.546 --> 00:11:21.907
They certainly do here in the United States.

00:11:21.947 --> 00:11:22.567
They do, yeah.

00:11:22.927 --> 00:11:23.768
Watch Radar there.

00:11:23.868 --> 00:11:27.951
He's got a 520 on a desk stand that he picks up and talks to the camper.

00:11:27.951 --> 00:11:33.403
It's got the grip to talk where he grabs it and pulls it, you know, the switches on the back of the microphone.

00:11:33.683 --> 00:11:35.047
That would be a typical example of that.

00:11:35.187 --> 00:11:40.398
You know, a paging system at an army camp, in a school, two-way police and fire.

00:11:40.577 --> 00:11:43.583
It was just a kind of general purpose speech mic.

00:11:43.724 --> 00:11:45.567
Were there lots of them around when they came out?

00:11:45.908 --> 00:11:48.333
It was a relatively successful product.

00:11:48.546 --> 00:11:57.374
But this idea that it's used for speech, you know, obviously your mouth would be off it, whereas, you know, harmonica players would cup the green bullet for that sort of distorted sound that it brings.

00:11:57.474 --> 00:12:02.937
So, you know, I mean, how does that sit, do you think, James, with the responsiveness of the green bullet to the harmonica versus speech?

00:12:03.438 --> 00:12:53.610
I think that, once again, because they're inexpensive, they were being used for harmonica playing, but if you look at a lot of the different band photographs from certainly the south side of Chicago, they're using the bullet both as the vocal mic and as the harmonica mic they take their hands off you can see them on stands see the green bullet on the stand and they're singing into that microphone and then they grab a hold of it and you know compress the air going through it and give it that kind of distortion that the players enjoyed and you know it's totally different than what you would want a nice clear vocal mic to be especially when you touch it and grab it and you know bang it around the first person that we credit using amplified microphone is Little Walter.

00:12:53.629 --> 00:12:53.710
It's

00:13:05.965 --> 00:13:14.815
interesting you should say Little Walter because from the research that I've done, I didn't see conclusive evidence that Little Walter played with a green bullet.

00:13:14.995 --> 00:13:15.655
Is that right then?

00:13:15.696 --> 00:13:16.837
You know for sure that he did?

00:13:17.313 --> 00:13:18.975
I've seen photographs.

00:13:19.456 --> 00:13:32.988
Once again, it's very difficult to tell when you're looking at a photograph of a harmonica player cupping the mic if it is in fact a green bullet or it is a JT-30 because they look pretty similar from the rear.

00:13:33.008 --> 00:13:38.712
If you're looking at it from the front, it's very easy to tell, but from the back, it's a little less obvious.

00:13:39.493 --> 00:13:46.239
I have a great photograph of Junior Wells playing through a green bullet where you can clearly see what it is.

00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:49.445
Thank you.

00:13:59.778 --> 00:14:20.921
The green bullet as we know it has the sure controlled magnetic or controlled reluctance element inside, but they also made some earlier ones with crystal elements inside, which are also highly, highly sought after now for blues harmonica players across the planet.

00:14:21.313 --> 00:14:26.381
yeah that was a model the model 7 and then it became the model 707 later yeah

00:14:26.702 --> 00:14:33.254
and those crystals i i still come across them working at full power which is pretty amazing

00:14:33.734 --> 00:14:34.716
it is truly amazing

00:14:35.336 --> 00:14:54.202
but i think i've been doing this for 11 years and i found five maybe in the last 11 years that worked and Once a harmonica player gets a hold of them and starts breathing heavy into it, the crystals tend to dissolve or fail in any one of a number of different ways.

00:14:55.043 --> 00:15:00.389
And Neil, regarding the crystals, Shure and Astatic got their crystals from the same place.

00:15:00.889 --> 00:15:03.812
It was a place called Brush Development in Cleveland, Ohio.

00:15:04.211 --> 00:15:07.195
And they had all the patents and they had all the ways to make them.

00:15:07.254 --> 00:15:13.360
And so everybody who made crystal microphones in the United States back in the 30s and 40s and 50s bought them from Brush.

00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:14.562
Right.

00:15:14.581 --> 00:15:21.894
So the static elements of the MC151, is that an element then, a crystal element that Shure used as well?

00:15:22.335 --> 00:15:23.235
It wouldn't have been the same.

00:15:23.275 --> 00:15:31.409
The crystal itself would have been the same, but then once the manufacturer got it, we came up with different levers and different ways to hook it up to the diaphragm.

00:15:31.874 --> 00:15:33.937
Just finishing off on the players who used it.

00:15:33.957 --> 00:15:36.601
So we've said that there's, like you said, James, there's photographs.

00:15:36.642 --> 00:15:39.186
We know that some of the great players were definitely using green bullets.

00:15:39.427 --> 00:15:44.115
Do we have any idea like who the first person who used a green bullet or recorded with a green bullet?

00:15:44.134 --> 00:15:47.801
Is there any sort of history about recordings using the green bullet, anything like that?

00:15:48.341 --> 00:15:49.663
That's a very curious question.

00:15:50.024 --> 00:15:59.871
I don't have an answer to that when you're talking about Basically, all the great blues records were being made at chess.

00:16:00.513 --> 00:16:09.085
And I suppose if I looked at some chess photography to see if Little or Big Walter were recording, I'd get a better idea about that.

00:16:09.164 --> 00:16:10.245
I really don't know.

00:16:10.907 --> 00:16:12.048
It sure doesn't know.

00:16:12.850 --> 00:16:17.075
The other thing they know is that a lot of recording engineers, they didn't want their secrets to be found out.

00:16:17.115 --> 00:16:21.041
They didn't want other people to know what mics they used and how they mic'd it at.

00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:22.682
So a lot of that stuff, they kept quiet.

00:16:23.464 --> 00:16:23.683
That's a

00:16:23.724 --> 00:16:24.184
good point.

00:16:24.325 --> 00:16:24.586
Yes.

00:16:25.090 --> 00:16:31.916
And also the other point is that the green bullet might not necessarily be something that they'd record in a studio with, might they not?

00:16:31.956 --> 00:16:35.698
Because they might want to use, you know, kind of condenser microphones to do that, mightn't they?

00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:39.883
But think about also in the 50s, we didn't have pro tools.

00:16:40.462 --> 00:16:44.767
So there weren't a lot of board effects that you could put in.

00:16:44.886 --> 00:16:55.056
So to a certain extent, if you wanted that dirty Chicago blues sound from your harmonica, then you would probably be using some form of bullet mic, even in the studio.

00:16:55.056 --> 00:16:55.996
well

00:16:56.057 --> 00:17:19.903
the green bullet again we've touched on that it was used as a vocal mic it was used in kind of public address systems radio the green bullet is a you know is immune to high temperature and humidity it's very durable whereas obviously the crystals are not and then they break easily as we've touched on already and they were kind of used in military settings as well which you know kind of made them more um more more um you know hard-wiring things yeah so that was one of the attractions on them as well

00:17:19.942 --> 00:17:25.949
yeah yeah controlled magnetic or controlled reluctance they mean the same thing um were developed during World War II.

00:17:26.288 --> 00:17:29.192
And so that was one of the technologies that came out of World War II.

00:17:29.692 --> 00:17:31.875
Yeah, so you touch on an interesting point there.

00:17:31.934 --> 00:17:46.070
So the difference between controlled reluctance and controlled magnetic, so a CR or CM microphone or element, is something that I wasn't that clear on, but after doing my research with the amazing Green Bullet Mic Net website again, I think I'm clear now.

00:17:46.230 --> 00:17:47.652
So let's touch on that now.

00:17:48.313 --> 00:17:50.996
So my understanding is they are pretty much the same.

00:17:51.056 --> 00:18:05.892
The controlled reluctance came first, and then the controlled magnetic came The only real thing that I can

00:18:05.991 --> 00:18:09.955
see as difference is the little tin hat on the diaphragm.

00:18:10.296 --> 00:18:15.402
The other aspect of it is that they changed the color of the labels in between.

00:18:15.481 --> 00:18:24.912
So from 1949 until somewhere around 1953, the labels were controlled reluctance and the labels on the back of it were black.

00:18:24.912 --> 00:18:30.538
So harmonica players referred to those as black label Schuers.

00:18:31.138 --> 00:18:35.462
Then in like 1953, 1954, they changed the label.

00:18:35.522 --> 00:18:36.924
They didn't change the construction.

00:18:36.944 --> 00:18:39.807
There's still that little tin hat on the diaphragm.

00:18:40.248 --> 00:18:43.652
And they still called them controlled reluctance, but they had a white label.

00:18:44.071 --> 00:18:46.815
Those came out around 1952 or 1953.

00:18:48.037 --> 00:18:54.864
But then they only lasted until that little tin hat only lasted until 56, maybe somewhere around there.

00:18:54.864 --> 00:18:59.088
And then they changed the name to Controlled Magnetic.

00:18:59.308 --> 00:19:01.310
They had white labels on the back.

00:19:01.951 --> 00:19:08.018
And as late as 1960, you would still find an element with that little tin hat on it.

00:19:08.357 --> 00:19:12.482
But in 1960, from then on, it was always glue.

00:19:12.522 --> 00:19:16.426
Those are the things that I can figure out when dating the elements.

00:19:16.446 --> 00:19:23.134
There's also a code on the back of each of these that denotes the month and year that they were manufactured.

00:19:24.015 --> 00:19:37.397
So when I'm When I'm selling a black label to a harmonica player, I'm saying, OK, this is from December of 1951 because I can read the codes on the back.

00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:39.301
And it's hard.

00:19:39.342 --> 00:19:40.423
You can't fake it.

00:19:41.865 --> 00:19:46.554
If somebody knows what they're looking for, they're looking for that black label.

00:19:46.594 --> 00:19:48.438
They're looking for that little tin hat.

00:19:48.801 --> 00:19:50.704
And they're looking for the date code on the back.

00:19:50.964 --> 00:19:53.567
Yeah, see, those are details that Schur wouldn't even have.

00:19:53.969 --> 00:19:56.372
That's why it's good to have James here for those type of details.

00:19:56.451 --> 00:20:01.759
But in all of our literature, I've never been able to find any reason of the change from reluctance to magnetic.

00:20:02.140 --> 00:20:03.942
The specs don't change, nothing.

00:20:04.522 --> 00:20:06.425
But I can certainly see Mr.

00:20:06.486 --> 00:20:07.826
Schur, who liked, Mr.

00:20:07.846 --> 00:20:12.973
Schur was a precise man regarding words, and he always said, use a simpler word if it'll do.

00:20:12.993 --> 00:20:16.679
I could see him one day, he goes, no one understands reluctance, we're just going to use magnetic.

00:20:16.818 --> 00:20:18.461
I could really see that happening.

00:20:18.913 --> 00:20:20.115
That's interesting though, isn't it?

00:20:20.155 --> 00:20:27.327
Because it seems that we do have a solid reason for thinking the difference between the magnetic and reluctance is this tin hat, as you call it, James.

00:20:28.189 --> 00:20:32.035
But from Shura's side, it sounds like they didn't necessarily make that change of purpose.

00:20:32.295 --> 00:20:33.837
Are you sure about that, James?

00:20:33.857 --> 00:20:38.484
Can we close this topic around that is the difference between the CR and the CM?

00:20:39.041 --> 00:20:46.729
Some people claim that the CRs had thicker or more windings in between the magnets.

00:20:46.788 --> 00:20:56.978
There's a transformer and a bobbin, and some people claim that the bobbin was using either thicker wire or more winds around the bobbin.

00:20:57.178 --> 00:21:02.962
This is kind of a curious idea, but I've never taken apart one of these to find out if either

00:21:03.042 --> 00:21:05.005
one of those claims are correct.

00:21:05.224 --> 00:21:07.487
It could be, and again, we simply wouldn't know.

00:21:08.027 --> 00:21:12.111
As you imagine, with the$100 years we uh history we can't keep all the drawings

00:21:13.893 --> 00:21:39.422
of course and there was there was another subtle change when somebody who knows what they're looking at the bobbin itself in the controlled magnetic and controlled reluctance was made out of you know it's it's kind of like bakelite and then after they switched from control reluctance that bobbin became plastic yep And so you can tell by the color of

00:21:39.501 --> 00:21:40.345
that bobbin.

00:21:40.665 --> 00:21:42.855
Plastic was far easier to obtain than Bakelite.

00:21:42.934 --> 00:21:44.862
Bakelite had problems as well, but yep.

00:21:45.506 --> 00:21:46.146
I'm

00:21:46.227 --> 00:21:46.428
sure.

00:21:46.968 --> 00:21:52.136
But there's nothing on the code numbers about the difference between CR and CM elements.

00:21:52.718 --> 00:21:52.917
No.

00:21:53.459 --> 00:22:01.471
So effectively for people who want to know whether they got a CR or a CM, would they know, or is it just a case of they're more or less the same?

00:22:01.492 --> 00:22:04.017
There might be a very slight difference in tone between them.

00:22:04.498 --> 00:22:38.316
Well, what's interesting about CRs and CMs and the dates they were manufactured, because they were pretty much the same manufacturer, build from 1949 until they were discontinued in 87 is that when it was yeah around then yep and so the the unique aspect from a harmonica player's point of view is that every element itself even if it was made side by side with another element in the factory can sound different agreed when you're playing it with a harmonica and cupped.

00:22:38.635 --> 00:22:41.278
Some of them have a deep, rich bass sound.

00:22:41.338 --> 00:22:45.702
Some of them have a kind of a squeaky bass sound.

00:22:46.542 --> 00:22:53.769
Some of them sound better in the high areas, the high tones, and some of them sound flat.

00:22:54.349 --> 00:22:56.251
Some of them sound crisp and sharp.

00:22:57.092 --> 00:23:08.825
From a harmonica player's point of view and someone who wants to buy a harmonica mic, the best way to do that, because there is such variety is to try the thing in person.

00:23:09.445 --> 00:23:16.036
And that can be troublesome if you live in Malaysia and your microphones are being built in Newbury, Massachusetts.

00:23:16.336 --> 00:23:17.498
Let me just add something about that.

00:23:17.518 --> 00:23:22.865
And that's a good point, James, because we have people say, I've got an SM58 from the 1970s.

00:23:23.006 --> 00:23:23.787
I really like it.

00:23:23.807 --> 00:23:25.289
It sounds so much better than a new one.

00:23:25.730 --> 00:23:27.013
Okay, that's fine.

00:23:27.253 --> 00:23:30.744
You have to realize with microphones, diaphragms move millionths of an inch.

00:23:31.346 --> 00:23:39.912
It doesn't take much to change that movement as far as a weight shift or anything else, or even just like spit getting on there and some dust getting on it.

00:23:40.834 --> 00:23:43.537
You know, it doesn't take much to change the sound of a mic.

00:23:43.737 --> 00:23:45.420
But it sounds a little bit like instruments, right?

00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:53.128
If you go and buy a guitar, right, they'll all sound different, even though they're sort of made in the same factory with the same wood, but they just have their own sort of quality.

00:23:53.169 --> 00:23:55.991
So it sounds like that's, you know, how it works with microphones as well.

00:23:56.071 --> 00:24:02.039
About 15 years ago, Shure was going to buy a Steinway piano for our performance area here.

00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:03.560
And I was on the team.

00:24:03.741 --> 00:24:04.501
Oh, what a great thing.

00:24:04.762 --> 00:24:06.365
We went to a Steinway showroom.

00:24:06.664 --> 00:24:10.549
They had eight Model B Steinways there.

00:24:11.074 --> 00:24:12.375
And they all sounded different.

00:24:12.694 --> 00:24:16.739
Yeah, when you think about the complexity of a piano too, you can understand.

00:24:16.898 --> 00:24:17.058
Right.

00:24:17.138 --> 00:24:24.005
But if you take apart, you know, a Shure Element or a 520 Green Bullet, there's plenty of parts there that could be different as well.

00:24:24.085 --> 00:24:24.506
Absolutely.

00:24:24.726 --> 00:24:28.128
And as well as the mic itself, it's also down to the player as well, right?

00:24:28.209 --> 00:24:40.278
I heard this story about how Bill Evans went, funnily enough, to a piano sort of conference and various great piano players played this one piano and then Bill Evans got up and it just sounded so much better when he played it.

00:24:40.298 --> 00:24:43.021
So, you know, there's a lot of it down to the player as well isn't it not just the mic

00:24:43.222 --> 00:24:43.742
absolutely

00:24:43.903 --> 00:25:21.053
absolutely so there we go so hopefully we cleared up between the cr and cm they're pretty much the same um so so not not to uh worry too much about those so You mentioned there already, James, that we had originally the black elements made, and they were made black-coloured, and then we had white elements coming, I think, in the 1950s, was it, a few years later.

00:25:21.093 --> 00:25:21.374
Yeah.

00:25:21.826 --> 00:25:28.090
And there's a lot of talk about the elements and the black ones being the best ones because they're the original ones.

00:25:28.172 --> 00:25:36.077
But I think we can probably dispel that myth and say that it's not really true to say that the black elements are better than the white ones or some of the later ones.

00:25:36.638 --> 00:25:37.779
Oh, quiet.

00:25:38.220 --> 00:25:40.561
I won't be able to sell them for as much as I do.

00:25:41.942 --> 00:25:47.468
I mean, black label elements are in large demand primarily because they're hard to find.

00:25:47.508 --> 00:25:50.191
They were only manufactured for four or five years.

00:25:51.131 --> 00:25:54.836
So people want that original tone because, oh, it was the original piece.

00:25:55.237 --> 00:26:03.569
But some of the Shure later models that were made in Mexico are also very high output and they sound great.

00:26:03.990 --> 00:26:13.522
And so if you take any two elements and put them side by side and play them, you may or may not be able to hear a difference.

00:26:13.703 --> 00:26:21.369
So I call the dual impedance ones that were made in Mexico the poor man's black label.

00:26:21.851 --> 00:26:43.871
However, if you ask 30 harmonica players who have played a black label versus a later Shure Element, maybe made in the 60s, 70s, or 80s, they all swear that the bass response on most black labels is superior to anything made past 1957.

00:26:44.171 --> 00:26:44.571
Yeah,

00:26:45.192 --> 00:26:47.395
keep in mind this also, Neil.

00:26:47.776 --> 00:26:51.320
You know, when you make a product for as long as we have, our suppliers change.

00:26:52.061 --> 00:26:54.625
You know, we're an assembler, right?

00:26:54.685 --> 00:26:57.871
We don't go out and mine the aluminum and make the bakelite.

00:26:57.911 --> 00:27:00.074
So your suppliers change.

00:27:00.114 --> 00:27:01.154
They go in and out of business.

00:27:01.194 --> 00:27:03.499
They would change the way they do things and so forth.

00:27:03.838 --> 00:27:05.662
There's lots of variations there.

00:27:06.082 --> 00:27:07.723
that can slip in.

00:27:07.984 --> 00:27:11.569
Let's say that the black labels do have more base response for whatever reason.

00:27:11.730 --> 00:27:19.380
And let's say it's because of the thickness of the diaphragm on the edges, for example, or they're more compliant on the edges.

00:27:19.560 --> 00:27:21.623
Well, that's what you get from the supplier.

00:27:21.663 --> 00:27:35.068
And if that supplier starts to make it a different way, or if that supplier goes out of business, or we got to buy a new adhesive, There are so many variables in there that people don't realize it until they become a manufacturer and just started to realize it.

00:27:35.088 --> 00:27:40.048
You've probably got, you know, 50 different suppliers that give us parts to make up one green bullet.

00:27:40.738 --> 00:28:06.339
sure yeah and so you made the point there james that you know people are sought after the black labels they cost more money i actually do own a black label myself from 1952 i mean do you think they're better or i mean from from what i was reading on the on the green bullets um uh mike's net website is you know it says that there's variability between the elements so really you have to sort of try you know one white label might be better than a black label i mean what do you think are black labels better

00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:20.874
once again it's you know they differ individually each element how However, I have to say that at equal strength as far as volume output goes, I believe the black labels do have a stronger bass response.

00:28:21.714 --> 00:28:22.474
I play one.

00:28:23.016 --> 00:28:28.862
Most of the people that can afford one want one, but I test each one that I get.

00:28:28.882 --> 00:28:34.047
And so I've probably played 700 different black labels and they all are different.

00:28:34.467 --> 00:28:37.230
But generally speaking, they're better.

00:28:37.857 --> 00:28:42.663
Yeah, and as you say, Michael, that might be down to a component maybe makes it more bassy or whatever.

00:28:42.702 --> 00:28:47.588
So it does make sense that they might be better because they were manufactured in a certain way and then changed.

00:28:47.608 --> 00:28:51.093
Yeah, and better, I would just say, this is subjective.

00:28:51.532 --> 00:28:55.917
It's music, you know, and consequently, I agree completely, James.

00:28:56.157 --> 00:28:56.739
Try them out.

00:28:57.038 --> 00:28:59.121
If you like the way that one sounds, wonderful.

00:28:59.961 --> 00:29:01.663
I'm not going to argue why it sounds better.

00:29:01.703 --> 00:29:03.326
You say it just sounds better to you.

00:29:03.874 --> 00:29:11.722
And I think people are obviously searching for, you know, a great mic to play blues harmonica with, and it can be lots of trial and error, right?

00:29:11.782 --> 00:29:14.306
You can spend a lot of money getting not a very good microphone.

00:29:14.546 --> 00:29:20.512
So going to someone like yourself, James, and there are other microphone providers, you know, probably is the way to go, isn't it?

00:29:20.553 --> 00:29:28.061
Because you might be paying more, but you've done the work to find the good elements and to sort of endorse it as a good, strong output mic here.

00:29:28.450 --> 00:29:29.070
It's true.

00:29:29.451 --> 00:29:34.075
You have to trust your vendor, especially if you're buying something over the internet.

00:29:34.714 --> 00:29:38.878
It's impossible for you to try to test them over the internet.

00:29:38.919 --> 00:29:42.241
People often say, well, can you give me an audio sample of that?

00:29:42.261 --> 00:29:45.884
And I'm like, well, you're just introducing more variability.

00:29:46.465 --> 00:29:51.809
It's like the microphone that I'm using, my computer, the compression of the sound information.

00:29:52.290 --> 00:29:54.932
So it's nearly impossible.

00:29:54.992 --> 00:29:59.558
So you have to trust that the person you're buying it from says

00:29:59.719 --> 00:30:00.582
this is good.

00:30:00.622 --> 00:30:09.344
Also, I didn't look up the tolerances on what do we use, but I would guess we probably have an envelope that's maybe plus or minus 2 dB.

00:30:09.564 --> 00:30:10.948
That would be my guess.

00:30:10.988 --> 00:30:13.515
Maybe even as wide as plus or minus 3 dB.

00:30:13.875 --> 00:30:23.132
But that means that If you've got a range of plus or minus 2 dB, that means that on the top end, it could be 4 dB hotter than at the bottom end or vice versa.

00:30:23.332 --> 00:30:28.563
So any manufacturer, you can't make everything exactly the same, particularly for a microphone.

00:30:28.584 --> 00:30:30.366
It's basically relatively inexpensive.

00:30:30.788 --> 00:30:33.093
So you've got just the tolerances of manufacturing.

00:30:33.986 --> 00:30:37.332
Let's touch on this topic of hot microphone elements now.

00:30:37.372 --> 00:30:42.460
So that's a word that's used a lot when people are describing, you know, the mics that they're selling, that they're hot.

00:30:42.921 --> 00:30:49.010
And so you very frequently see meter readings shown against, you know, a microphone.

00:30:49.050 --> 00:30:53.218
And again, from what I've read, these meter readings don't necessarily mean a lot.

00:30:53.238 --> 00:30:57.064
It's not just, that's not the only factor that sort of contributes to the sound of the mic.

00:30:57.084 --> 00:30:57.324
Shows

00:30:57.384 --> 00:31:00.229
continuity, in my opinion, that's all it shows.

00:31:00.249 --> 00:31:00.670
James?

00:31:00.865 --> 00:31:01.208
What

00:31:01.368 --> 00:31:01.611
do you think?

00:31:01.730 --> 00:31:02.213
Yeah, I agree.

00:31:02.817 --> 00:31:21.892
People put way too much respect on what the output is for uh ohms and honestly i've had some that read you know 900k ohms that sound better than something that is 1300k ohms so it really from a musical standpoint means nothing

00:31:22.373 --> 00:31:33.422
yeah and i think people have this idea that if it's got a strong output that you know it's loud and as if it's quiet there's something wrong with it and it's not projecting very well but that's not the case right that's not the only factor of the sound that we're looking for

00:31:33.883 --> 00:31:40.730
no that's true uh certainly It changes according to the embouchure and the style of playing that the person is doing.

00:31:41.150 --> 00:31:47.896
Their skull's bone structure, even, you know, the resonance that comes through their harmonica into the microphone.

00:31:48.057 --> 00:31:50.800
There's so many variables there.

00:31:51.381 --> 00:31:54.585
To a certain extent, it's a dart at the board.

00:31:55.826 --> 00:31:59.150
And, you know, in 2023, gain is cheap.

00:31:59.521 --> 00:32:02.909
just turn it up

00:32:04.471 --> 00:32:09.883
they might be good at this juncture just to explain um how does a microphone element actually work which

00:32:09.962 --> 00:32:10.865
type of microphone element

00:32:11.105 --> 00:32:13.470
well in this case the green bullet one yeah

00:32:13.665 --> 00:32:15.288
I'm going to let Michael take this one.

00:32:15.347 --> 00:32:17.210
It's too technical

00:32:17.330 --> 00:32:17.451
for me.

00:32:17.471 --> 00:32:17.550
Okay.

00:32:17.730 --> 00:32:18.471
It's fairly simple.

00:32:18.811 --> 00:32:22.737
Let's look about how a moving coil microphone works, like a Unidyne.

00:32:22.916 --> 00:32:24.660
Or there was a moving coil version.

00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:27.242
In fact, the current Green Bull mics are moving coil.

00:32:27.682 --> 00:32:32.348
So you've got a diaphragm, typically about the size of a quarter, made out of mylar.

00:32:32.829 --> 00:32:36.855
You've got a coil of wire that's glued to the back of that diaphragm.

00:32:37.375 --> 00:32:40.499
And then it sits surrounded by a magnet, basically.

00:32:40.980 --> 00:32:42.501
And as the diaphragm bounces...

00:32:42.978 --> 00:32:50.317
the coil of wire moves slightly, again, millionths of an inch within that magnetic field, and that induces a signal in the coil of wire.

00:32:50.859 --> 00:32:54.269
So in this case, it's a moving coil because as you talked, the coil moves.

00:32:55.011 --> 00:33:05.557
Interestingly enough, in a controlled magnetic, or reluctance doesn't make any difference, The diaphragm still moves, but the coil remains stationary, and the magnet remains stationary.

00:33:06.037 --> 00:33:17.175
And what the diaphragm does is it has a little pin on the back, and that moves, for lack of a better term, a little tiny diving board that's made out of a ferrous material, some type of iron.

00:33:18.376 --> 00:33:28.011
So the diaphragm moves, the drive pin moves, and that moves that little ferrous material, and that disrupts the magnetic field.

00:33:28.452 --> 00:33:33.980
And by disrupting that magnetic field and moving it slightly, that also induces a signal in the coil of wire.

00:33:34.521 --> 00:33:39.229
So the aspect of a controlled magnetic microphone is that the coil of wire does not move.

00:33:39.750 --> 00:33:46.619
And because it doesn't move, you're not putting any stress on the actual leads, which makes it why it's better for a military aspect of it.

00:33:47.161 --> 00:33:55.933
So in short, the coil is stationary, the magnet is stationary, and all that moves is a little tiny ferrous iron wire.

00:33:56.066 --> 00:33:58.127
diving board that disrupts the magnetic field.

00:33:58.708 --> 00:34:00.250
That's about the easiest way I can describe it.

00:34:00.910 --> 00:34:07.976
And so the sound of the harmonica going into the green bullet in this case is converted into an electrical signal, which then goes to the amplifier.

00:34:08.016 --> 00:34:13.942
The amplifier then converts that back into sound through the speakers.

00:34:14.802 --> 00:34:23.710
And then we get all these questions about impedance and things, and it goes on to the measurements and the ohms that we were talking about with the meters that are often shown for these.

00:34:23.750 --> 00:34:28.114
And that's what it all relates to when and we see these meter readings and impedance.

00:34:28.134 --> 00:34:30.516
So a low impedance can always feed into a high impedance.

00:34:30.596 --> 00:34:37.101
A guitar amplifier by nature, because originally they were tubes, and tubes by nature have high input impedances.

00:34:37.822 --> 00:34:40.664
So you can always go a low impedance into a higher impedance.

00:34:41.085 --> 00:34:47.311
The problem with a low impedance microphone is that it has a very small output level, and you'd have to turn it up louder.

00:34:47.711 --> 00:34:54.237
So basically we made high impedance microphones to have a higher output level so they would drive these high impedance tube amplifiers better.

00:34:55.137 --> 00:35:01.755
Yes, a high impedance microphone has, on average, probably 15 to 20 dB more output than a low impedance mic.

00:35:02.657 --> 00:35:08.445
Yeah, and so obviously Shure make many microphones, and some of which are used by harmonica players as well as the Green Bullet.

00:35:08.465 --> 00:35:15.293
Obviously, we've got the SM58, which is used traditionally kind of acoustically and by lots of chromatic players and other people as well.

00:35:15.333 --> 00:35:18.856
And then we've got the SM57, the 545 as well.

00:35:18.998 --> 00:35:20.518
These are all dynamic microphones,

00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:20.780
right?

00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:22.521
Yeah, moving coil, I think is best.

00:35:23.182 --> 00:35:29.871
Dynamic can actually refer to moving coil, controlled magnetic, or ribbon, because they all act like a dynamo.

00:35:29.911 --> 00:35:30.871
They all have a magnet.

00:35:30.952 --> 00:35:32.574
So I like the term moving coil magnet.

00:35:32.673 --> 00:35:42.050
and controlled magnetic and also uh ribbon let's not forget about paul butterfield right james he was one of the first ones to use the the unidine three microphone for uh

00:35:42.070 --> 00:35:50.045
yeah and uh you know of course he had some of the best tone uh on the planet indeed

00:35:59.297 --> 00:36:01.021
And so these are the microphones we mentioned there.

00:36:01.041 --> 00:36:03.184
These are low impedance ones, yeah?

00:36:03.585 --> 00:36:06.248
The Unidyne 3s inherently are low impedance.

00:36:06.809 --> 00:36:10.235
The current version of the 520 is actually dual impedance.

00:36:10.255 --> 00:36:14.721
There's a transformer in there and you can select it to be low impedance or select it to be high impedance.

00:36:15.422 --> 00:36:21.552
So you sent me some information, I'll put a link on, you can convert a green bullet to be low impedance and high impedance.

00:36:21.572 --> 00:36:23.554
Is that just the new models which have that ability?

00:36:23.614 --> 00:36:27.501
The first one was the 520D, which was 1981.

00:36:28.610 --> 00:36:32.938
That was a controlled magnetic still, and that had a dual impedance output on it as well.

00:36:33.498 --> 00:36:37.907
The current one, the 520DX, which you've got the volume control and is a moving coil.

00:36:37.987 --> 00:36:41.273

The Green Bullet interview

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