American RC Biscuit?
Hi Fritz. Here's my question-
I've seen a mic on Ebay UK described as a vintage and rare "American RC Biscuit". It has a Shure CM element (no. 99S56RE) and is fitted with a 5/8" switchcraft connector. The mic looks pretty nifty and was listed at a price of £120 (@$180). Nobody bid on the mic but I have contacted the seller who is prepared to sell to me post auction.
Problem is, I can't seem to find anything else online matching the name as described. I wondered if it was meant to be RCA but still no matches for a biscuit mic. I have'nt asked the seller for further details yet as I thought you might be able to advise. Any ideas on this?
Thanks,
Rob
Hello Rob,
To quote Nervous Norvus, "Dig Dig Dig -Dig-A-Roony"... You just have to keep excavating. From their catalog, the AMERICAN RC was a crystal mic from the bottom of the AMERICAN MICROPHONES food chain. In profile, they look a good deal more like a "Muffin" or maybe a "Cupcake" than a "Biscuit" as the heavy step-sided chromed grill formed a significant overhanging ridge beyond the circumference of the short, tapered, cylindrical maroon/brown body that may or may not be a disadvantage, depending on your tastes. They were hard-wired with a spring strain relief on a seven foot cable & were sold with a cheap-o marbled plastic desk stand. There's a variant that was supplied with an on-off switch and was called -yes, the RCS. The catalog specs show a response curve of 50-6KHZ . That should be great for harp, but I'll admit I've never come across one with a healthy enough original crystal to get a fair appraisal of its capabilities. As with the example you've come across on EBAY UK, most RC's wind-up with substitute elements...
I had a search for info on the American RC Biscuit and couldn't find much at all.
For what it's worth I bought a CM element off that same ebay seller a while ago. It was great.
Rob - I'm based in the UK.
If you're interested I have a few mics for sale: Astatic Model 30 Biscuit with CM 99A86, Astatic T3 with CM 99A86, Ev RE10.
Thanks, I'll PM you once I figure out how to!
Rob - You can reach me via email me at: paulandrewroutledge@googlemail.com
HEY YOU GUYS! As middleman / incidental billboard I get 30% of the action! And just in case you were wondering, "RC" does NOT mean "radio controlled" in this instance... -Fritz
OK Fritz you got it! IOU it is, with O being the operative abreviation as I will have no dollars left after forking out for all this LW magic! QED!
PS does Dave qualify for 10% seeing as we're on his site..?!
Lol! 30%!
Tell you what Fritz, I'll send you some nice English tea instead! :-)
...Then there's the state tax, federal tax, excise tax, licensing tax, conveyance tax, surtax, sir tax, ma'am tax, smog tax, recycling tax, flatted fifth tax, Instant Little Walter tax... Just a sec, I've got some forms for you to fill-out...
I've just noticed that you refer to the AMERICAN RC in the previous thread! Why can't I find any reference elsewhere to this mic or have I just not dug deep enough?!
I guess I'm right to assume the thread on connector is a mod, as is the CM element. I'll contact the seller to see what he can tell me but any experience of this mic would still be valued.
Cheers,
Rob