K & K Trinity with DTAR Solstice - new microphone issues

[TTerral]

I'm trying to get a new K & K Trinity Mini Solo (P/U and mic, no preamp) for my new guitar (Preston Thompson D-CMA, awesome guitar by the way) and it turns out K & K have added a capacitor to the mic so it does not work with any preamp but theirs. I have two older Trinity systems in my other guitars that work great with my DTAR Solstice and would like to have another and was wondering if anyone has a work around for this or knows a store that has old stock of the pre-capacitor Trinity systems.

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by TTerral

I'm trying to get a new K & K Trinity Mini Solo (P/U and mic, no preamp) for my new guitar (Preston Thompson D-CMA, awesome guitar by the way) and it turns out K & K have added a capacitor to the mic so it does not work with any preamp but theirs. I have two older Trinity systems in my other guitars that work great with my DTAR Solstice and would like to have another and was wondering if anyone has a work around for this or knows a store that has old stock of the pre-capacitor Trinity systems.

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Slight correction: K&K has installed a voltage limiter to their internal miss which will work with any preamp as long as it is not providing more than 10.5v DC bias power. The DTAR Solstice provides more than that, so it won't work with the newer K&K internal mics. You can mod the Solstice to provide a lower voltage, say 9v. Then it would work with old and new K&K internal mics.

[TTerral]

Thanks for the response, I appreciate the suggestion. Any reason to think one would not want to mod a Solstice to the 9 V configuration? Has anyone done this and used it with the K & K? Seems like a reasonable option.

The capacitor comment was what the tech guy told me when I spoke to K & K.

[dannyg1]

You might try directly powering the mic with its own 9v battery.

[wayne8]

Do a search for 'Trinity'. I remember threads telling about another mic you can replace the K&K mic with in your Trinity system that won't have that problem and will work with your Solstice. It'll pair up with your K&K pickup just like the K&K mic and is said to be just as good or maybe even better.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by TTerral

Thanks for the response, I appreciate the suggestion. Any reason to think one would not want to mod a Solstice to the 9 V configuration? Has anyone done this and used it with the K & K? Seems like a reasonable option.

The capacitor comment was what the tech guy told me when I spoke to K & K.

IIRC (it's been some time), the Solstice has both 15v balanced phantom power (for the XLR inputs) and 15v unbalanced bias power (for the ¼" TRS inputs - sent to the ring). I suspect the 15v power source for both of these features is the same, with a subsequent circuit to change the 15v balanced phantom power to 15v unbalanced bias power. It would be in this subsequent circuit that a modification would be made. Doing it this way would lower the unbalanced bias power yet leave the 15v balanced phantom power unaffected for use with many XLR condenser mics.

[TTerral]

Looked for a schematic for the Solstice online to give to my guitar tech, but it is the one from the manual and from what I can tell it does not appear to show how the phantom power is wired in the circuit. I am not able to do the mod myself and not sure how obvious the "fix" would be once you opened the unit up. I will probably just take it to my guy and see what he says.

I have seen a couple of suggestions for alternate mics, DPA, etc. - still looking for Doug's post with suggestions. Any other ideas on mics? DPA 4061 mics are between $200-250 on Ebay used - realizing they are very good mics, if I just got the K&K mini transducers and the DPA, are there any issues in wiring the DPA into the TRS end pin jack? Does the 15V phantom power provided by the Solstice play nice with the DPA? Also, any suggestions on mounting the DPA, since it is not on a gooseneck like the Silver Bullet? Assuming it sounds good in roughly the same position as the Silver Bullet, 1/2" under the B and G strings, 1/2" from the fretboard side of the soundhole.

EDIT - Looks like Doug recommends the Audix L50 and the DPA 4061 mics as replacement/upgrades to the Silver Bullet (all omnis, would the Audix L5 cardiod or any other cardiod work?). Any other recommended contenders? Again, assuming these are all mounted the same way the Silver Bullet is mounted (internal).

Thanks for the help!