Discontinued Gefell M29x mics?

[ChuckS]

A member of another forum stated he tried to order a pair of Gefell M296 and was told the M294, M295 M296, and M297 were being discontinued. Anyone else hear of this?

[sdelsolray]

They are still on the Gefell website. I'll check with Gefell and report back.

[dcn]

Hi Chuck, it was I who posted on Gearspace : )

I’ll paste the email I got from Gefell here later today.

[dcn]

Here’s the e-mail from MG which the Vintage King rep shared with me when letting me know it would not be possible for me to buy a pair of M296-s:

"First,

our M 300 family has now 4 members:

M 300 normal cardioid

M 310 small cardioid

M 320 omnidirectional

M 330 wide cardioid (new)

Second,

SMS 2000 series will be continued for the next time. As long as there are parts on stock we will continue producing our modular series as you know it so far. As there are M 200, M 210 and M 270.


Third,

our nickel small diaphragm mics will be discontinued. This includes M 294, M 295, M 296 and M 297. There are no individual parts for building them on stock anymore. Our issue is, that orders are mainly one or two mics from each type from time to time. To have an affordable production run we have to produce at least 20 pieces from each. But with the prospect of having something new in the near future it doesn´t make sense to do that. Please understand that. That means two things, if somebody orders 20 microphones we reassess the situation. And we have something new in the future and concentrate our complete development power on this.

This product range will be soon removed from our homepage.

So with great regret we must tell you that there is no order confirmation for these M 296s possible. We would like to ask you to tell that to your customers. We can suggest to buy M 102 or M 221 from our measurement microphones which is not the same but nearby and much more expensive. We can try to get a special price for these mics in this case. Or you can also offer M 320. Which is omnidirectional characteristics.

Please believe me that we are not happy with this situation. As it took so long and you and your customer have been waiting."

[ChuckS]

Thanks for following up on this information. When I got my pair of M296S's about 4-5 years ago there were none in stock at retailers or at the factory. It took about 3 months to get them as they were built for me. Before I ordered my M296S's they also suggested the M221 as an alternative (but they were also 50% higher in price). Too bad it has come to this as these nickel membrane mics have been a favorite for a lot of acoustic guitarists.

Have you looked into the M221? Sounds like they'll give you special pricing. The M296 is more directional than the M221, but the M221 also comes with spheres which give it some high frequency lift (for use in the diffuse field) and they also make it more directional.

[dcn]

Thanks for the suggestion, Chuck. The M221s seem very capable mics as well, I have asked what the “special price” would be given the massive price difference between the two.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by dcn

Thanks for the suggestion, Chuck. The M221s seem very capable mics as well, I have asked what the “special price” would be given the massive price difference between the two.

On the VK site, it's less than a $100 difference between the M296 and M221.

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by dcn

Thanks for the suggestion, Chuck. The M221s seem very capable mics as well, I have asked what the “special price” would be given the massive price difference between the two.

You might also want to check with Massive Sound to see if they have any stock of the M296 or M221.

[jim1960]

Maybe one day my M295 pair will be worth enough that I'd be able to sell them and buy a vintage 67.
I dream... and I jest... but mostly, I dream.

[sdelsolray]

I've had my pair of M295 since about 2003. One of the capsules began acting up and I had Gefell replace both capsules and replace the caps and do a few other things in the mic amp bodies in 2017.

[ChuckS]

And going beyond the M29x series, the Gefell M221 has been, and continues to be, on extended back order. Gefell is now offering the M250 which is similar but uses a pre-polarized capsule.