Schertler Dyn-Uni-P48 Contact Microphone

I was looking for a really good quality contact microphone for field recording purposes. The 3 options I considered are the Barcus-Berry 4000 Planar Wave, the Trance Audio Inducer and this one.

I haven't managed to try the other 2, but this one does have a great sound quality. It has a very low noise and a very good overall response. It's much richer than the AKG C411.
And it doesn't need a special pre-amplifier like the other 2, which makes it light and easy to take with me.

I bought this guy with some great expectations and they all were satisfied, with some astonishing surprise.

The cutting-edge design allows for it to be easily stuck on any kind of device (giant, big, long, thin, tiny, small, thick, resonant, smudgy, dull, solid, wobbly and more!)

Sound quality is no-compromisingly superb in that handling noise is zeroed, as well as noise floor. Spectrum is flat, gives a really natural feeling once you hear back from it. It really let you hear from the inside of any device. Maybe works TOO well? Don't think so.

That said, the only bug in the cup is that since it has no pre-eq it comes as an extremely sensitive mic, that means you better place it carefully when you're dealing with consistent bass frequencies that might easily bring annoying physical distortion on the unit (no post HP helps here), ruining your recordings, with almost no-way back. So, find the sweet spot even before pressing REC ok?

And now... The breakthrough: This device is capable of detect ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS! You know what that means? Perhaps a little risk of re-introduced hum (it doesn't have on its own) but a whole set of creative opportunities (e.g. try to place it next to smartphones or monitors... Yes, you know now!).

So, in all aspects, a great unit. Highly recommended for pro-recordings. Not the best choice if you're on a budget.

Deze Schertler is een waardige opvolging van de oude lijn.
Na 2 niet werkende modellen bleek er een batch te zijn waar een kapotte trafo in zat. Dat is door Schertler goed opgevangen met een paar bakjes extra "putti" voor de zorgen. De 4 meter kabel is heel fijn, dat had het oude model niet.
Overall ben ik erg tevreden met de Schertler, hij voldoet aan alle verwachtingen. Hopelijk hebben niet veel meer mensen last van de kapotte trafos, dat kost toch wat extra tijd.

Ich hatte mal den alten Schertler DYN-B und wollte wissen, wie die neue Serie im Vergleich ist.
Der Alte klang schon ziemlich mikromäßig, aber doch ein bisschen nach Kiste. Also mit manchmal seltsamen Resonanzen und nicht gerade besonders offen. Trotzdem hab ich ihn immer wieder gerne verwendet und in bestimmten Situationen meinem auch ziemlich guten Piezo-Stegtonabnehmer vorgezogen.
Der neue DYN UNI mit aktivem Preamp klingt dagegen noch ein ganzes Stück natürlicher, ohne oben beschriebene Nachteile. Klanglich gleichzeitig angenehmer und im Live-Einsatz unproblematischer.
Ich hatte ihn bisher nur am Kontrabass, kann mir aber vorstellen, dass er an so ziemlich jedem Instrument sehr gut funktionieren wird.

Schertlertypisch sehr, sehr gut verarbeitet mit schöner Tasche.