Groove Tubes GT-66 / BLUE Bottle Rocket Stage 1

[MrJoshua]

I was sure I had read some about this mic on here before, but I can't seem to turn up much with the search function. Anyway, I ran across a decent price on one via eBay and bought it. It looks like an interesting microphone. I'll post my thoughts on it once it arrives and I've had the time to check it out.

 

I also have a BLUE Bottle Rocket Stage 1 on its way. They were offering a free additional capsule with purchase so I decided to snag it (it was backordered at the time - should be here tomorrow). I'll be sure to give it a workout and talk about it, too. I'm looking forward to hearing both of them. I have been pretty impressed with GT products in the past, and have a couple of BLUE mics that are solid.

[AluminumNeck]

I like my GT66 tube mic alot. Seems to be very very accurate.

[MrJoshua]

Well, the Bottle Rocket Stage 1 came in yesterday. So far I've only had a chance to use it as a drum "overhead" mic, but I'm hoping to try it on vocals soon. I'm using the included B8 capsule. I'll be filling out the rebate paperwork and sending it in to get a B7 capsule as well, so I'll let y'all know what difference that makes after I have it.

 

The Stage1/B8 sounds good as a drum overhead, though. I was doing a little demo session for one of my (bad) originals. The kit was my Pearl Export Series set up as a 4-piece with a Ludwig Supraphonic 14x6.5" snare. Zildjian Z-custom crash and ride; A-custom hats (I think that's right - I'm a crappy drummer and don't know all that much about various models and such. It isn't my main instrument at all). I put an RE-20 in the kick and plugged it into the Chandler Germanium pre. Snare had a 57 plugged into an API 512c. The rack tom had a Sennheiser e604 and the floor tom has the Shure SM-7b, both into the first two channels of the Focusrite ISA-428. The BLUE Bottle Rocket was placed about three feet in front of the kit, roughly on the center line (a straight line from the center of the snare, coming out midway between the rack and floor toms over the middle of the kick) pointed at the snare. Then I placed the Mojave MA-200 approximately 12' away as a room mic. Of course all of this was in my living room so it isn't exactly a high-quality studio environment. But still. The BLUE and Mojave were plugged into Great River MP-500NV preamps.

 

Using the BLUE as the main mic I was pleased with the sound. It was clear and crisp without sounding overly-bright. A little light on the kick and heavy on the cymbals, but that's due to the drummer (me), not the mic. Adding in the rest of the mics yielded a very usable drum sound with a nice balance. The B8 capsule seems to have a pretty clean sound to it without a ton of extra high-end hype. So far so good.

 

I'll try it out for vocals in the near future, as soon as I have the words written to this one. Then I'll put up some sound clips. Although I've never gotten that much use out of sound clips online, really. It's always been my opinion that sound clips tell me more about the room, instruments, and performance than they do about the mic ... but I'll put some up anyway.

[MrJoshua]

OK, after spending some more time with the Bottle Rocket Stage 1 with B8 capsule, so far so good. Tonight I recorded three takes of myself singing through it, and other than the fact that I'm not a very good singer it sounded really good. It's a very clean sound but the top end doesn't seem nearly as hyped as it does on a lot of condensors in this price range. The proximity effect on this mic, while present, doesn't seem as pronounced as I expected. Overall I'm pleased with the mic and looking forward to getting the B7 capsule to try out.

 

Tomorrow I'll start trying out the GT-66.

[AluminumNeck]

OK, after spending some more time with the Bottle Rocket Stage 1 with B8 capsule, so far so good. Tonight I recorded three takes of myself singing through it, and other than the fact that I'm not a very good singer it sounded really good. It's a very clean sound but the top end doesn't seem nearly as hyped as it does on a lot of condensors in this price range. The proximity effect on this mic, while present, doesn't seem as pronounced as I expected. Overall I'm pleased with the mic and looking forward to getting the B7 capsule to try out. Tomorrow I'll start trying out the GT-66.

 

if you are under invested on the Gt66 and you don't mind a back yard mod. Remove the inner wind screen stuff from inside the capsule shield. This mod is ireversable..

 

Warming. pop filter might be needed with plossives and ssssssssss singers. I bought a spare windscren so I can swap back and forth.

[MrJoshua]

I'll keep that in mind. I don't normally mod my mics. No real reason not to other than feeling like it was probably designed that way for a reason, I guess. I'll see how it sounds stock first, though.

[jackcheez]

The GT-66 I have became my go to mic for a lot of percussion instruments. Shakers, tambourines, cowbells, and wut not. It's not what I intended, just kind of turned out that way.

[MrJoshua]

Initial impression of the GT-66 is positive. I used it to track a few vocal takes and it has a clear top end that manages not to be harsh. Not as much "body" in the low mids as I was hoping for (I hate trying to describe sounds with words). It seems shy in the lower midrange compared to the Mojave MA-200, but surprisingly it also seemed to have a little less low end than the Bottle Rocket. Of course this is something that might have more to do with positioning or simply how my voice sounded that night than anything else, so keep in mind it's just a first impression. It sounds like a useful microphone, though, and I'm looking forward to getting to know it better.