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I've built quite a few mics with electret condenser elements, some for amateur use, some for contact mics for instruments for live use.

The small Sony electrets from Digikey, etc., have a flatter response and can work very well on instruments in some situations. The Radio Shack elements do have a midrange rise and do not sound as natural in that application-- BUT that same property makes them better for communication use, I think. My D-104 in which I replaced the dead ceramic element with a Rat Shack electret sounds better to me on my IC-718 than the Heil ICM, which sounds flat and dull in comparison.

Depending on you application, you may not need a preamp for an electret. Most of them will work up to 10V, and on the ones I built for instruments were SCREAMING with a 9V supply through a 1K resistor, and I quickly learned to use a simple voltage divider pot on the output, as well as lowering the supply voltage to 5-6 volts. They are considerably hotter than dynamic mics, even with the supply voltage down around 4V, with the little Sony elements (which can be a challenge to solder) being hotter than the RS ones.

<blockquote data-quote="RickC." data-source="post: 138764" data-attributes="member: 9297">I&#039;ve built quite a few mics with electret condenser elements, some for amateur use, some for contact mics for instruments for live use.&nbsp;The small Sony electrets from Digikey, etc., have a flatter response and can work very well on instruments in some situations.&nbsp; The Radio Shack elements do have a midrange rise and do not sound as natural in that application-- BUT that same property makes them better for communication use, I think.&nbsp; My D-104 in which I replaced the dead ceramic element with a Rat Shack electret sounds better to me on my IC-718 than the Heil ICM, which sounds flat and dull in comparison.&nbsp;Depending on you application, you may not need a preamp for an electret.&nbsp; Most of them will work up to 10V, and on the ones I built for instruments were SCREAMING with a 9V supply through a 1K resistor, and I quickly learned to use a simple voltage divider pot on the output, as well as lowering the supply voltage to 5-6 volts.&nbsp; They are considerably hotter than dynamic mics, even with the supply voltage down around 4V, with the little Sony elements (which can be a challenge to solder) being hotter than the RS ones.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="RickC., post: 138764, member: 9297"] I've built quite a few mics with electret condenser elements, some for amateur use, some for contact mics for instruments for live use. The small Sony electrets from Digikey, etc., have a flatter response and can work very well on instruments in some situations. The Radio Shack elements do have a midrange rise and do not sound as natural in that application-- BUT that same property makes them better for communication use, I think. My D-104 in which I replaced the dead ceramic element with a Rat Shack electret sounds better to me on my IC-718 than the Heil ICM, which sounds flat and dull in comparison. Depending on you application, you may not need a preamp for an electret. Most of them will work up to 10V, and on the ones I built for instruments were SCREAMING with a 9V supply through a 1K resistor, and I quickly learned to use a simple voltage divider pot on the output, as well as lowering the supply voltage to 5-6 volts. They are considerably hotter than dynamic mics, even with the supply voltage down around 4V, with the little Sony elements (which can be a challenge to solder) being hotter than the RS ones. [/QUOTE]

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