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Reviews For: Heil Heritage

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Heil Heritage
Reviews: 11MSRP: $188.00
Description:
The Professional division at Heil Sound presents the 'HERITAGE', a high performance dynamic microphone designed for commercial broadcast, live sound reinforcement (PA) and recording studios. Designed to answer the 'Elvis' microphone of the 50's, the Heil Heritage is truly a piece of American art! The chrome finish is a special 'showchrome' where the molded steel body is first copper plated and then chrome plated producing a gorgeous finish that looks as if it was inches deep.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.heilsound.com/heritage.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00113.7
WU8P Rating: 2009-04-14
Very Good Mic Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my Heritage since it first came out.
It works great with my Kenwood TS-870S. I currently have it mounted on a boom.
The only problem has been cosmetic. I changed the blue foam many times. It keeps fading out. Every time I called Heil, they sent a replacement. So I think they know about the problem. I have seen other Heritage mics with same problem.
I solved it by replacing the foam with blue velvet fabric.

73
Phil WU8P
W4AUV Rating: 2009-04-14
OUTSTANDINNG! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use this mic with both my SSB gear and my vintage gear on AM.

You must have an EQ with this mic, especially if you are using it on SSB. You adjust the EQ to take out the BIG BOOMING BASS.

I currently run mine on SSB and AM as follows:

+3 DB on highs
+3 DB on midrange (this is at 2.5 khz)
-6 DB on Low range

This is with a Behringer EQ

Another tip: DO NOT run speech processing on your SSB rig with this setup!
W0SWR Rating: 2007-06-01
With the right radio and EQ it works well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using the Heritage mic for over a year and like the looks of this well made mic. I gave up trying to use it without an equalizer on several of my radios, so I use a W2IHY which helps the mids and highs. It performs well with my older radios (FT-102 and FT-107), and works very well with my FT-920. I would not give this mic a 5 because of its steep price and lack of performance without a equalizer. I have used a Shure 55s but it didn't work well with my radios. If you want a good looking mic that works well with a equalizer this might be a nice choice.
N6BIZ Rating: 2007-04-24
excellent mic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i had a problem in setting her up not so good reports called up the master mr bob heil 1 minute with him on the phone and i sounded like a high powered am station like mr heil says HE needs anyone to call him if they are having a problem with audio quality with any of his stuff bob is here for us what a company what a guy im sorry for the folks out here who gave a bad review maybe a quick call to bob will straighten things out did for me tu es 73
K4RWW Rating: 2007-03-25
Great for a decoration Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Excellent fit and finish; looks really good on the desk. Unfortunately, a very poor choice for any audio application I have tried. Resonances within the mic cavity produce undesirable acoustics and breath noise is difficult to tame. The Heritage is not one of Bob's best products for the ham radio market.
NN3D Rating: 2006-06-10
Great Mic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this microphone a couple of weeks ago. When I first got it set up and running, the first thing that was said to me after I made contact was that I had very scratchy audio. Also on 75 meters, when I would key up, it would not stop keying. So after a little research I learned that RF was probably what was causing the problems. So I re-did the cable, this time grounding the shield surrounding the +Mic and the -Mic wires and it now works great. I get nothing but glowing audio reports! Also the PL-2T microphone boom stand is a great addition to this microphone.

73 and good DX!
Chris- KB3MTV
W4LGH Rating: 2005-10-05
Thumbs Down! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
As for something pretty to sit on your Desk..this is a nice mic, but for performance, forget it! As others, up close it gets very muddy a if you turn your head 1 inch off center the entire tonal freq changes. If you set up the gain and get away from it, it does go thin. Also noticed that the mic had a very hollow sound, and was hard to correct. However I fixed mine...SOLD IT!

Bob Heil seems to be a nice fellow, but I have always thought his products never really made the grade, the Heritage surely didn't!

PS...for those who really like the look, NADY makes 2 version of this style mic, the PCM-100 and PCM-200, one dynamic and one condenser! Also you can still buy the ORIGINAL Shure 55S-II.

M0BSW Rating: 2004-10-30
Nice Chrome Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Like the others I found if you speak close it's muddy, and picks up breath ect,if you speak 5ins or so it's thin.
What I've done is this, first a pop shield so as I can close talk it, then on my Kenwood TS870s I set audio bandwidth 3000, tx shift 0 EQ to Hi, this seems to work for me. what really makes it work well is either a W2IHY EQ, or Behringer Tube mic pre-amp & a Behringer DEQ2496.
This is my other setup, I guess other Studio outboard gear would equally as well.
I still think the Goldline takes some beating
Paul M0BSW
N0PV Rating: 2004-08-24
Nice Addition to the Station Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Heil Heritage is a nice addition to my station. Since I had added it to my set up I have received nothing but glowing audio reports and very rarely do I need to make a second call to reach a station. While others compare it to other studio mikes I can only comment on what my exeriences have been - I am not a HiFi expert, but it sure has been nice to hear "Very nice audio" comments coming from the other end. I will say that the price might be a bit too high, and that is probably what keeps me from giving this a 5
NA1A Rating: 2004-02-01
Works NOT as good as it looks Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Mic has a very beautiful chrome finish and is heavy. Too bad that it does not sound nearly as good as it looks. Mic is very sensitive to how close and what angle to speak into it. Too far will sound thin and too close will sound muddy. Yet, the Heritage picks up the puffing (breath) noise quite well.
All of the above, I'd give it a three. Mic is also over priced. You can get a real pro studio mic with much better quality and far better frequency response for 1/3 the cost of the Heritage.