Extinct Audio Berserker

The original Berserker was built as a limited edition vocal microphone with distinctive vintage style grills and yoke that were cast in brass, using an old BSR microphone body as a template. In all, Extinct Audio made five small batches of these brass bodied microphones between October 2021 and September 2024, with a total of just 29 microphones. The bodies were cast at a local foundry using a traditional lost wax method. Stewart told us the following:

"The name Berserker is a cheeky play on the body that we took as inspiration for the design, with the letters BSR appearing in the new name, in order. It also has a Norse root and sits nicely alongside the Viking and Valkyr names of our other models.

Because of the hand made nature of casting and production, each batch was slightly different and customers could choose the look of their microphone. Some microphones had black badges, others orange badges, some mics were grey and others black, and the yokes had either 90 degree angles or a semi-circular aspect. We tried painting one microphone blue, but it didn't look great so was re-painted. After five batches, we could see that the silicone moulds were starting to wear out, so we stopped making these and commissioned some injection casting equipment. Future mics could be made in Zinc, and would be much more consistent. We called the later models BerZerkers, with a Z, to indicate the change in process."

The microphones are numbered in the format X-Y, where X is the batch number and Y is the unique identifier within that batch. So, for example, the Berserker in our collection is marked 1-6, the sixth mic from the first production run.

300 ohm output impedance.

The official Berserker web page.

The Berserker at Micpedia.

Marc Urselli discusses his Berserker in Recording Magazine October 2024"

"Now, we move to two companies carrying on the classic ribbon mic tradition today. First, we head back to the British Isles. I recently acquired my first Extinct Audio Berserker microphone. Extinct Audio is based in York, England, and was cofounded by Stewart Tavener of Xaudia-one of the companies I use to repair/ restore my British mics, especially the Reslo brand.

The Berserker (visually inspired by the 1940s BSR Birmingham Sound Reproducers mic) is a passive low-noise ribbon with much more output than most vintage ribbons. It has an internal windscreen to reduce sibilance and plosives, so it's great for vocals, especially jazz vocals. The mic's body is cast from solid brass and is made in limited runs, so I had to get in line and wait for my turn. I am glad I did, as this is a beautifully built and sounding ribbon mic."