Lustraphone VR64
Manufacturer:
LustraphoneModel:
VR64Country of Manufacture:
United KingdomMicrophone Type:
RibbonPolar Pattern:
Figure 8Production Start Year:
1957Production End Year:
1970Rarity:
2
Audio Recordings:
Speech (male) recorded with a Lustraphone VR64 ribbon microphone.
Multiple quality options available
Nylon string guitar recorded with a Lustraphone VR64 ribbon microphone.
Multiple quality options available
Impulse Response File:
IR file of a Lustraphone VR64 ribbon microphone.
LustraphoneVR64.wav
Frequency Response:
Microphone History:
The VR64 was a popular small ribbon microphone which was manufactured from 1957 until around 1970, mostly aimed at the home recording market. Two main versions were available, one fixed to a desk stand and one with a threaded stem which could be screwed to a (then) standard 1/2" format microphone stand.
The VR64 was also sold under the EAP brand as the "Elizabethan' model from 1961 until 1964. It was painted blue with a bronze badge.
Specification of the EAP Elizabethan Ribbon microphone, from Hi-Fi Yearbook, 1960, p168: Response: 50-12,000 Hz; Sensitivity - 56 dB; Source imp. 50,000 ohms. Built in transformer. Price £7 1 7s. 6d.E.A.P. (Tape Recorders) Ltd., Bridge Close, Old Church Road, Romford, Essex.
Lustraphone promotional material suggests that the VR64 was replaced by models 4-50 and 4-70, but we have never seen these microphones in real life. Lustraphone appear to have ceased trading around 1973 so perhaps those models never made it into mass production. They certainly never achieved the success of the VR64.
Technical Description:
From Hi-Fi Yearbook 1965-66
Ribbonette VR 64
Response substantially flat 50 to 13 000 cfs.
Impedance: low, line and high.
Built-in transformer. 20 ft. cable or low and line. 9 ft. for high.
Table base.
Price : £8. 15s. 6d.
