Turner Super Sidekick - VS - Turner Plus Three Mic that's the question ?

[FlyBoy50]

OK I have both of these mics and have heard good things about Turner mics so it brings up the question ? Which one of these old mics gets the highest rating from you old pros on 11 meter SSB ??? I'm thinking of wiring one for my Galaxy 2547 or a Cobra and the wiring order to which pin would be helpful also. But it would be interesting to get the opinions from the experts. Let the Best Turner Win !

 

[G-Golly Wally]

OK I have both of these mics and have heard good things about Turner mics so it brings up the question ? Which one of these old mics gets the highest rating from you old pros on 11 meter SSB ??? I'm thinking of wiring one for my Galaxy 2547 or a Cobra and the wiring order to which pin would be helpful also. But it would be interesting to get the opinions from the experts. Let the Best Turner Win !

I'm definitely not an expert but I have a Turner Super Sidekick that was matched up to my Uniden Maddison by a very reputable forum member. I'm more of a SSB guy than anything, but he told me The Turner Super Sidekick is an excellent choice if your into SSB and I've gotten a lot of compliments on the way my station sounds. I've never used a Turner Plus 3 so I can't really compare the two, but i really like my Sidekick.

 

[FlyBoy50]

I'm definitely not an expert but I have a Turner Super Sidekick that was matched up to my Uniden Maddison by a very reputable forum member. I'm more of a SSB guy than anything, but he told me The Turner Super Sidekick is an excellent choice if your into SSB and I've gotten a lot of compliments on the way my station sounds. I've never used a Turner Plus 3 so I can't really compare the two, but i really like my Sidekick.

Yes I've heard before that the Sidekick was a SSB mic but I just read another post talking about those old mics having parts in them that fail with age so I guess they are both a gamble.

 

[Night Stalker10]

In 1976 I bought the SSK microphone and used it with a Cobra cam 89. It sounded great. Later in 1979 I bought a President Madison and of course the SSK sounded great with the Madison. The SSK looked like it was made for the Madison because of its black body and silver mic element top it had. I still have the SSK today. Earlier this spring I replaced the electrolytic capacitors in it since they are around 50 years old.

On a side note, I have a slightly used Asatic D104-6B hand power mic. To me it sounds very similar to the super sidekick. I did mod this hand mic by replacing the dynamic cartridge with an electret element. It sounds really good too.

 

[Night Stalker10]

I also have the Turner plus 3 base mic. It's also another favorite for radio enthusiast, because of its clear sound. I replaced the capacitors in this mic too. Both the SSK and the plus 3 use the same caps.

They use 3 - 5uf 35v, 1 - 15uf 25v, and 1 - 25uf 15v capacitors. I can't remember but the difference between these two microphones were the amp boards. I think one mic used a single bipolar transistor and the other mic used a couple of fets, or something like that. Wiring them up is pretty straightforward using 4 wires.
Pin 1 - gnd, pin 2 - audio, pin 3 - tx, and pin 4 - rx for cobras and Uniden radios.

I also have a like new Shure 444d in a box, another great sounding microphone.

I think Turner did a great job with these two mics to compete with the popular D104. To answer the question, for me the Super Sidekick is my favorite because of the mellow sound it has.

 

[N8YX]

Let's throw a curve ball into the mix too.

Telex paging mics. The Browning 776. CPI desk mics.

All OEMed by Turner, much as Astatic did with their 878/1104 series. (I have half a dozen different branded mics of that series, including Drake. Coincidentally, the 7073 was a +3 in disguise...)

The difference is primarily in the elements and the pass-band of the amplifier circuits in the mic bases. I used an SSK on an AM-only base station and kept getting muffled audio reports - but a +3 fixed that right up.

Non-amplified paging mics from either OEM had a flatter response and let the transceiver or PA mic preamp determine the response curve. Which is the way I like it.

 

[DXman]

I was using the +3 as far back as 1973-5 on a SBE Console (one with the clock).
I continued using it on my RCI 2970dx radio for about 12 + yrs. Always worked good for me & never any complaints.

The +3 will work on a lot of other radio's also that I've heard.

 

[Ghetto]

The Turner +3 has compression while the Super Sick Kick does not. Saying that they are both fantastic mikes and they are the only desk mics I own. I think the super side kick is slightly crisper/cleaner over the +3 on SSB. The +3 helps punch through DX pile ups. Its a bit of a horses for courses. Eg I'd use the super side kick for local ragchewing over the +3 but if the +3 was turned down it sounds great too. Cant go wrong with either.

 

[gamegetter]

for sideband:

i want a clear natural voice to come through as opposed to loudness.
so overdriving the radio makes the signal distorted and difficult to understand especially when conditions are in and out.

therefore, as mentioned before proper adjustment of the mic gain is necessary and being conservative with the setting on the +3 is an advantage, so I give the edge to the +3 in so far as being able to have the strong clear signal due to its adjustment capability. I also feel the +3 was a bit better designed for this reason as a desk mic.

the super sidekick has some advantages as a slightly more compact desk and ease of use though while having a good audio gain.

You can't go wrong with with either mic as a base station mic but i was trying to answer the question.

 

[SuperLid]

OK I have both of these mics and have heard good things about Turner mics so it brings up the question ? Which one of these old mics gets the highest rating from you old pros on 11 meter SSB ??? I'm thinking of wiring one for my Galaxy 2547 or a Cobra and the wiring order to which pin would be helpful also. But it would be interesting to get the opinions from the experts. Let the Best Turner Win !

Turner Plus Three. Best amplified microphone ever made. End of story.