Vintage Soviet USSR Russian Studio Microphone LOMO MKE-100 (MKE-271) 1979 NOS. Battery for demo only. I used 3Volts 2R10 type battery for testing.

The Lomo MKE-100 (sometimes also found as Lomo MKE-271 or as Oktava MKE-271) is an internally polarised electret condenser microphone made in the USSR from the 1970s until the early 1990s. Because of its long-running production, it’s rather common, and schematics for its internals can be found quite easily.Its housing is made of metal.

The Lomo MKE-100 has a small three-pole DIN connector which you can either adapt or cut off and replace, as it requires batteries to run anyway. The original Soviet batteries are not available anymore, but can be replaced by LR1 (LR10) batteries. In case you are interested in modding the mic to accept P48 phantom voltage, there are some schematics on the web. Another very sensible mod will be replacing the electrolyte capacitors in the circuit, as they probably have dried out over the years.

Like many other electret mics, it is recommended for close miking guitars or other acoustic instruments, drum overheads or hi-hat. Notably, though, Russian electret condenser microphone designs weren’t intended for the mass consumer market, as were most other 70s and 80s mics from Japan – allegedly, Russian engineers didn’t have access to the cheap electronics components that flooded the market in the 1970s and used the electret condenser technology to build serious studio microphones. In many ways, the Lomo MKE-100 and the MKE-271 are predecessors to more recent Octava mics such as the MKE-2, and they relied heavily on vintage German made microphone technology in their designs.

Many world stars used it for recording (Pink Floyd, Nirvana and etc.).