Until I bought this mic on ebay I had never seen or heard of the Philips EL6033/10. What raised my curiosity (enough to click ‘Buy Now’) was the switchable polar response which appears to be a design feature unique to this particular microphone (see Philips Patent below). I can not think of another single element dynamic mic that has a switchable choice of omni /cardioid patterns. (If anyone reading this can think of one please let me know!) The switching is done by rotating the knurled ring just below the head which causes a shutter to cover the rear of the capsule in Omni, and uncover it in Cardioid. Beautifully simple and effective! It is a cool-looking mic and well engineered. Over all it has a distinct look of AKG about it, being somewhat reminiscent of the D19 and the D190, and I did wonder if it was one of the mics made for Philips by the Austrian manufacturer?
Philips 1968 Microphone Patent which describes in detail the mechanism of the EL6033/10
Pictured in the 1968 HiFi Yearbook The mic itself cost £26 (an average week’s wage in 1968) 2x the price of a Reslo RBT! According to the information below,an optional vibration damper could also be purchased for an extra £3.10s.
Thanks to Pete Guppy for these pics from HiFi Yearbook.
The 2 Technical leaflets below have been kindly supplied by Philips Company Archives and show the EL6033 to be a dynamic studio microphone of considerable quality. Check out the great 1960s graphics……the confused looking girl with the trumpet and trombone pointing at her head is quite special! (As is blurred guy with saxophone!)
Leaflet microphone type EL6033, ± 1969
Leaflet microphone type EL6033, 1969
So……… What does it sound like? CLICK HERE.
Also.
In this video clip the EL6033/10 is use on electric guitar.
Martin Mitchell's Microphones 
Quite like the sound of this one, quite hard to pick one up in the UK.
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I’ve worked in the industry since the early ’70s and I’ve never seen one before buying this one!
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They must be a rare sort. Found one or two from America on eBay. How much did you pick this one up for?
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£50.00
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Hi,
I own one of these and it says ‘Made in Holland’ on the side; all types produced for Philips by AKG read ‘made in Austria’, which convinces me it was really made in Holland.
The leaflets are great!
I also have a Philips EL 6042/55, a pencil mic with a xlr connector. I have not been able to find any info on that one, and it does not have a name on it which refers to where it was made, alas. The mic holder with it is definitely AKG. If you can supply any info on it that would be very welcome.
Greetings from Holland,
Marco
http://www.vintagemicworld.com
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Many thanks for the information. Philips themselves don’t seem to know much about the mics they made!! The most helpful person at the company archives who sent me the 2 leaflets is
Marianka Louwers
Philips Company Archives
H High Tech Campus 5,
3.0735656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
( +31 40 27 40300
@ pca@philips.com
Perhaps she may be able to find some info on the EL 6042/55. I have never heard of it before! If I come across any info I’ll let you know.
All the Best
Martin
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P.S. Just noticed that the HiFi Yearbook pic in my blog post above does have a short piece on the 6042. If you double click it should be large enough to read.
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Hi Martin!
There aren’t many pattern switchable dynamic mics (except ribbon microphones of course). The only other dynamic microphone with switchable pick up patterns I can think of is the AKG D30.
Cheers!
Julius
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Thanks for that Julius. The AKG D30 is not a mic I have come across. Appears to be Omni and Figure of 8. Looks interesting!
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Hi Martin,
the AKG D 30 is equipped with two D 20 capsules. The signals are combined to create different directional patterns, but it is definitely not a single element mic with a mechanical shutter. The only mics that come close are the RCA ribbons 77D and 77 DX, and the MI 6203 Varacoustic, these have mechanical shutters or sliders to change the patterns.
Philips had about 12 % of AKG shares in the Sixties and many pics were either badged for Philips, or were specially made just for them. It is very likely that some parts were supplied by AKG, but not the complete mic.
A later Philips type (the LBB 9020/25 or LBB 9020/45), similar to the Sennheiser MD 421 had another way of turning it into an omni; by shoving a clear plastic part over the front of the body, leaving only the front of the element exposed. This was produced in Germany, unknown by whom.
Many people turn their Shure SM 57 into an omni by accident, because they tape the grill to the mic and stop the airflow through the perforated metal beneath.
regards,
Marco
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Hi Marco,
Many thanks for this very interesting additional information. I love your comments about SM57s accidentally turned into omnis. Rappers and dodgy singers often do the same by ‘cupping’ the back of the grill on their SM58s and then grimace at the engineer when it feeds back through the stage monitors!
All the Best
Martin
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Hi Martin,.
Starting to develop an interest in what you are doing.
I love you blogs and findings.
Myself born and stil living in philips country Eindhoven, i.ve started collecting philips mics myself.
I think what philips use to do was leaving production at akg, but if they needed the work locally, they would pull the assembly of the mics back to the Netherlands. That would explain the variance in labeling made in holland or Austria. Even Germany. The Lbb902O goes under 2 serials but made in 3 countrys.
I.ll see if your contact at Philips can help me out with som of my needs for information.
Greets..
Peter
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Hi Peter,
Good to hear from you. Glad you like my blog.
A collection of Philips mics will be interesting. I am sure you are probably right about the relationship between Philips and AKG.
Marianka Louwers at Philips was the only person there who answered my enquiries. It seems very strange but they didn’t appear to know much about the microphones they produced! So good luck!
All the Best
Martin.
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This seems similar to the rotating mechanical shutter on the rear of the 1955 Sony C37 (which evolved into the better-known C38b) condenser mic.
Thos Sonys were also omni/cardioid, changed by an adjuster screw on the back of the mic. Same principle, but they were/are, of course, condensers not dynamics.
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