hand-built mics by tully mccully


Tully McCullagh was born on May 31 1953. After leaving school, he went on to form Spaced Out Sound Studios, where many artists in South Africa were to successfully record. Tully is a founding member of McCully Workshop, who had several No. 1 records in the 60s and 70s including Buccaneer and Chinese Junkman.

With the help of electronic genius Robert Gush, they went on to build a 2" 16 track and finally a 2" 24 track tape recorder. Artists such as Lesley Rae Dowling, David Kramer, McCully Workshop, Zayn Adams and many more, were produced and recorded by Tully with this machine, including the million-selling single by Crocodile Harris Give Me The Good News.

In the late 70s, Tully also built and used echo plates,which several Cape Town studios purchased, as an EMT echo plate back then, was more than R25 000, a fortune when you consider the average new car was around R3000.

Tully went on to radio and TV production for advertising, winning over 40 international awards, and many local awards for excellence in sound and production.

In 2005 he started experimenting with microphones, being unhappy with the cheaper large diaphragm condenser mics that were being made. A fan and owner of vintage Neumann and AKG mics, Tully decided to build his own. Through physically grinding and using various drill patterns and discrete components sourced mostly from Russian contacts, the precursor to the current range of Tul mics was created. As of 2012 they are available in limited quantities.

The G12, dynamic guitar mic, was developed for Kevin Shirley (rock producer) and James McCullagh (sound engineer); They were looking for a single mic which would deliver the same sound as a combo of three mics normally used for a guitar amp - a Shure SM57, a Beyer and a Ribbon. Unlike mics before it, the G12 has to be used on axis at the center of the speaker cone. With a standard mic this is bad practice because of the sharp high frequency generated by the amp, resulting in a thin "mosquito" buzz. Using a passive patent pending resonant feedback system, The G12 eliminates this high frequency buzz - thus when used close to the centre of the speaker cone, it reproduces the amp tone perfectly in the control room or P.A..

This mic is currently being produced in South Africa for international distribution. The prototypes have been used by some of the best guitar players in the world, including Joe Bonamassa.

The Tul F47 was based on the Neumann U47 fet which is no longer available. Phantom-powered, it uses discrete components and a transformer and is useful for any application. It has a 26mm capsule and is hyper cardiod. Each mic has three switches: bass cut, 10db pad and simulation, which matches the muted top response of the original U47. The Tul T12 is based on the AKG C12. It has an extended top response and is very silky smooth. Great for drums or acoustic instruments as well as vocal. It has a 16mm capsule and a 10db pad.

These mics were tested and honed in actual studio conditions over many sessions.