[Corran]

I got into a "fever" a couple of months ago with various ribbon mics recording various classical music ensembles.

Personally I found that using ribbons on small ensembles and even some larger ensembles induced a fight with even good preamps to get a good s/n ratio.

After trying a pair of SDC mics I had already I was instantly off my ribbon kick. The sound and general ease of use trumped the "ribbon sound" that I was enjoying.

Long story short, while a pair of ribbons probably was just perfect for your loudish bluegrass band I don't think you'll be happy with them as your only mics. A pair of SDCs will be what you want, in my opinion.

As for the recorder, I personally don't have any experience with the Korg or any of these nicer recorders, but I would like to have one! I use a Korg D888, 8 tracks of preamps with 44/16 recording. I think it comes down to how many channels you want and of course budget. I always have jazz groups that require around 8 channels. If you know you just need two I'm sure you'll be happy with the MR-1000. If you need more than just 2-channels, I'd look at the D888 (it's a great unit) but if you want something that could record in 48/24 or higher maybe look at an Alesis HD24.