AEA 84 vs. AEA 92... big differences?

[ripper]

Wondering if anyone with experience with BOTH of these ribbons can share a bit of info to help w/ my decision of which to buy.

Recently we had the 84 on loan at my studio and it's an amazing mic, especially for the price.

Used it for room and various other things but I absolutely LOVED it as the single mic on an AC30 and also on my old 57 tweed champ with old strats and teles ripping through them. We've got several royers, a vintage 77DX in nice cond. and M160's so I use ribbons on gtrs as a matter of course.

But the sweet, open yet present sound of the 84 is somehow unique, at least for the sound I was going for.

So I gotta buy one,whether my accountant likes it or not (my accountant being the more moderate part of my brain). But then I noticed AEA has put out the 92, which is even a little less expensive. Apparently it's optimized for close micing, with minimized proximity effect.

So anyone with FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE of both the 92 and 84?
Altho gtr cab micing will be my main application, I do like ribbons as compressed mono rooms (I use the royer 122's as stereo rooms but the AEA will be mono until I'm weak enough to give in and buy a 2nd one!), horns, piano, acoustic gtr, etc.

Does anyone know if:

the 92 ribbon can take higher spl's and wind than the 84?

do they sound very different from each other on:
a) electric guitar
b) acoustic guitar
c) piano

Is the 84 a better room mic? ... the 92 website info says the 92 is optimized for close micing...

Any experience to share with either mic would be helpful, esp. if you know each of them. I may just buy the 84 as I KNOW that sounds great.

Also the accountant side of my brain is saying sell the RCADX77. It's in great nick and sounds like, well, a nice 77. but i've got a lot of new and vintage mics and the 77 just doesn't get as much use as the AEA did... I guess the 77 could be described as possessing a very distinctive sonic thumbprint while the AEA is more neutral and open with a lovely top.. which is more of what I'm going for

PM me if you're interested in the 77or to talk me out of selling it... I could go either way with the 77 but I MUST HAVE AN AEA RIBBON NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks y'all

[ripper]

and thanks for your time! oh, my 3 yearold son just wanted to reply so he could post the phunny little icons that follow this. hooray! this is his first gs post... it's a happy moment! here's ziggie's message:
i like playing drum's at dad's work!! tutt

[lucey]

They're totally different ... if you love the 84, and have used the 84, get the 84. The 92 is very clean/dry/flat. It sounds good up on the grille. The low end and color in the AEA line goes 84 -> 88 -> 92 ... from more to less color/eq.

[ripper]

hey, thanks for the reply, brian.

sounds like it's the 84... i have B&K 4011 for clean & dry & the royers 122s for a bit more hi mid hype ribbon.
the combination of openess & colouration in the 84 is wonderful. if this is different in the 92., i'll go the 84. but i bet that 92 does sound great close to the grill!

[warhead]

I made clips of the two by comparison:

******//www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...2079&alid=1286

You have to pan between the two, I put some instructions there on the page!

If you think of the frequency response chart as a see-saw, the R92 leans left (less low end but more high end) and the R84 leans right (less high end but more low end / proximity effect).

The R84 can sound HUGE while the R92 in my experience won't typically get you huge. But, you can only fit so much HUGE in a mix so there is an argument to be made both ways.

The high end response of the R84 in my opinion is just gorgeous, smooth and natural and unlike any other.

I use the R84 up close on cabs all the time.

War

[Fletcher]

I had an R-92 beat the snot out of an R-84; two different R-121's [one is a prototype with a 200 ohm output transformer... very cool sounding mic... but not as cool for this guitar track as the R-92]... and a Coles 4038 [I didn't even bother to try the 4040].

The R-92 ended up about a foot or so off the middle of a 4x 12" Marshall 1960 cabinet [loaded with custom Weber VST drivers] which was sitting under a Madison "Divinity" head. One of the bestest, nastiest slide guitar tracks I've recorded in quite a while... it just had a depth and a pair of balls that was perfect for the song.

Best of luck with your search.

[lucey]

Originally Posted by ripper

hey, thanks for the reply, brian.

sounds like it's the 84... i have B&K 4011 for clean & dry & the royers 122s for a bit more hi mid hype ribbon.
the combination of openess & colouration in the 84 is wonderful. if this is different in the 92., i'll go the 84. but i bet that 92 does sound great close to the grill!

Trust yourself ... life is short!

[pieter]

I just demoed both the R92 and a pair of R84s in a session and was stunned with both.

R92 incredible on guitar and as a center mic in front of the drumkit.
R84 was amazing on violin, double bass and stereo room mics. In a separate session I recorded some horns and got the most autheticated tone I ever obtained of a nice Selmer Mk 6 tenor.

[ripper]

thanks for all the input, guys. i'll check out the comparison link today.

but i wish fletcher wouldn't have revealed he liked the 92 better on nasty slide...
i live nad die by the slide.

trusting myself is good advice... but do i trust myself not to buy BOTH?

[Lynn Fuston]

Get both. Or at least a pair of one. And when you've finished getting a pair of 84s and a pair of 92s, get an 88. That one's next on my list.

[ripper]

tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree!