My new favorite low end ribbon!

[Haddox]

I'd say that anyone claiming to have a totally unique design is as suspicious as the rip offs you're so unfond of.

[mcphoto]

I just got a Cascade fat head, stock transformer; the importer has a bunch of 'em on his site for $129, "b-stock", supposedly cosmetic-only issues. (Mine seems perfect, and the case & shockmount are flawless and seem worth more than $129).

Just A-B'd it last night, trying to get a specific acoustic guitar tone from my J-45. running it through my Apogee into Protools, using Apogee pre & converters which is a very clean setup.

My initial impression was MAN, what a silky, velvety "lush" low end this thing has. Didn't have the detail I wanted in the highs; did take to EQ well. I'll play more with placement/proximity sounds, and will probably try a 2-mic setup with the Cascade for low end and a 451b at the neck, which is a bright & very detailed mic.

But for now, the smoothness and warmth of the low end on this thing is jaw-droppingly sweet. Guess I have too many "bright" mics (the 451 and a 4033 really seem to have my highs covered...)

I have no connection to this vendor, but man, if you can pick up one of those "b-stock deals", it's pretty much a no-brainer. Think of it as buying a pricey shockmount (the similar AKG mount is $77; I have one of those, with the cord sagged out to full uselessness.) Hope this helps -- MC

[RDA]

Originally Posted by mcphoto

I just got a Cascade fat head, stock transformer; the importer has a bunch of 'em on his site for $129, "b-stock", supposedly cosmetic-only issues. (Mine seems perfect, and the case & shockmount are flawless and seem worth more than $129).

Just A-B'd it last night, trying to get a specific acoustic guitar tone from my J-45. running it through my Apogee into Protools, using Apogee pre & converters which is a very clean setup.

My initial impression was MAN, what a silky, velvety "lush" low end this thing has. Didn't have the detail I wanted in the highs; did take to EQ well. I'll play more with placement/proximity sounds, and will probably try a 2-mic setup with the Cascade for low end and a 451b at the neck, which is a bright & very detailed mic.

But for now, the smoothness and warmth of the low end on this thing is jaw-droppingly sweet. Guess I have too many "bright" mics (the 451 and a 4033 really seem to have my highs covered...)

I have no connection to this vendor, but man, if you can pick up one of those "b-stock deals", it's pretty much a no-brainer. Think of it as buying a pricey shockmount (the similar AKG mount is $77; I have one of those, with the cord sagged out to full uselessness.) Hope this helps -- MC

I'll second that. I just picked up a pair of FH II's and my impressions were the same. Very velvety type sound with nice full bottom. would work great by itself on acoustic for some tunes, but I too, added a sdc for some top end. blended the 2 to taste and it's great.

I used this set up last night to start some acoustic demos of my tunes. FH for body of gtr, a st33 for neck and a modded mxl 76t for vox. All running into JLM baby animal pres.

Overall, I still can't believe the quality of the sounds I was getting. The FH's so far have lived up to the hype. Blew the pants off of my nady ribbon's I got during a G/C blowout sale.

I'm going to try them as drum overheads for a session on sunday. I'll let you know how it works out and will post some files when it's all done...



-r

[johndykstra]

I use Fatheads and SM81s for a stereo room on drums like this...

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...er/fathead.jpg

[travisinhell]

Originally Posted by aberwastone

Sorry for the rough recording A/B takes..I did redo them again..since there were some picky slutz...and complaints about clipping..... I just want to get the basics down really quick for an A/B analysis and to share the differences of the two great ribbon mics..... , not make a grammy award hit record and send it to a mastering facility..for your approval..

you might want to forget about mikes for a while and start looking for some monitors.

[travisinhell]

Originally Posted by aberwastone

Can you make another recommendation for an amateur like myself? Travis?

i'm just saying, if you're going to do an a/b comparison to share with the mike consumer world, it would be a good idea to make sure there are no major anomalies going on which could seriously skew the opinions of the listeners. if you're not hearing that nasty clipping, something is going on in your listening chain, be it monitors, ears, etc. you said that you retracked the clips but ended up with more clipping than before. am i missing something here? seeing how you're sporting some pretty nice gear and you're an engineer an all, how are you not hearing this nasty clipping? if you do hear it, why would you make it worse on the second attempt? i'm baffled. apparently it has nothing to do with the cheap mike.

to be honest, a couple of good ribbons would cost more than all my recording gear combined, and i haven't heard anything impressive from any of the cheap ribbons yet. for the reasons mentioned, i don't consider ribbon mikes as a practical option.

fwiw, i wasn't aiming at pissing you off. i was trying to prod you into giving us a listenable comparison. it didn't work did it? chill out man. i'm just a low ender trying to cut thru the bullshit. if i think i see bullshit, i poke it with a stick.

[Shostakovich]

Sigh....

[Shostakovich]

I get very nervous with any ribbon mic that is cheap. I was tempted to get a cheap and obvious knock-off of a Royer (even looked identical) off of Ebay, and then I did some research. Turns out that that model, which is now nowhere to be found, had major problems with the ribbons de-tensioning. In fact, many mics coming from China have problems with the tensioning. To this I say Bleh...

[Corran]

Originally Posted by Shostakovich

I get very nervous with any ribbon mic that is cheap. I was tempted to get a cheap and obvious knock-off of a Royer (even looked identical) off of Ebay, and then I did some research. Turns out that that model, which is now nowhere to be found, had major problems with the ribbons de-tensioning. In fact, many mics coming from China have problems with the tensioning. To this I say Bleh...

I have two of those mics. I retensioned the ribbons myself. It is an awesome mic now.

If you're willing to work a little on these Chinese ribbons you can get a killer mic! I use those for guitar and brass all the time, and I can't believe how great they are.

[analogica]

no more opinions out there???

The only thing I can see so clear is, if you want something similar to royer just buy a royer,

Is there to much diff between coles and royers 121 on guitar cabs and

OHs??? cuz theres a chinese mic almost like a coles....

[Dean7]

Originally Posted by aberwastone

You might want to buy some better converters...

Seriously? That's your response???

You have completely validated my previous skepticism. Thanks.

[AudioHipster]

Hi From AudioHipster, I appreciate Mr Ricks personal experience with the R102 ribbon, I am a Studio owner and recently started selling Superlux microphones and Headphones visit www.audiohipster.com for details. I love Ribbon mic's and have to say the R102 will get more use in my studio then some of the others, it is not thin and has a natural fat sound ribbons are known for, and it takes a lot less pre amp db, and it has a very thin ribbon, I have used it on mid-side recording for grand piano and acoustic, and vocals I have not used it on a guitar cab yet. hopefully next week I will try it out on my old Fender amps. AudioHipster is devoted to keeping analog as a option for artist to experience and record on. Thanks Doyen

[Michael_Joly]

Here are a couple of pix of the Superlux booth which I visited at the recent Pro Light + Sound Expo 2009 in Shanghai. Superlux builds the Samson brand among others.

I'll be writing an article about Chinese mic manufacturing for Recording Hacks soon and will have lots of pics.

[Darm]

Michael, I would love to read that!

[maxg]

i know this is an old thread but i'm a horn player and used the Superlux R 102 on a session just the other day - have to say it was very nice sounding on trumpet, especially for such a cheap mic...