Favorite low price ribbon mics?

[lazarus]

I will be purchasing a pair of fathead II's with the lundhal upgrades in about a month. I am a very accident prone person so I took out accident insurance on myself. It has been paying for some sweet gear! I am super excited about getting these fatheads till I can afford the AEA R84 pair.

[Gdub]

Originally Posted by Phrygian

I like my 46MX, but all this talk about Fatheads is giving me an itchy buying finger...

doooooo iiiiitt...... doooooooooooo iiiiiiiiiitttt......

[NuClone]

The Avantone CR-14 is a really nice ribbon. Pretty nice for electric guitar

AVANTONE CR-14 RIBBON MIC

[lasso]

Originally Posted by FirstLoveStudio

T.Bone RB500 - ...Terrible on guitar amps though!

From Thomann.de

No way man - I LOVE them on guitar cabs. They have a sick low end response and gets rid of all that nasty hi-end sizzle on distorted sounds. Always use it together with a touch of 421 to get the midrange right though.

[Michael_Joly]

Originally Posted by FirstLoveStudio

T.Bone RB500 - ...Amazing on everything acoustic for Glok to piano to overheads. Terrible on guitar amps though!

Originally Posted by lasso

No way man - I LOVE them on guitar cabs. They have a sick low end response and gets rid of all that nasty hi-end sizzle on distorted sounds....

Maybe you're both right.

There is ribbon tension variability in many stock Chinese ribbon mics - two different examples of the same model could sound completely different. For example, a mic with the ribbon sagging significantly out of the magnet gap is going to have low output and a resonant frequency in the single Hz or lower range. It will be very susceptible to footfall and other infrasonic vibration and not provide much usable output or enhancement of a guitar cab sound. Another mic with ribbon tension set much higher (perhaps even a bit too high) will provide a nice proximity effect "chug" on drop-tuned guitars while deemphasizing the hi-end sizzle as Lasso points out. Even two mics without such dramatic ribbon tension differences could still have moderately different fundamental resonant frequencies and a different set of resonant harmonics - thus producing different timbre shadings in the midrange.

[Elvis]

Ive been considering picking up a pair of fatheads. whats a good reasonably priced preamp to match?

[Bhang]

I have so far really tried to like my Electro Harmonix EH-R1. I hear its supposed to be great if you have a good enough signal, but I find it sounds ... well. Like shit. Maybe I need a different pre, but through my Ward Beck and through my Ensemble pre's I have not been impressed, so I would stear clear of this one.

Personally I think it would be worth saving up for a Royer ( not very lo-fi ... I know)

[Michael_Joly]

Originally Posted by Bhang

I have so far really tried to like my Electro Harmonix EH-R1. I hear its supposed to be great if you have a good enough signal, but I find it sounds ... well. Like shit...

The EH-R1 is a rebranded Oktava ML-52. The wide magnet structure and other aspects of this dual ribbon mic cause substantial attenuation of high frequencies above 4kHz, perhaps that's what you're hearing. Though many folks like it for guitar cab use for this reason.

[Bhang]

That is what I noticed. I was expecting these crystal clear and crisp highs and it sounded rather dull. I can imagine micing a guitar cab with it making it sound better, but I don't record much guitar so it collects dust. Might be time for ebay.

[Corran]

Originally Posted by Bhang

That is what I noticed. I was expecting these crystal clear and crisp highs and it sounded rather dull. I can imagine micing a guitar cab with it making it sound better, but I don't record much guitar so it collects dust. Might be time for ebay.

Try it on bass. I use one exclusively for bass cabs and upright too. I love mine. Also, for some reason it is perfectly matched to my cheap Behringer preamp...it really sings through it! (The tube ultragain one)

However, I've been wanting another to make a pair for a while. What would you want for it??

[Bhang]

I just put it through some basic tests and found it to quite dampened in the highs when I was expecting it to be very bright. It requires a good bit of gain and sounds terrible on my voice. I have not tried it on bass and still want to give it a shot with re-amping and through a few other pre's. Also I share a studio with my brother and we pretty much decide together what stays and goes. If I do get rid of something i will post it here first. I do, however, live in Germany so shipping on heavy items won't be worth it if your in the States.

[oneass]

I was just 'youtubing' , and I came across this clip:

YouTube - Marco Borsato Live - Ik leef niet meer voor jou (English sub

Is it possible the mic on the trombone is one of those t-bone (no pun intended) RB-500's (or Nady RSM-2)?
It's in close-up at 4:59 ...

BTW, you can watch the clip in, erm, 'high' quality by clicking on the link next to the rating.

[davew]

there's nothing quite like a good ribbon in front of a tube amp! pop screens are always nice!

[alba359]

Hey oneass, That does look like a Chinese ribbon mic close to the bell of the trombone. From what I've read about how fragile these ribbons are I'm surprised to see one used live in front of a trombone!!!

[soundchaser59]

Everything Mr Joly said is true. The Apex 215 is also a dual element ribbon, but I liked the 210 better because it had a fuller response. The 210 was better I think for voice and for guitar, but the 215 was nice, just different. The 210 comes in a padded aluminum case with cordura bag and attached cable.

I liked both of them better than the Fathead, but I did not have any mods done to any of my mics. All three of these are better than the Nady. For a guitar cab, the ribbons are awesome when paired up with a large D dynamic, like an RE20 or SM7 or even a PR30/PR40.

[yesac81]

i have a pair of apex 205's and love them to bits on room mic duties... they just do this magical mojo thing to the low mids on toms and snare.

put em through the cleanest preamp you've got an wind it up...

really nice on 30's to 50's style female vocals and crooners too btw...

[lestat26]

Originally Posted by Michael_Joly

The RSM-3 is a short ribbon / wide magnet type.

As such, it has somewhat attentuated high frequency response above 7kHz. This ribbon motor type is also found in the Cascade Fathead & Gomez, Nady RSM-4 & RSM-5. By way of contrast, the long ribbon / narrow magnet type motors found in the Apex 205, Nady RSM-2, Cascade VIN-JET etc. have the potential to be flat out to 16kHz. I say, "have the potential" because the presence or absence of reflective surfaces near the ribbon (stock or modified mic) will affect frequency response flatness.

So to the original poster's question, "Favorite low priced ribbon mics?" - the short ribbon / wide magnet mics with their early HF rolloff are popular where taming HF may be important - guitar cabs or drum OH. On the other hand, the long ribbon / narrow magnet mics with their extend HF response seem to be more popular where preservation of HF is important - acoustic guitar, acoustic piano & vocals.

Hello

I wanted to try out another budget ribbon for recording classical/ flamenco guitar. I did have the Nady RSM-2 recently, but I sold it before I knew what to look for in a ribbon, I didn't have another ribbon to compare it to.

So, yesterday I ordered the Cascade Fathead 2 stereo mics Blumlein package. I was wondering what people think about the Fathead 2 for classical flamenco guitar. Could I still get an acceptable tone with these compared to other low budget ribbons for nylon string guitar? I am now learning that the longer ribbons would have been more suitable for what I am recording. But can high shelf eqing these fatheads make up for the short ribbon design in satisfactory? I know other elements are involved like the transformers. Also, I ordered the "scooped version" fatheads. Does the scooped version alter the tone compared to the original grill design? Would a modification on the fathead be worth it for nylon acoustic guitar? My preamps are Fireface 800, Grace M101, and the Universal Audio Solo 610 .

Any advise would be appreciated.

[lestat26]

Bump,, anyone?

I also ordered the cinemag transformers for the fathead 2 scooped version. Haven't received them yet. Anyone have experience recording flamenco / classical guitar with the fatheads / cinemags? I read some threads on the fatheads, but looking more info opinions for nylon guitar.

[BudgetMC]

I've had a Fathead II for a while, though I haven't pulled it out in a couple of months. A week or two back, however, I happened to revisit some acoustic tracks where I was using the Fathead as a "body" mic on a dreadnaught acoustic. Had a Bluebird on the 12th fret. The acoustic sound was HUGE. Now, this was a singer-songwriter kind of thing. You wouldn't want that in a dense mix. But it sounded great in this application.

[dr_love6977]

I'd like to 28th the Fat Head.

[henge]

All of these vocals were recorded with the Apex 210.



stashbox.org : free anonymous file hosting

[alba359]

Hi Henge, The drums sound so perfect!!! Is that a real drummer. If so He has my respect!!! Wish I could play like that!

[TheArchitect]

I know they aren't real popular choices with most, but I have had pretty good luck with the pair of Nady RSM-2's. I was able to get a nice smooth, meaty acoustic guitar tone with them. I also like them on my voice for spoken word and I suspect the would make an excellent BG Vox mic on certain voices. I haven't tried them on horns yet but I think they might be good there. I really want to try them on drums as the over and side mic of a Glyn Johns set up. I suspect they would tame the cymbals just right.

[mauvehead]

Originally Posted by lestat26

Bump,, anyone?

I also ordered the cinemag transformers for the fathead 2 scooped version. Haven't received them yet. Anyone have experience recording flamenco / classical guitar with the fatheads / cinemags? I read some threads on the fatheads, but looking more info opinions for nylon guitar.

I have the blumlein package of FH2's with the Lundahl tranny's and they are a mixed bag on acoustic guitar. I haven't actually used them on "nylon" acoustic tracks per se, but we did use them a while back on a finger-picked acoustic track that was somewhat "nylon" sounding. The overall tone was "un-hyped" and very true to the guitar being recorded. Not a lot of high end, or maybe there was just so much fullness in the lower mids and lows that I was unaccustomed to getting when using SDC's or LDC's. But the tracks themselves took EQ very well, including boosting some of the highs around 12kHz using Stillwell Audio's 1973 EQ plug-in (an incredible sounding NEVE-ish plug BTW). I'm not a huge fan of boosting frequencies to make up for something that isn't there to begin with, but the FH2's and the high freq boost got along just fine. One caveat about the FHs's though is that you will need a mic pre with lots of clean gain. My current rig is a Presonus FireStudio/DigimaxFS combo and there just isn't enough gain in the mic pres to get good levels out of the FH2's if you are mic'ing from a distance. Close mic'ing is fine but I am most likely going to grab an AEA TRP down the road (or else a pair of True Systems' P-Solo Ribbon pres) just so I can use the FH2's more on non-close mic'ed material. And yes the folks at Cascade are great and very helpful and the customer service is excellent.

[lestat26]

Originally Posted by mauvehead

I have the blumlein package of FH2's with the Lundahl tranny's and they are a mixed bag on acoustic guitar. I haven't actually used them on "nylon" acoustic tracks per se, but we did use them a while back on a finger-picked acoustic track that was somewhat "nylon" sounding. The overall tone was "un-hyped" and very true to the guitar being recorded. Not a lot of high end, or maybe there was just so much fullness in the lower mids and lows that I was unaccustomed to getting when using SDC's or LDC's. But the tracks themselves took EQ very well, including boosting some of the highs around 12kHz using Stillwell Audio's 1973 EQ plug-in (an incredible sounding NEVE-ish plug BTW). I'm not a huge fan of boosting frequencies to make up for something that isn't there to begin with, but the FH2's and the high freq boost got along just fine. One caveat about the FHs's though is that you will need a mic pre with lots of clean gain. My current rig is a Presonus FireStudio/DigimaxFS combo and there just isn't enough gain in the mic pres to get good levels out of the FH2's if you are mic'ing from a distance. Close mic'ing is fine but I am most likely going to grab an AEA TRP down the road (or else a pair of True Systems' P-Solo Ribbon pres) just so I can use the FH2's more on non-close mic'ed material. And yes the folks at Cascade are great and very helpful and the customer service is excellent.

I got the FH2's Blumlein pair too, but stock.. I have the Cineamg tranny's on the way being shipped to me, hoping to get a little more clarity out of these for nylon guitar. Not sure if the cinemags will help in that area. Does anyone know? I was able to try out the stock Fatheads yesterday, on classical guitar, needed to boost around 10-12khz, small cut around 200 hz, roll of 80-100hz as well. I still can hear the tone needs more clarity arcross the mids and high spectrum, eq helps, but I am hoping the Cinemags help some in this area. I use the Grace M101 preamp, made for ribbons with an impendance around 20,000 Ohms. I will post a stock tranny recording of spanish classical guitar, along with another recording with the Cinemags (when i am done installing them) Since I have two Fatheads, I will install the cinemag in one of them, so I can have both fatheads ready to go in the same recording session. Until then , if anyone has used the fatheads with cinemags, or heard them before with flamenco, classical guitar, let me hear your take on this.

[mauvehead]

Back when I ordered my FH2's Cascade emailed me and said that they were temporarily out of the Lundahl transformers needed for my order. They gave me some options: get a full refund, get a partial refund and go with the stock transformers, go with Cinemags in place of the Lundahls, or wait a month until their State-side supplier of Lundahl transformers got more from Sweden. I asked what the sonic difference between the Cinemags and the Lundahls were and they said that they Cinemags were more "vintage sounding" in the highs and lows (whatever that means) whereas the Lundahls were more flat across the spectrum and thereby more detailed/accurate in the highs and lows. (I opted to wait for the Lundahls to arrive and so they gave me one of their cable testers as a thank you for waiting patiently. Worked for me.) But that is how they described the differences to me over the phone if that helps any.

[lestat26]

Originally Posted by mauvehead

Back when I ordered my FH2's Cascade emailed me and said that they were temporarily out of the Lundahl transformers needed for my order. They gave me some options: get a full refund, get a partial refund and go with the stock transformers, go with Cinemags in place of the Lundahls, or wait a month until their State-side supplier of Lundahl transformers got more from Sweden. I asked what the sonic difference between the Cinemags and the Lundahls were and they said that they Cinemags were more "vintage sounding" in the highs and lows (whatever that means) whereas the Lundahls were more flat across the spectrum and thereby more detailed/accurate in the highs and lows. (I opted to wait for the Lundahls to arrive and so they gave me one of their cable testers as a thank you for waiting patiently. Worked for me.) But that is how they described the differences to me over the phone if that helps any.

Yes, this does help. I guess vintage is supposed to mean less HF?

[jlaber]

Maybe I'm not in the best authority to talk up inexpensive ribbons, but I was turned on to the Avantone ribbons and bought a pair, and got the sound I was looking for.

Being they are the only ribbons I've owned personally I can't contribute much for comparisons, but they get the nice, floating guitar amp sound I was craving without them. Under 300 each when I bought the pair last year, new.

[Michael_Joly]

Would that be the CR-14 dual ribbon mic with the parallel face plates?

[joelpatterson]

I do believe so... and I can report that the mod where you take the mic apart and remove the rice papery stuff that's glued onto the ribbon motor (and then put it back together!) results in an even clearer and more vivid sound. TREMENDOUS lot of proximity on this baby, when you really bear down... caution is advised.