Thomann Ribbon mic ROCKS

[Shaman]

Hi there,

Had two of those t-bone RB-500 together with a Royer 121 for a test yesterday and....WOW...I´m impressed.

Tried a pair in Blumlein for steel string guitar. Immediatly heard the difference in my headphones while playing. If this is not the smoothest acc. guitar sound I´ve heard for a while... natural highs, slight transient smoothing and wooly, warm lower mids. Not at all what I´m accustomed to from my fabulous but sometimes too detailed Brauner VM-1s.
Keep in mind that I´m a total ribbon mic novice.

The whole thing came to full life when I sent it through a AD-2055 with 10(!!) db highshelf @ 15 khz - silky and warm....and to my surprise not harsh at all.

Then, tried it as an AB on overheads.
FAT as hell - especially the toms are killer.
Some high shelve again and the cymbals came to life.
What a sound !

Also liked it on kick a lot as well as on snare. However the figure 8 pattern gives you a lot of hihat spill on snare which is not desirable.

I compared it to the ROYER, which is not bad at all and has a more "meaty" sound in the upper mids + lot less bottom end.
However I liked the thomann so much more for its full bodied pound and high end.

Yeah it comes even better as an allmost ideal mic choice for NUKED ( the blue distressor thing) room / corner mics.

And here comes the surprise:

the thomann ribbon comes at a modest 111 Euro, which is about 1/10th of the royer

Does this thing for ribbons what the 57 does for dynamics? Hell yes.
Immediatly ordered 4.

Try them - you´ll be surprised !

[LongWave]

would you maybe be able to post a sample of it on an overdriven guitar cab?
oh, and kick!

[dlmorley]

Interesting!
Do you think these would be ok as overheads in a drum booth??
Have you seen the RM700 for 129 euros? I wonder what that is like...

[Shaman]

Unfortunatelly don´t post any sound files.
Only adjectives.

Try

Originally Posted by dlmorley

Interesting!
Do you think these would be ok as overheads in a drum booth??
Have you seen the RM700 for 129 euros? I wonder what that is like...

Yes - great as an alternative OH choice for a very FAT sound with less detail on transients - perfect for rock.
You´ll need a very good analogue EQ for shaping the high end like a Massive, 8200, Avalon etc.
It takes EQ so much better than most condensers which I´ve heard.
Mostly it will need a massive high pass filter since the low end response of this mic is STRONG.

Haven´t tried the RM 700. It looks awesome.
According to my drummer friend (who brought me the two RB-500s) these have less bottom end and sound more like beyer m-160s. However I´m perfectly happy with the RM-500.

Think thick and warm wool in times of digital coldness.

[dlmorley]

Thanks!
I have some nice older EQ's (neumanns, audio design & recording, Teldec) so I think they will work.
I think I'll grab a pair for trying on my drumkit. I had a great sound with just a 414 infront of the kit, a MD421 on kick and 2 budget condensor overheads pushed hard through my AD&R compressors. Maybe some ribbon overheads would be a nice variety.

[Recording David]

Mmmm... Just ordered a pair of these.

[gainreduction]

Isn't this the same chinese ribbon that is sold under lots of different brand names ?

Order your own batch with your own logo on it kind of thing.

I'll be happy to take care of your Royer.

[dlmorley]

Originally Posted by gainreduction

Isn't this the same chinese ribbon that is sold under lots of different brand names ?

Order your own batch with your own logo on it kind of thing.

I'll be happy to take care of your Royer.

yes

[Shaman]

Originally Posted by gainreduction

Isn't this the same chinese ribbon that is sold under lots of different brand names ?

Order your own batch with your own logo on it kind of thing.

I'll be happy to take care of your Royer.

I believe it´s built by SE mics but distributed under different national labels.
In Germany it´s t-bone, in the states I believe it´s Nady.

My drummer friend told me that they have no reliable serial production which means that single mics can vary much from each other - want to say: order at least 6 to match two good ones.
It also seems that some of these mics come with 180 degree phase flip so you need a phase flip XLR cable.

I had the Royer just for the test...for god´s sake...get 4 mics for half the price of another

[Markus Stock]

The Thomann Ribbons rock my world as OH's too! 5-10 db (depending on style and cymbals) peaking EQ @ 15 Khz from my Toft EQ....wow! Great Cymbals AND Kit Sound from those Mics!

[MATTI]

They are Alctron as most chinese ribbon mics.
Matti

[glide 1]

Yup google Ningbo Alctron.. very dificult wading through their site but you will see that the T-bone is the RSM 2 on that site. You should also look for the RSM 10 which is the 'royer' look-a-like.

[MichaelPatrick]

I just ordered 2 of these to kick around but haven't plugged them in yet. Anyone know how they sound?

http://www.cascademicrophones.com/ca...T_HEAD_II.html

[Arsene]

Check out Oktavamod.com - they modify Nady/SM pro/Thomann/ ribbon mics like this one...

[Shaman]

until now I don´t see ONE single reason why I should modify the t-bones

(except giving them my special shaman studio colour treatment ...)

[StrykeBack]

I just ordered 2 of these to kick around but haven't plugged them in yet. Anyone know how they sound?

woh! now those look sweet!!! I saw an add for those in MIX or another mag maybe and wondered the same thing.

I wonder how these t-bone mics compare to the shinybox mics that the guy puts lundhal or cinemag transformers in?

[blaugruen7]

hello shaman,
they have a mic cable installed, right?
how long is it?
i dont know anything about ribbons.
they always record on both sides?
how much of gain do you need to record your acoustic guitar?
greetings,
gunnar

[toolskid]

they are not comparable to the royers IMO!!

the royers (of which I own two r-122s) are accurate, very musical and natural sounding!

The t-bones (of which I own two too) are super compressed sounded, highly coloured, poorly detailed, transient mashers of the first order! GREAT for some things (as shaman mentioned: room mics!!) but I've never used them over the royers for FOK, acc gtr, vox, OH, snare, HH, dirt gtr or pretty much any application where I want a really usable representation of whats in the room!

You do get what you pay for in this situation! They are ten times less than the royers and ten times less useful in most situations!

they are however, very cool and I do use them frequently in more FX-y type roles...

If I was to go for a cheapo ribbon - I'd grab a single Beyer m-160 rather than two of these!!!

[gem]

Originally Posted by Shaman

until now I don´t see ONE single reason why I should modify the t-bones

(except giving them my special shaman studio colour treatment ...)

the ones you have ordered will not sound the same as the one you have tested because they have produced a new series which is a little different.
i called thomann and they have none left of the old series...
someone wrote that on the german keyboards-forum.
they changed some internal-electronic device...

there for i ordered a nady rsm-2...

[Shaman]

Originally Posted by blaugruen7

hello shaman,
they have a mic cable installed, right?
how long is it?
i dont know anything about ribbons.
they always record on both sides?
how much of gain do you need to record your acoustic guitar?
greetings,
gunnar

Yes, the cable is ca. 4 meters long.
The usual polar pattern for ribbons is figure 8.
I used about 45 db for the guitars

Originally Posted by toolskid

the royers (of which I own two r-122s) are accurate, very musical and natural sounding!

The t-bones (of which I own two too) are super compressed sounded, highly coloured, poorly detailed, transient mashers of the first order! GREAT for some things (as shaman mentioned: room mics!!) but I've never used them over the royers for FOK, acc gtr, vox, OH, snare, HH, dirt gtr or pretty much any application where I want a really usable representation of whats in the room!

You do get what you pay for in this situation! They are ten times less than the royers and ten time less useful in most situations!

Each to his own. I allready have 3 Brauner VM-1 which are needle sharp accurate so I don´t have the need for more accuracy mics. I think the royers a way overpriced for what they do. Yes you´re absolut right in your sound description - this is exactly what I´m lusting for...I ve got plenty usable representation of what´s in my room - Had all those clear preamps like Avalon, Manley Slam! etc. - what I need badly now is COLOUR

We also had the beyer m-160 and 260. Not my taste. The t-bone is just so completely different from what I know from condenser mics...

Originally Posted by gem

the ones you have ordered will not sound the same as the one you have tested because they have produced a new series which is a little different.
i called thomann and they have none left of the old series...
someone wrote that on the german keyboards-forum.
they changed some internal-electronic device...

there for i ordered a nady rsm-2...

I´ll see how the ones which I ordered will sound...

[toolskid]

Originally Posted by Shaman

Each to his own. I allready have 3 Brauner VM-1 which are needle sharp accurate so I don´t have the need for more accuracy mics. I think the royers a way overpriced for what they do.

I'd struggle to think of two mics more different than a VM-1 and an r-122.., maybe a V-M1 and a TB-500
As for being overpriced, maybe track a bit more stuff with them and see what you think then!!!!

But..you're right!

each to their own

[blaugruen7]

Originally Posted by gem

the ones you have ordered will not sound the same as the one you have tested because they have produced a new series which is a little different.
i called thomann and they have none left of the old series...
someone wrote that on the german keyboards-forum.
they changed some internal-electronic device...

there for i ordered a nady rsm-2...

does anyone know what this means to the sound of the new ones?
but i think shaman will tell us this in few days.

[Recording David]

My pair of T-Bones has just arrived this morning - I will post up samples when I can!

[blaugruen7]

shaman,
what about self noise?

[Marmaduke]

These have been advertised quite a lot lately, It'll be interesting to hear the comparison, post up the samples when you can

[MATTI]

The self noise of your preamps is the issue.
Matti

[bigbone]

I was part of the group buy on another forum and i did get 2 of those ribbons
(from a chinese distributor that make the t-bone -the nady and all those
inexpensive ribbon ) and they did cost me deliver at the door 92 $ for 2 mic
great bargain, i'm please with them
and yes the sound great if you use some EQ,
the only mod that i did was to take out the mesh inside to protect the ribbon
it did open the sound of the mic......

[Recording David]

Originally Posted by Marmaduke

'recording david' - You're in Bedford? I'm only 2 minutes down the road, near Bromham - didn't realise there were any slutz around these parts! Drop me a message sometime...

Wow - small world! Check your PMs.

[juniorhifikit]

Originally Posted by bigbone

... take out the mesh inside to protect the ribbon
it did open the sound of the mic......

This is apparently the secret. They put a plastic condom thingy in mine to protect it from wind blast - take that out but for christ's sake don't blow in them!

Originally Posted by Shaman

We also had the beyer m-160 and 260. Not my taste. The t-bone is just so completely different from what I know from condenser mics...

M160's through Neve 33114 EQ's is probably my favorite overhead sound.

Originally Posted by Toolskid

they are not comparable to the royers IMO!!

the royers (of which I own two r-122s) are accurate, very musical and natural sounding!

The t-bones (of which I own two too) are super compressed sounded, highly coloured, poorly detailed, transient mashers of the first order! GREAT for some things (as shaman mentioned: room mics!!) but I've never used them over the royers for FOK, acc gtr, vox, OH, snare, HH, dirt gtr or pretty much any application where I want a really usable representation of whats in the room!

You do get what you pay for in this situation! They are ten times less than the royers and ten times less useful in most situations!

they are however, very cool and I do use them frequently in more FX-y type roles...

If I was to go for a cheapo ribbon - I'd grab a single Beyer m-160 rather than two of these!!!.

Royer through V72 strait to tape - probably my favorite electric guitar path.

Hey Emre! How was that gig with the Frenchies?

[toolskid]

Originally Posted by juniorhifikit

Hey Emre! How was that gig with the Frenchies?

First gig was fine!

Second, they were running a backing track from a CD player!!!! Damn thing missed the first second of so of each track!! Nightmare when you're trying to count a band in from a randomly started click track!!!!!

i'm in paris from fri-mon - wanna dinner/beer?