Best Ribbon for Rock Guitar?

[Matyi]

Hi!
I'm looking for a good ribbon mic for distorted electric guitar.
I'm mostly record loud, aggressive rock-metal sound.
I think the Royer R121 will good for me, but if you have another idea, please share with me.

[CrankyRayHanky]

check out the Crowley Tripp Naked Eye
there's a thread here with hard rock/metal clips
The royer is a studio standard, but the NEye seemed to have a more authentic tone to me; being half the price, I grabbed one last week and I'm thrilled.

[lrieves]

the 121 is a great mic i don't think anyone would regret buying. like anything, it can be overhyped, but it is great. I hate to be the guy who gives advice based on hearsay, but a good friend of mine was recently really impressed with the cascade fathead. I really respect his opinion on most other things, but i wasn't there, so take it for whatever it's worth. it's also like 150 bucks. i've also had decent results with the shinybox, but if i had to make a choice, usually i would go with the 121. the royer has less top end, but use it with a 57 and you're set.

[Jamz]

I haven't tried them but so far I'm diggin the Royer 121 and the AEA R92.
Would like to try the C&T mics.

[soupking]

I haven't tried most of the mics mentioned, but I really like the bk-5. It handles clipping really well.

Of course, I'm not a fan of the grainy, breathy, texture of the championed sm57, so my opinion is probably left-of-center.

[DeepSpace]

The AEA R84 is excellent in this role.

[Matyi]

Thanks the posts!
Once I've tried the AEA R-84. It was very good for guitar! But it was the only one ribbon mic what I used in recording.
Would be great if somebody know few kind of ribbon's and know what is the different during guitar recording.

[Meriphew]

A 121 is great for this purpose.

[Brad McGowan]

I'll start out by saying that the R121 is really great on electric guitar of any tone or texture. I use my 121's on guitars like 75% of the time. However, if you are recording agressive heavy rock or metal then I think you might achieve better results with an Audix i5 or Sennheiser e609s. Here's why I say this. The R121, due to it's figure 8 pattern will have a greater proximity effect than a cardioid mic used at the same distance. So if you stick the R121 two inches from the grill then the sound you will get will be really heavy in the low end and low mids. Compared to the usual suspects like an SM57 and 421 the R121 will sound "dark" and possibly even boomy if used on a 4x12 cabinet. Of course you can go to town with EQ and carve it up to your liking. You could also pull the mic back to 6-12" inches from the grill to mitigate some of that proximity effect and get a more balanced tone. But now being farther away from the speaker you will get a softened, more diffuse sound. This may or may not be what you want. If you want aggressive, as in mic jammed up on the grill agressive, then it might be a little too smooth for your tastes.

I recently tracked heavy guitars and had an R121 and i5 phase aligned at about 5 inches from the speaker itself. In the mix I used mostly the i5 (80%) since it had both the big and solid low end I wanted as well as the focused presence and up front midrange.

However, I'll take an R121 over the SM57 on distorted electric guitar just about every time.

Just a thought...

Brad

[Nu-tra]

Me no like the Royer.

I like the Beyer m160. Beyer and Royer rhyme though.

[ronzie]

RCA BK-5A/B as Soupy sez.

Ron Allaire, Skyline

[Matteran]

R121, Naked Eye

Naked Eye seems to be a little fuller and very authentic but not harsh at all, but the R121 is so so smooth and sweet.

[warhead]

n/a

War

[GearGuy]

I agree with Warren, and also w/ Brad.

I own a few Audix i5s, and have also used the Sennheiser e609 and more recently the e906. Also an Audio Technica AT4047 has worked pretty well on some amps, when matched with a dynamic. However I've mostly been using the Royer R121 over the past 4-5 years for electric guitar tracks. I've tried many other ribbons also (AEA, Beyer, Royer 122, etc) and the R121 just works best for everything that I've tried. At this point I own a R121 and a few i5s, so anymore that what I'm using to record electric guitars.

[Paul Hammond]

I will have to concur with Soupy and Ron on this one. The BK5A/B is by far my favorite ribbon choice for recording rock guitar. I did own an RCA 77DX
once that in unidirectional mode gave every other ribbon a run for the money, but that was one 77 out of about seven 77's! I've used Coles 4038's but they always seem too dark and need eq. I have used the Royer 121 and that is my next favorite, then Beyer M160's then 260's. I have also used the
baby "44" Jr. Velocity mic with good results but I feel that unidirectional ribbons sound better on rock guitar. Hope this helps. Cheers! PH

How about a KM56 on an AC30. Would you dare? I did, it was great!

[Disjointed]

war: could i get a link to those tests.... i looked and couldn't find them anywhere

thx

[skullsessions]

Many times, a Beyer M160 will beat out my Royer 121.

Sometimes the 121 wins.

And still other times, they both get tracked at the same time.

[The kosmos]

Originally Posted by Matyi

Hi!
I'm looking for a good ribbon mic for distorted electric guitar.
I'm mostly record loud, aggressive rock-metal sound.
I think the Royer R121 will good for me, but if you have another idea, please share with me.

Whuts a gud mik for recording live bass?

[steveschizoid]

I have an R-121, and it is really smooth. I am intrigued with the Naked Eye as well, since C&T are willing to let me try it out at just shipping expense. I heard the it described as less dark with a more defined bottom - that is appealing, because my only complaint about the R-121 is the usual neccessity to EQ out the low mids.

2 questions for all you ribbon veterans:

1. how loud do you record when you put that R-121 right up on the grill?
2. how do you know if you've screwed it up?

[corruptmary]

I love the woodpecker and the coles 4038. Combine the two and it's absolute clarity in the whole range. The woodpecker's smiley eq leaves room for the gorgeous mids of the coles. Of course, buying both of these isn't exactly cheap, but you didn't mention what your budget was. Good luck!

[soupking]

Originally Posted by skullsessions

Many times, a Beyer M160 will beat out my Royer 121.

Sometimes the 121 wins.

And still other times, they both get tracked at the same time.

I said bk-5 earlier which I still stand by as a #1, but I will add that everybody should have a pair of Beyer m160's. Outside market value, I'd take a pair of them before any pencil mic.

They just fit so well to a variety of sources.

bk-5 is still my "rock" mic though.

[warhead]

n/a

War

[kafka]

Originally Posted by Nu-tra

Me no like the Royer.

I like the Beyer m160. Beyer and Royer rhyme though.

Eddie Kramer use the Beyer M160 on both Hendrix and Zeppelin. Can you tell that I just read that today? (If I repeat it 3 more times today, I get 4 days worth of points at a timeshare in Florida)

[guittarzzan]

R84 right next to a 57 is the best combo I've had. I sent back a 121. I wasn't impressed and actually thought the R84 sounded better/bigger for less money.
...just my 2 cents.

[jeep]

M160

[Disjointed]

War: thx, i have seen the light

[steveschizoid]

Originally Posted by warhead

Google "Tuesday Testers" and all will be revealed.

War

Well, all wasn't quite revealed since there was no R-121 in the comparisons! Very cool test nevertheless. Is there a mic that lies somewhere between the R84 and The Naked Eye?

The Naked Eye strikes me as almost perfect, but it captures a tad less girth. Roswellite is appealing, since I could put it in front of a gtr cab putting out 120 Db and not have to worry. Is it worth the extra 400? Hmmm.

[Hamburg58]

M160. 121 is nice as well! I've swapped the 121 out before for a dynamic. Never swapped a 160. That doesn't mean anything, that's just personal experience. I've never been disappointed with a beyer on a guitar amp.

[delcosmos]

Originally Posted by Matyi

Hi!
I'm looking for a good ribbon mic for distorted electric guitar.
I'm mostly record loud, aggressive rock-metal sound.
I think the Royer R121 will good for me, but if you have another idea, please share with me.

ROYER is the best ribbon mic for guitars, I have 10 cabinets (a AC30 vintage, a new hand wired AC30, Badcat, Twin, JC120, Deluxe, Vibroverb, Bluesbraker, Dr.Z, etc,) each miced with a Royer 121 mic and for distorted Rock guitars I use a Mesa triple Rect, a Marshall Plexi, an Orange Rockverb, a vintage Bassman, a Matchless, a Soldano and a JCM800, all those heads using: one Marshal 4x12, one Orange 4x12 and one Orange 2x12 with vintage 30's). Those are miced with a combination of a Royer 121 and a U89.

After trying a lot of ribbons and dynamics I ended with Royer, they simply sound better for a guitar application.

Best regards.

Armando Avila.

[d. gauss]

the only ribbon for TRUE rock guitar: