AEA R84 for crunch guitars

[michael c]

I am thinking of picking up an R84 and was curious if anyone who owns this mic would recommend it for crunch guitars and big guitar solos. Is it a big improvement over a 57?

Thanks.

[gwailoh]

Try it paired with a 57. I like the 57/ribbon combo a lot on cabs. You can blend the two mics to taste, often with no need for eq.

[warhead]

I own an R84 and find it to be about the most versatile ribbon out there. Having said that, my sE Electronics R1 ribbon gets picked on guitar cab and "crunch" guitar recording most times these days. The R1 has a bit more bite and less proximity effect, requiring less placement fidgeting and less EQ to get things right.

The R84 will still do very well in that application, and overall I still find it to be more useful on more things with a smoother response top to bottom. If you have plans to do many other tasks with a ribbon I'd still consider it. If you're doing only cabs in my experience the R1 will edge it out.

War

[Bruce Keen]

interesting. I always lacked a bit of bite with the R84 but I love that sound. As posted above I use the 57 for the edginess. A very nice combo. Never heard the SE. Will check.
Cheers

[84K]

A 57 is a special mic for that prpose. Your AEA will work better in conjunction with a 57 on heavy guitars. Get some dimension in there.... place is bach a couple feet.

The AEA will rock on you drum recordings

[Sui_City]

An R84 and Audix i5 roughly 3 feet out from a blasting Marshall here. Blend mics to taste. Lowend and lower mids from the R84, bite from the i5.

Rich, big and heavenly.

[michael c]

Is an R84 a better choice here than a Royer 121 or 122? Also, I have never had good luck with 2 mics on a cab (even a room U67 4 to 6 feet back) because of the phase issues. Can I use just the 84 if I go that route?

Not to hijack my own thread, but how do you place your 57 with an R84 or Royer?

Thanks.

[gwailoh]

Originally Posted by michael c

Not to hijack my own thread, but how do you place your 57 with an R84 or Royer?

Thanks.

Royer's site has some great studio pics showing how top engineers are using Royers on guitar. Here are a couple of links. I'd suggest working through the rest of the studio pics on the Royer site, which I found helpful for taming my reluctance to place a ribbon right up close on a cab.

http://www.royerlabs.com/session_pho...Blink2_LG.html

http://www.royerlabs.com/session_pho...lissa8_LG.html

Re multiple mics, place them as close to each other as possible, exactly the same distance from the speaker. The two links above show multi-mic setups on cabs and you can see exactly how they're doing it.

Originally Posted by michael c

Is an R84 a better choice here than a Royer 121 or 122?

R84 has stronger proximity effect, so that's a consideration for cabs. Some people love it. I use a 122 specifically because the proximity thing isn't so pronounced.

Hope this helps!

[Fletcher]

I usually perfer the R-92 to the R-84 for really loud "crunch" guitars but YMMV.