BLUE Ball -- doorstop or microphone?

[Brad McGowan]

I received a BLUE Ball mic as a Christmas gift from a friend. I've been playing with it a bit, but I have yet to discover an application in which it excels...especially when I have 57/58/421's available. Has anyone figured out what this thing is good for?

thanks,
Brad

[joeq]

look here

[caughtup]

I recieved a Blue Ball once on my birthday from a girlfriend with a horrible overbite...

I was suspicious of the reviews when they are positive and vague at the same time with vieled cautions thrown in...reading between the lines of reviews is becoming an artform dictated by experience with the product reviewed and the writer's verbage... after a while you can spot the statements that can be interperted "steer clear"

Please tell us specifics; is it noisy, big proximity effect , color , etc???
thanks,
Jeff

tutt

[DrDeltaM]

I'm interested in the Blue Ball, lemme know your experiences.

I read it can take very high sound pressure levels, might give it some use maybe?

[Tim L]

The "Ball" is nothing like the 57 or the 421... it just isn't.

Here's a copy of something I posted at PSW... HTH

Right off the bat, I'd say the Ball has a pastel kinda color to it. The hi's are much softer, the mid's are less harsh, and the lows are rolled off quite a bit... a very mid-rangey mic indeed. Much less forward and edgy than the 57. Put these mic's up side by side soloed and you'd probably pick the 57 every time, I know I would. The Ball just sounds kinda bizarre by itself (particularly for a dynamic cardioid), but drop them both into a mix where the low's on the guitar need to get out of the way of the bottom(?)... or you need to soften a brash sounding guitar rig(?)... you may not have to dick around with the Ball quite as much.

Here's something I found interesting (oh boy am I gonna get Ball'd out for this one!), I put the Ball up next to an R-121 and rolled the lows off on the Royer bellow 150-200Hz or so, shelved a tad off @ 10k and came up with a very similar sound to the Ball... certainly not as rich or as pleasing as the Royer but Ballpark in a low rent sorta way. I had a much tougher time trying this with the 57, in fact I couldn't get it nearly as close.

Am I saying the Ball is in the same court as the Royer(?)... not for a NY minute! But to me the tone of the Ball (with the exception of the rolled off low's) is more in that vein than it is with the 57 (or 421 for that matter). At least that's been my impression so far anyway. One thing's for sure, if you need versatility this ain't the mic for you.

[Brad McGowan]

Thanks Tim--that's very interesting regarding the Royer comparison. I will have to try that myself. I wouldn't say that the Ball sounds anything like a 57 or 421 either, but it is for those applications where one would typically use a 57 or 421 that BLUE touts its usefulness...guitar amp, kick, drums, etc.

Brad

[Brad McGowan]

Jeff,

To answer some of your questions. From my limited use so far I can tell you that it is indeed very colored sounding. It has a rolled off high end and a very big proximity effect...kind of muddy sounding on vocals actually. It kind of reminded me of a Shure 55 in a way. Maybe it's just me but it also seemed to have a very strange plastic resonance to the tone. I'm guessing this is due to the plastic housing? In it's defense, it does seem to have decent rejection when used on drums. It seems to be really sensitive to placement though.

It sounded okay on kick drum and floor tom (in the correct spot), too bottom-heavy on snare, and too muddy on male vocals. Maybe it will be cool on bass cabs or guitars? I'm tempted to try later today.

I'm also really curious about opening up the thing and seeing what the inside looks like.

Brad

[toledo3]

Originally posted by Brad McGowan
Jeff,

To answer some of your questions. From my limited use so far I can tell you that it is indeed very colored sounding. It has a rolled off high end and a very big proximity effect...kind of muddy sounding on vocals actually. It kind of reminded me of a Shure 55 in a way. Maybe it's just me but it also seemed to have a very strange plastic resonance to the tone. I'm guessing this is due to the plastic housing? In it's defense, it does seem to have decent rejection when used on drums. It seems to be really sensitive to placement though.

It sounded okay on kick drum and floor tom (in the correct spot), too bottom-heavy on snare, and too muddy on male vocals. Maybe it will be cool on bass cabs or guitars? I'm tempted to try later today.

I'm also really curious about opening up the thing and seeing what the inside looks like.

Brad

From what everyone is describing, it sounds like it could be a good dynamic for horns. Also, anybody try it on harmonica?

[Fibes]

I was pretty unimpressed when my pair showed up. Since then I've done a bit of experimenting and have found a few uses for it that worked for me.

1. 2nd gtr mic, pair it with a condenser and it can add whoomp but be careful this mics proximity effect can wreak havoc. Placement is very important. Try some off axis stuff, it can yield results.

2. Side snare mic, it sounds fat and thick, roll some 8k in and you have a snare.

3. Screamo vocals, the kids love the look of it and does it really matter what they sound like?

4. Most importantly they are a conversation piece. Otherwise they are simply a compliment to the 57s, 421s and other dynamics laying around here.

5. With one of those stereo bars you can mount them facing out on either side and put a big condenser in the middle, it's a bit of a sight but is a funny way to go M/S. Totally Phallic ...

[kevinc]

5. With one of those stereo bars you can mount them facing out on either side and put a big condenser in the middle, it's a bit of a sight but is a funny way to go M/S. Totally Phallic ... [/B][/QUOTE]



Sick Bastard.
That`s reason enough to buy a set.
I know some girls that would love to sing through a set up like that.

[cdog]

This thing is actually pretty cool when you get used to it not being a 57... I just dont like the design... its large and blue and awkward to position.

I've found it sounds nice on bass cabs, or larger snares, and toms too. Its not as punchy as a 57 or as fluffy as a D-112, but it defintely has low mids - something 57s lack. I like it on guitar cabs too, if you don't need a cutting tone.

I also tried it on the underside of a djembe and it reproduced the baauuooooommmmm aspect of the drum nicely, without the exaggerated low end of the D-112.

I think its "warm" sounding, if not "natural".

cdog

[BobbyPeru]

I gotta second the comment about it being like a low rent royer.

Though it seems to have too little highs/high-mids, but also not enough low-end either.

In other words perfect...a low-mid mic!!! How they know that is the band everyone wants accentuated

I put it in front of a kick and it had a vibey/indie/kinda-cool thing happening....

I'm going to refrain from using the word "good" at least for now.

It's kind of like a ******** child:
"Special" or "Different"


Bobby Peru
Milwaukee, WI

[cdog]

Right now my favorite kick mic is the AT AE2500 dual element mic. Its 2 mics in 1, perfectly phase aligned, one condenser one dynamic. Sweeeet.

The Audix D6 is also good for that boomy/clicky modern thingy.

[20to20]

BTW, it makes a lousy doorstop...

[Brad McGowan]

I was able to give the Ball a workout on overdriven guitar last night, as well as some vocals.

The guitar setup was a SG into a Marshall JMP into a Weber-loaded open-back 2x12. Normally I would mic up the cab with a Royer into an API. I tried the Ball in a number of positions--right up on the grill directly in front of the dust cap, a few inches away aiming where the dust cap meets the cone, and a few more more positions in that general vicinity at different distances. The best tone was about 2 inches away aimed between the center and edge of the dust cap...so like 3/4" off-center. It was a decent tone. The low end wasn't boomy or subby, but had bottom end, the midrange was thick and rich, and the highs seemed smooth. I found that with a little EQ (+4 @ 8kHz) I could get a really nice guitar tone that had a decent amount of presence. The Ball seemed to take all sorts of EQ very well. This was especially evident when I recorded a guitar track and forgot to turn on the phantom power. The resultant sound was very lo-fi...not full at all. I can see it being used as a special effect on some vocal or guitar tracks. For kicks I attempted to EQ in the fullness that was missing from the track. I think I used two UAD Pultec EQ's cranked all the way at 100 Hz. For all that EQ it actually sounded okay! The correctly recorded track (with phantom power) did sound better though.

On vocals I got some useable results at about 10-12 inches from the mic. That kind of evened out the proximity effect. Even though the soloed sound didn't excite me too much, in the mix the track sat quite nicely. A little EQ to shape the low-mids and the high end (boost at 12 kHz) and the track sounded great.

I am looking forward to trying it on bass amp today

[warhead]

From everything I've heard I'm hoping that bass amp is what's great about it...I haven't heard any rave reviews.

War