cheap ribbon mic

[kludge]

while i agree with you in spirit, specs are specs. sometimes specs are misreported for sure and often they are misleading. sound ultimately transcends specs
i was comparing the specs of the stellar and the stock fathead.

Misreported I'm not so worried about... misleading, that's pretty much what specs ARE when it comes to audio. The specs they like to quote, including frequency response and THD, are usually irrelevant nonsense that tell you very little about how a device SOUNDS. THD specs on amplifiers are my pet peeve... they're basically measuring the sum of all harmonic distortion while reproducing a sine wave at 1khz into a resistive load. This has NOTHING to do with MUSIC, which spans ten audible octaves and a good 60db of dynamics (that's a milliwatt to a kilowatt of power!), as reproduced by an incredibly reactive load (speakers). Worse, amps with low THD on a static resistive load often behave very badly in the whirlwind of inductive, capacitive, and mechanically stored energy that is a speaker's load.

Of course, that stuff is darn near impossible to meaningfully measure, so we brag "specs" about THD, which is about as meaningful as stating how well a car drives 50mph on a flat straight road.

That's just one example of the spec game. Needless to say, after building my own speakers, amps, and guitars for long enough, I stopped believing anything but my ears, and I have my doubts about them.

 

[faderbug]

oktava ribbons. cost $300 and sound like a classic ribbon mike.

made in russia.

 

[surfmaster]

so my v67 just died on me and i'm in need of another main vocal mic. would it be realistic to have a ribbon as my main vocal mic? ie does it work with different voices nicely? i'm looking at the rsm-4 just because its cheaper at musician's friend and i'm a college student. I also understand that ribbon mics work wonders on guitar amps so i'm hoping it can double as a second amp mic too.

 

[cusebassman]

Sounds to me (from the advice of trusted sources here), that the Karma K6 is a step up from the cheepies... but the karma site appears to be down at the moment (as of 9:30am, 10/10/07)

 

[Doug H]

Right now, Karma k6 ribbon mics are on sale for $200 each and $400 for a matched pair.

Paj
8^)

hmmmmm....

I've got an Apex 210, it's not bad.
Just being a ribbon totally rocks. I use it to mic my Marshall, especially when there isn't going to be a wall of doubled overdubs.

IMO it's not a "great" mic, I'd like to have something better

 

[Grungeon]

I'll be getting a Karma K6 in a about a week or so. It's my first ribbon mic, and the fourth mic I've owned (I've sold two of them, so now I only own two). So take anything I say with much suspicion at my newbieness.

 

[dgatwood]

Sounds to me (from the advice of trusted sources here), that the Karma K6 is a step up from the cheepies... but the karma site appears to be down at the moment (as of 9:30am, 10/10/07)

I don't know about Karma's web site, but we've had a fair number of electrical problems out here in the last couple of days due to a little light rain. PG&E blows goats.

Karma's HQ is about three blocks from where I work.

 

[kidvybes]

I'll be getting a Karma K6 in a about a week or so. It's my first ribbon mic, and the fourth mic I've owned (I've sold two of them, so now I only own two). So take anything I say with much suspicion at my newbieness.

...just remember to switch on the phantom power when setting up the Karma K6...you'd be surprised at how many of us K6 owners (I'm not mentioning any names...you know who you are) anxiously plugged in the mic upon arrival and thought they had DOA mics (after all the warnings about frying the ribbon on non-phantom powered mics) only to find that we neglected to push the phantom-power button on the mic pre ...I for one made that foolish mistake, but I must say, that the difference in gain/sensitivity from non-phantom powered ribbon mics is a big plus for the K6...as noted above by Freudian Slip, the mic is able to capture very soft passages with great detail and only moderate preamp gain...a big improvement (IMHO) from some of my other non-powered ribbon mics...this one is a "keeper" for sure ...

 

[Grungeon]

...just remember to switch on the phantom power when setting up the Karma K6...you'd be surprised at how many of us K6 owners (I'm not mentioning any names...you know who you are) anxiously plugged in the mic upon arrival and thought they had DOA mics (after all the warnings about frying the ribbon on non-phantom powered mics) only to find that we neglected to push the phantom-power button on the mic pre ...I for one made that foolish mistake, but I must say, that the difference in gain/sensitivity from non-phantom powered ribbon mics is a big plus for the K6...as noted above by Freudian Slip, the mic is able to capture very soft passages with great detail and only moderate preamp gain...a big improvement (IMHO) from some of my other non-powered ribbon mics...this one is a "keeper" for sure ...

The mic came today. I wasn't prepared for the smaller thread of the shockmount. I need to find my little desktop stand that has the smaller threading.

Anyhoo, I tried it out only on my voice, and I think it's darker sounding than the 2 other types of mics I've owned (ATM33a and v67g). A darker sound was what I was looking for to take some harshness out of my voice and guitar speaker. Hurray for something that sounds ok with my voice.

The frequency chart that came with the mic, generally follows the chart on the Karma audio website. There are the various peaks and dips that don't match up, which is to be expected (thanks to Harvey and his posts on microphones). I was kind of expecting a 4dB boost between 150 to 200Hz, but instead, my mic has a 5dB dip between 100 and 200Hz. I like that the frequencies where the promixity effect would boost, isn't already boosted so much. However, having a dip instead of a smooth roll off might sound strange sometimes. How are the frequency charts for those of you with K-6 mics?

In terms of build quality, everything seems ok. There were a few little scratches on the top of the mic, but it doesn't bother me. I haven't tried that test to see if the ribbon is tensioned properly.

 

[kojdogg]

if you use a flat head screwdriver you can take out the inner adapter so that it will fit on a normal mic stand.

 

[Grungeon]

if you use a flat head screwdriver you can take out the inner adapter so that it will fit on a normal mic stand.

Thanks for that. I ended up using a 5 cent coin.