New Ribbon Mic Purchase Advice - Audio Samples

[oplatner]

Hi,

i'm recording guitar (combo amp) at my home studio which is untreated acoustically.

my recording gear is pretty basic but i think does the job pretty well:
Audio interface: Avid Eleven Rack (i use it only as a converter, since i prefer the sound of a real amp)
Preamp: ART MP/C (i have two of these)
Mic's: MXL R144 Ribbon + Audix i5
also, i'm using the new Se Electronics GuitaRF reflection filter

here are some samples i made with my fender stratocaster, so you can get a feel of the sound i'm getting these days:








i feel i can get a much better sound by just upgrading to a higher level Ribbon. unfortunately, the Royer 121 is off budget, my aim is toward the 350-400$ range.
heRE ARE options i thought of: MXL 860 (which supposed to be a Royer 121 clone ?), Se Electronics X1R, Cascade Fathead II.

so... first, i would love your opinion on my current recorded tone, would you consider it to be a good one ?
second, which one of the 3 upgrade options will get me the farther, tone wise ?

thank's.

 

[gongli]

Check this new Russian ribbon mic out - there are audio samples you can hear.

Montigomo R1A Ribbon Russian Microphone with Amorphous Transformer | eBay

 

[gongli]

You know to be careful with phantom power with ribbons, right?

 

[witzendoz]

I have some cheap ribbons, 2 x no name brand fatheads and 2 x MXLR40's (the earlier version of the R144) and I love them on quite a few things, the fatheads are very good on guitar cabs.

Alan.

 

[cafehonda]

Cascade Fathead II is nice. I did not like the X1R, too dark.
Replace the transformer in one of those r40s with a Cinemag from Geistnote and do the mods you can find online. You will probably be amazed, if your ribbon is the proper tension. Most inexpensive ribbon mics I have seen have stretched ribbons right out of the box.