B.L.U.E. Baby Bottle- first impressions

[Richard Monroe]

Well, as some of you may recall, I picked up a Baby Bottle in a mic trade that went rather awry. It originally belonged to Big Kenny, then passed into the hands of Sonarman (not to be confused with Sonusman). He traded it to me for an AKG C2000B and a Studio Projects C-3. It was advertised as "like new", which means the grill was dented, and the capsule housing had been opened in a vain attempt to fix the grill, I think. The housing wasn't glued together properly, so it opened, and a wire came into contact with the diaphragm, shorting out the capsule. When I attempted (multiple times) to contact Sonarman, he had become instantly impossible to reach, blah, blah, blah.
Well, I cut my losses by shipping the mic to Jon Criss at B.L.U.E., and $130 or so later, the mic works, and the dent in the grill is gone. My original expectation for the mic was that it would become an instrument workhorse and an occasional vocal mic, sort of a summer replacement for the C414, but that isn't really what it seems to be about. Actually, it's a lot more like a more detailed version of the C2000. It is a little on the dark side, and definitely has some color to it. It doesn't really handle high SPL's well, and a hard attack will clip it. The output is *very* hot. In other words, it's a mic that wants to be backed off a bit, and is ideal for a singer with a delicate voice (think Sarah Watkins of Nickel Creek). I expect it will be a rather good acoustic guitar mic, but I havn't gotten to that yet.
It seems to be a very good vocal mic for me on softer stuff. I don't think it's anything I want to belt some blues or rock and roll into. It doesn't strike me as anything I want to put near a cranked up amp or a Djembe, but it might be good for woodwinds or strings, and softer singers. James Taylor, not James Brown. I may post up more when I've tried it on some other stuff.-Richie

[BrettB]

Good Post Richard!

I have tried the baby bottle a few times in a commercial studio and I really like it, but it has its own character. I really like it on hihat (kind of a funky sound) and I have also used it on an upright bass (in combination with a Neumann Tube).

It's definetely a matter of taste, but I really like the bottle.

[Warhead]

I actually like the Baby Bottle as a front of drum kit mic and have had no problems with SPL's in that position. I posted a clip a while back, you gotta scroll down a bit. It's easier to select "download" and "open" instead of streaming. Beware of the out of tune tom tom...

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...d=2079&alid=-1

I like the way the BB still has some bite to it but no harsh high end. It is a cool mic to have around.

War

[ozraves]

The Baby Bottle gets my respect, especially for VO work. Awesome.

[dcarlton]

...and they just look so cool!!
Doug

[chessrock]

Originally Posted by Richard Monroe

It originally belonged to Big Kenny, then passed into the hands of Sonarman (not to be confused with Sonusman). He traded it to me for an AKG C2000B and a Studio Projects C-3. It was advertised as "like new", which means the grill was dented, and the capsule housing had been opened in a vain attempt to fix the grill, I think. The housing wasn't glued together properly, so it opened, and a wire came into contact with the diaphragm, shorting out the capsule. When I attempted (multiple times) to contact Sonarman, he had become instantly impossible to reach, blah, blah, blah.

Does this mean Sonarman is off the goodguy list?

[Richard Monroe]

Good guess, Chessrock.-Richie