Fat Head

NCdan

NCdan

New member
Is the Fat Head ribbon mic really worth buying? I spend most of my music money on instruments, so I've never spent a lot of money on a mic or even a preamp. I'll be moving back to the US in July and I'll have about $300 in my music budget left over for miscellaneous. I really would rather invest in something other than another Shure mic at this point, and I'm not buying a cheap tube mic, so I was wondering if a $300 ribbon mic is really worth it? I'd like to get a darker sound, and the Fat Head does sound quite dark compared to the sm57 in the sound samples, but would my money be better invested in yet another dynamic mic? Btw, I'd be using this in the studio and possibly live. Please be honest, because my feelings won't be hurt. As you might guess, I have no experience using ribbon mics. Thanks.
 
Well you won't be using it live cause of the figure8 pattern but then again maybe and by the sounds of it you'll be using it to mic an amp? or what will you be using it for? need to know these things.
I bought a pair and use them as over heads on drums every so often in my studio with good results.
 
There are plenty of low end, ribbon mics to choose from depending on your needs.
Fatheads are more expensive than similar models but claim to be better.
For $80, The Nady RSM4 is nice and dark. You'll be putting it up to a cabinet or recording bass?
 
The main use of the Fat Head would be on a guitar cabinet, but I have been looking for a darker bass tone, so I might use it with a bass cabinet as well. It's immediate use would be for recording, but I would at least try it out live and see what happens.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for a cheap ribbon mic, I'm looking for a good ribbon mic. If the Fat Head isn't a good ribbon mic, then I'd just as soon pick up another dynamic. It just so happens that I'll have an extra $300 or so in my music equipment budget. Is there anything better to spend $300 on? I'm willing to give the Fat Head a shot if it doesn't perform like another cheap, asian mic.
 
I just got a fathead for Christmas, its my first ribbon mic. It definitely adds an interesting flavor to my mic locker, its absolutely nothing like any of my other mics. I started doing testing and so far I think it sounds really cool as a room mic, a bottom snare mic, even as an overhead it sounds cool. Those are the only 3 places I tested it so far...

I got mine for $175, but I got the stock transformer
 
Then what you really want is a sennheiser e609 for your guitar cab 100.oo
Or get the fat head with the up grade but I don't think it will be any dif. hope this helps.
But I'm not one of your own what ever the heck that means.
 
Then what you really want is a sennheiser e609 for your guitar cab
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Already got it. Actually, I have an e906, but even with the high rolloff engaged I don't find it all that different from an sm57. From the sound samples I was thinking that the Fat Head might provide a wider tonal palette than using two dynamics. But maybe I'm wrong on that?

Or get the fat head with the up grade but I don't think it will be any dif.
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Do you mean you don't think it will be any different from the Fat Head without the upgrade or you don't think it will be any different from the e609?

I just got a fathead for Christmas, its my first ribbon mic. It definitely adds an interesting flavor to my mic locker, its absolutely nothing like any of my other mics.
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What other mics do you use and how is the Fat Head different? Is it darker? Richer? Noisier? Any additional info would be greatly appreciated.
 
The upgrade won't make the fat head darker sounding than the original.
Now the thing with a ribbon mic is it will reproduce your sound faithfully so it won't darken it.Maybe what you need to do is work on your amp sound -the source,or the placement of the mic-off to the side of the speaker or even a foot away, do a little experimenting with what you have.
Ya know a bright sounding guitar is not a bad thing it will sit in the mix better than a dark sounding one once you mix the bright guitar with the rest of your mix the brightness is not that evident, where as the dark one will tend to get lost or not defined.
One other thing you can do is mod your 57 go to oktavamod.com for the free modification instructions on how the get the brightness out of your 57 if you don't like it it's revisable give that a try, it's a cool project and you'll probably like it.
There's a few days of work try all of that out and get back to me with your results.
 
I definitely recommend going with a Lundahl upgrade in any of the Chinese ribbons (including the Fat Head). It opens up the top end of the sound considerably in a pleasant way.
 
Alright, since I can't get a definite answer on the Fat Head, how about this:

Should I go with the Fat Head or a better preamp? I'm using a really cheap solid state preamp right now (Studio Projects VTB1 or something like that). I know, shame on me for using a crappy preamp for recording.

So, would my money be better spent on a Fat Head or a new preamp?
 
I have the 57's, the 609's and a bunch of nice condensers and tube mics...
...but I really love the Fat Head II on guitar cabs!


I got the Fat Head II stereo pair kit....with stock trannies.
Personally...I would get them stock, and if you find them too dark, then have the Lundahl installed.
Point being...you don't need to make the Fat Head sound too much like some condenser...but yeah, the top end will be more open with the Lundahl. I've never bothered, as I have other mics with open top end, and I mainly got the Fat Heads for guitar cabs and because I found all the other mics were too thin sounding, where the Fat Head gives me the body I like.
All I ever do with my guitar tracks is tweak the low-end when I mix. I might roll it off a bit to taste...otherwise, the Fat Head tracks sit really nice in the mix without any fuss and without any harshness.

If you plan to use the Fat Head for vocals or other things...then you may want to go with the Lundahl right from the start...BUT...if you call Cascade, they will tell you that the Fat Heads are NOT the ribbons you want for vocals.
They have other models that will do vocals better...but for guitar cabs...FAT HEAD!

For vocals...the ribbon I'm looking at is the brand new Audio Technica 4080...but that's a few more clams than $300. :)


And yeah…at some point you should also have a couple of decent preamps.
 
I have a fathead and I really like it. Anything I want to sound real, I use the fathead.

However, it needs a lot of gain, so if you don't have a decnt preamp, you might want to get one because you will need it with a ribbon mic.
 
The way I look at it is that you can't get the sound of the Lundahl from the stock transformer, but you can get the sound of the stock transformer by rolling off the top end and adding some sort of really fast, heavily EQed reverb to simulate the transformer ringing.... :D

It's not just the high end of the sound that the stock transformer hurts. Chinese ribbon transformers range from "usable" to "sucks out loud", depending on which one you get. They're highly inconsistent from unit to unit, and they just don't sound that great. I'd be more inclined to add a little shelving EQ at the top end to bring the Lundahl down for cab, up for vocals.

You're right that the Fat Head isn't the ideal vocal ribbon, but it should still be a pretty good all around choice, IMHO.
 
Did you take a look at the oktava site to darken your 57 ?
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I don't want to darken any of my existing mics, I was hoping to get a mic with a different voicing and/or tonality. I like sm57's, I just want a mic to pair with it that provides a widal tonal palette when used together (panned L and R respectively).
 
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