compairisons of cheap ribbons

  • Thread starter Thread starter giraffe
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giraffe

giraffe

i love negative rep
thinking about a cheep ribion mic and was wondering if any one had experience with more than one of the different models?

whatever the badge, the mic probably came from alctron at the end of the day, so which one do you like?

is there even a difference, or is it all the same mic in different cases?


http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-RSM1-Ribbon-Studio-Microphone?sku=277106

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-RSM3-Ribbon-Studio-Microphone?sku=277069


thoes are the 2 i have most in mind, but i probably wont buy from nady.

thanks.
 
I went with this one:

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/314929.html

I believe it to be a similar - if not the same - ribbon and magnets found in the first link. It sounded pretty good out of the box and then, using the knowledge in this and other webboards, I modified it with a new transformer and removed a bunch of extra stuff protective stuff in side the grill. It was well worth it - though now it's really fragile.

Hope that helps.
 
qbert1 said:
I went with this one:

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/314929.html

I believe it to be a similar - if not the same - ribbon and magnets found in the first link. It sounded pretty good out of the box and then, using the knowledge in this and other webboards, I modified it with a new transformer and removed a bunch of extra stuff protective stuff in side the grill. It was well worth it - though now it's really fragile.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Wow - great price... less than half the price of the Nady-branded version.

*feels more G.A.S. coming on*
 
Yea, I think it's a clearance. I got mine there when it was $110. Such is life.
 
qbert1 said:
Yea, I think it's a clearance. I got mine there when it was $110. Such is life.
Click to expand...

They've got the little brother to your ribbon for $82 :

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/316742.html

This is the version that I was thinking about buying from Shinybox, but for around $168 less.

Edit :

Couldn't help myself. $89.56 delivered. It'll arrive Saturday. :)
 
Last edited:
kid klash said:
They've got the little brother to your ribbon for $82 :

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/316742.html

This is the version that I was thinking about buying from Shinybox, but for around $168 less.

Edit :

Couldn't help myself. $89.56 delivered. It'll arrive Saturday. :)
Click to expand...

that's the one to get, I've owned 'em both and only kept the 205s. 205 is smaller (doesn't look as cool though cuz of the less formidable size), better built, less garbage in the grille, far fewer resonances (you can hear the grill and body resonances clear as day in the unmodified 210), and the 205 has more high end (probably cuz it's more like a better built slightly modded version of a 210 with a smaller casing).

And the 205 is cheaper.... it's newer too by the way, I wouldn't be surprised if the 205 was meant to replace the 210 since it's newer and so much better sounding. By the way it has the same element as the 210 (and as all the shinyboxes and most of the nadys).

Save your bucks and get the 205 if you want to start from scratch, it's as good as the $200 but with slightly less nice transformers so not quite as shiny as a high end shinybox :-). Otherwise identical.

Cheers,
Don
 
DAS19 said:
I heard the Cascade Fathead for $159 direct is a very good buy. Def worth a look and is most likely going to be my next microphone.

Check it out.
http://www.cascademicrophones.com/cascade_FAT HEAD.html
Click to expand...

Nady sells this same mic, re-branded, and w/o shockmount for more, but I got it for $150 clearance the other day. Only recorded my double bass with it, no vocals yet, but I dig it so far.
 
I've got all three amd rsm -3 is my favorite, smoothest all around. There is more than likely some QC issues and YMMV
 
Entry Level Ribbon Mic Shootout

I recently grabbed every ribbon under $500 we have and took them into the studio with a guitarist friend and an acoustic to shoot out entry level ribbons. They're not all Chinese. The contenders are:

Apex 205 (Chinese, figure 8)
Apex 210 (Chinese, figure 8)
Avant CR-14 (Chinese, figure 8)
Beyer M260 (German, hypercardioid)
CAD Trion7000 (Chinese, figure 8)
Oktava ML-53 (Russian, figure 8)

The link is here, click the arrow on the right to download:

Warhead's Informal Ribbon Shootout / AC Gtr

It's a Yamaha FG413S acoustic with Elixir strings from about 14" out.

I also used the front and rear of each mic (Beyer of course isn't figure 8) as they can sound quite different front to rear.

Hope this sheds some light for you on a few models. It was pretty informal but...informative!

War
 
Warhead, thanks for the samples. The Beyer seems to stick out as the brightest to my ears, with the Chinese ribbons sounding darker. The Oktava is somewhere in the middle.
 
don't have the oppertunity to listen now (don't have an internet connection at home........ stop laughing) what are your opinions warhead?
 
Yes, thanks Warhead for the links!

Out of curiosity, what are the prices of the mics (The Apex 205 is running around $82 and the Apex 210 is around $90, but I'm not certain about the others). Prices help bring the "price versus performance" thing into focus for a lot of people, especially after hearing your samples. ;)
 
Bummer. For some reason I can never get anything to play from Nowhere Radio.
 
Caotico, that M260 is way brighter by comparison! It delivers excellent high end detail and the best transients out of the bunch, lacks somewhat in depth but in a busy rock mix as a supporting instrument it's a good pick. That mic has a steep roll off at 200hZ and under, so it's never going to deliver a BIG sound on anything.

giraffe, I'm not laughing (totally lying, haha! ok kidding...) about your internet access. Overall I'd say:

Apex 205: Great bang for the buck, pretty balanced sound
Apex 210: Best overall detail and balance on this guitar
Avant CR-14: Dense mid / mid-low response, soft top end
Beyer M260: Brightest, best attack etc, lacks body
CAD Trion7000: Most classic sounding / round & full ribbon
Oktava ML-53: Midrange intensive, better suited to vocals

I think they all do different things well, but some sound way more specific than others and I could not recommend them as general purpose ribbons. This is only an acoustic guitar test, but for example I can tell you the Apex 210 / 205 mics can get pretty woofy on the low end on guitar cabs, whereas the CAD Trion typically won't. The Oktava can do real well on voice by giving you a nice forward midrange.

In other words, this isn't the whole story on these mics.

War
 
kid klash said:
Yes, thanks Warhead for the links!

Out of curiosity, what are the prices of the mics (The Apex 205 is running around $82 and the Apex 210 is around $90, but I'm not certain about the others). Prices help bring the "price versus performance" thing into focus for a lot of people, especially after hearing your samples. ;)
Click to expand...

All of our pricing is on our site. I think it would be perceived as pretty spammy for a dealer to do this. The pricing you're quoting is cheaper than us, if you would like to post links go right ahead. I've been asked to match Full Compass around those prices, I suspect it is them. There is no profit at that price.

As far as putting the thing into focus if my clips help, great. I never ask or insist or generally even suggest that anybody on these boards buy them from me though at any price.

If price is all that matters, I would not make clips or even bother listening to anything we sell...!

Carry on.

War
 
omtayslick said:
Bummer. For some reason I can never get anything to play from Nowhere Radio.
Click to expand...

Click the right arrow and download it. It should not be a stream situation if you click that one!

War
 
Thanks war,

I finally got a chance to listen. It really does help to hear male and female vocals through the same mike. I noticed that I liked the Hamburg II and Vienna II for the female and the Vienna and Hamburg for the male. Nice way to learn how to judge different mics.

Thanks.
 
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