wheelema
Boner-obo
Looking for the good and the bad if you have had any experience with this microphone or the Royer R-121.
Teacher
New member
i've never personally used one but i hear GREAT things about it....its a ribbon so you gonna need a preamp with alot of gain and one that doesn't distort at high gains
wheelema
Boner-obo
Teacher,
The beauty of the R-122 is that you don't need a great preamp... per Royer Labs...
The beauty of the R-122 is that you don't need a great preamp... per Royer Labs...
Check this link for the full marketing pitch. Sounds awfully nice. If things work out this is going to go through a Aardvark Q10 initially, and then through a John Harley M-1 ASAP. Thanks for the feedback.
Teacher
New member
i think the hardy m1 qualifies as a great pre...at least very very good 
Fletcher
New member
Great googly moogly... with anything, it depends on the source... if you have a loud source, like a seriously loud guitar amplifier... you won't need gain from hell... if you have a quieter source, yeah, you'll need like 60db worth of gain... but most competent mic pre's [not sure about shit like the "audio buddy", etc.] will be able to do 60db of gain without flinching... the Hardy M-1 would certainly be more than capable of working well with pretty much any ribbon mic ever made.
The R-122 has an internal amplifier that does a couple of things... first, you'll require less gain; but more importantly... the "head" element is coupled to the internal amplifier which nets a better consistency of tone from pre-amp to pre-amp... fewer "coupling issues".
This could be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on the tools at your disposal, and your intention for the tone you're recording... sometimes the loading variations are a very helpful tool in defining the sound you're recording... sometimes they get inthe way.
Overall, I've found the 122 to be a bit more "focused" on the top and bottom... which can be a good thing, or not a good thing depending on what you're going for. The 121 and 122, while similar in character, are really two rather different microphones.
The R-122 has an internal amplifier that does a couple of things... first, you'll require less gain; but more importantly... the "head" element is coupled to the internal amplifier which nets a better consistency of tone from pre-amp to pre-amp... fewer "coupling issues".
This could be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on the tools at your disposal, and your intention for the tone you're recording... sometimes the loading variations are a very helpful tool in defining the sound you're recording... sometimes they get inthe way.
Overall, I've found the 122 to be a bit more "focused" on the top and bottom... which can be a good thing, or not a good thing depending on what you're going for. The 121 and 122, while similar in character, are really two rather different microphones.
D
Dave S.
New member
Excellent mic for recording brass instruments.
Dave
Dave
wheelema
Boner-obo
Looking to record female vocals.
M
mixsit
Well-known member
wheelema said:
I bought the 121 to have at least one non-fizzy option -starting on F/M voc, which it does very nicely. I think I could do without the 1k'ish bump there, but that might be part of what makes them nice on electric guitars. (still very newbie on this one)
FWIW
Wayne