SP B1 again.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Han
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junplugged said:
any diff. in the b1 v. b3 in card. mode? I'm thinking not.

sizzle? I hear sizzle when I have a strong signal going into my berry tube ultra-q w/ the tube dials on max. I haven't used it for anything, not sure if I ever will, but that was sizzle AFAIC.

I will answer that but I might get called a snake oil salesman.... :eek:

There is slight difference. More electronics and dual diaphragms. So there is some things going on internally, but pretty darn close...IMHO.... :)

The TEF says they are exact, but you can't believe them either...Use your ears....
 
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alanhyatt said:
I will answer that but I might called a snake oil salesman.... :eek:

There is slight difference. More electronics and dual diaphragms. So there is some things going on internally, but pretty darn close...IMHO.... :)

The TEF says they are exact, but you can't believe them either...Use your ears....
Well, I wouldn't say you were selling on this one b/c I have a b3 and now I don't have a reason to get a b1!

Looking at the 'how many mics' thread, there's a big flow of mics going on. It's like candy, I wanna try the flavors. And thankfully at this point in time there are affordable and usable ones to collect. I went from 2 to 14 since I've been here. And it has made an improvement in my recordings, at least made them a lot easier to accomplish, and more freq. spectrum has been captured....
 
based on the conclusions i took from that sound file (wich i believe was recorded with a poor quality guitar, not sure though), im in the process of ordering a B1 (for acoustics and micing an hotrod deluxe).

im pretty sure the rave reviews that this mic gets are not in vain..it does get those reviews, and from sources i value (studio reviews - dot, for example) and many more, so...

its kind of weird though..cause i realize im going for this mic based on:

- good reviews (for its good performance)

- and a sound file i didnt like (from what i believe recorded with a poor quality guitar) for its bad performance

wich can be wrong...but i chose to trust the positive reviews...they cant be all wrong!

just thought idd add that this thread has been useful, at least for me :D

in a weird way, but useful.
 
Han said:
Nik you're an okay dude, I can buy as many T3's as I wish, don't need any gifts.

@Chessrock, a really great post, although I do like the B1, it's far from perfect.
Thanks mate, you know, Keith is right again - it does get a bit tiring defending yourself from the constant moronic 'marketer' jibes all the time. I totally respect everyone's right to have their opinions ... but the facts are that I'm the same person who signed up here looking for help and community relating to music and recording ... not somebody's marketing whore.
 
tryptophan said:
if you take away the posts in this thread by people who are demonstratably biased (dot, noisedude, alan) and then take away the posts in this thread by people who seem to bash for no reason, (nkjanssen, slobbermonster, krs)......

you end up with some people likiing the B1 and some people disliking it.

Well since I OWN the B-1 ( and a C1) I think I might have a clue as to what it sounds like. Several of my studio owner friends also own these mics and we have all shared our "frustrations" about them with each other. Unfortunately we have all come to some common conclusions after day to day use.
 
slobbermonster, i didn't mean anything by it, but you didn't explain your sistuation when you posted the jab.

noisedude, well you're a pmi forum moderator. you've had drinks with alan and you seem like pals. friendships are nice, but if you were selected as a potential jury member to determine if alan murdered a prostitute or something, you'd be rejected. why? because opinions are subconciously effected by relationships. it's not your fault. you'd make a good character witness, though.
 
I just read the SOS review (June issue), and it is indeed one heckuva positive take on the B1. The only negative qualifier I could find was that White doesn't believe it sounds like a $1000 mic... although he suggests that the difference is not as great as one might guess.

Anyone researching cheap LDCs should add this review to the reading list. Then, get out there and listen for yourself, if possible, since it's obvious in this thread and others that nothing pleases everyone, regardless of the price or overall weight of positive feedback. That's a given, especially in all things artistic.

J.
 
Well, whilst we're all on the topic.... here's a very brief overview:

Things I like: Pretty useful in most situations. Gets a useable to good sound in most areas, especially general instruments such as guitar and piano. Also nice on guitar amp. My brother recorded everything on his album using the B1, including clarinet, trumpet, violin and guitars and considering he doesn't know too much about recording the results were good. I like the fact that you can put it up and it will get a reasonable sound wherever the mic is.

Things I don't like: Don't like it for vocals. It really doesn't work for me. People mention a harsh edge which doesn't come out in other instruments for me, but really shows up on my voice. Also didn't like it on snare, but thats probably due to the wide cardioid pattern, it didn't have enough isolation for my liking.

One day I'd like to play around with a pair, especially because although the acoustic guitar sound I get with one is good, I can't stand mono for piano and guitar etc.... a bad habit I know!
 
tryptophan said:
slobbermonster, i didn't mean anything by it, but you didn't explain your sistuation when you posted the jab.

noisedude, well you're a pmi forum moderator. you've had drinks with alan and you seem like pals. friendships are nice, but if you were selected as a potential jury member to determine if alan murdered a prostitute or something, you'd be rejected. why? because opinions are subconciously effected by relationships. it's not your fault. you'd make a good character witness, though.
So ... you suspect I may be biased, but you can't 'demonstrate' it. Seeing as this isn't a court of law, and we're talking about MICROPHONES and not MURDERERS, I'll carry on how I am, if that's ok! :p
 
The only reason I often favor and recommend the B1 is because it's the best general application mic we've found under $100. And it's very very good. We've used/tested nearly every mic on the market in its class. I have some notes on the B1 here. If someone knows of a mic that can beat the B1 for all-around best general LDC mic under $100 please let us know!

I have no bias for or against Studio Projects or any of their products. All the gear that we test goes through the same scrutiny and test/use phases. The Listening Sessions is made up of a collection of engineers and musicians, many of whom make their living at it.

Opinions are also affected by not really using the gear and putting it through its paces, but putting forth a blanket opinion nonetheless. I have no problem with an opinion that differs from mine with someone who actually has real examined experience with something - in fact I respect it. Steve Albini doesn't like 57's on snare. He didn't arrive at that conclusion by trying a 57 one night over at a buddy's house. His preference for not liking the 57 is educated and he can back up why he doesn't like to use the mic.

Anyone who tries a product for a few minutes is more than able to just say something like, "Well, we tried it on this one session and it really didn't give us what we wanted." That's true of me as well in almost every session with products that I regularly use. But for someone with very little experience with a product to come along and post that they were "very dissappointed" and that "the sound was unnatural and undefined" is, to me, unqualified to make such a blanket statement. If anything, since that person has access to B1's – and based on the fact that the B1 does get some very positive feedback, even from experienced users – I'd think someone like that might even want to go back and spend some more time with the B1's.

There's people here who use B1's on amps or acoustics and love them for those apps, but think the B1 sounds like shit on their vox. Fair enough. That's an experienced and educated POV and not dissimilar to some of our own findings. There's also people who like the B1 on their vocals, and we've also had good experiences with some singers using a B1 on vox.

Even in my initial raving review of the C1, which was the first C1 post ever in this forum, I wrote that while I thought it was a really killer vocal mic for a lot of people, I thought the C1 wasn't a good mic for acoustic guitar. A lot of people have had those same findings. I also caution people looking for a mic that will work well on both vox and acoustic guitar that I don't think the C1 is a good choice. Some people also find the C1 overly bright, which is totally understandable and one that I would agree with in certain cases.

I still think the C1 is a great mic for the money, but in most cases now I'm recommending the ADK Vienna and Hamburg where I would have recommended the C1 before. The ADK's work equally well on acoustic instruments as well as vox, and in general we think they're better overall mics than the C1. And it took over 4 years for another mic to come out in the same price range that we recommend over the C1. But that doesn't take away from the C1. It's still an excellent mic. I think the C1 cat's pajamas or ass? poll that's been here running for almost 2 years speaks for itself.
 
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this sounds to me like an exercise in "why there's no perfect mic for all situations"......and why we'd expect that from an $80 mic is way beyond me.

i did like the B1 on snare--put about 6in from the side of the drum and aiming at the shell, it gave me a nice woody whack. but it was VERY wide and picked up a lot more than just the snare (and LOTS of hat). if i were looking for isolation, it's not at all what i'd reach for. i think in terms of looking for a mic for "concert snare" or "solo snare" or something like that, it would be a very good mic in that application.

on vocals, it's not my first choice. i've only had 1 vocalist who sounded good on it (and he sounded GOOD on it). in this case it was more of a matter of the mic staying out of the way of his voice rather than the mic needing to "add" something. next time i record him i'll prolly reach for my dragonfly and v67 just for a comparison, but i wouldn't be surprised if the b1 ends up being the one i go back to for him. usually, for everyone else, the dfly is my starting point and i go from there. it depends on the voice and the sound i'm looking for.

even on my own voice, one with which i have LOTS of experience :D, and which responds quite well to the dfly, doesn't always work with the dfly on every song. some songs require the v67. some songs DEMAND the re38 (which i'm really in love with). so why should we expect the b1 to work for everyone when a "much better" mic doesn't always work for the SAME person's voice?


i don't think i've said anything that i haven't said before. ;)


cheers,
wade
 
Well, that was a good post Dan !

I started this thread because I was quite surprised by the B1 as an OH pair.
For the last 10 - 12 years I've always used a pair of AKG C451/CK1's as OH and I was happy with them.

But actually I'm more happy with the B1 on that application but I must add that it was a jazz band and the drummer was playing softly. I have yet to find out how the B1's do on a rock drummer.

I have te B1's more than a year now and most of the time they're not used, but always on the stand in a corner of the tracking room. One of them fell from it's clip on the wooden floor and got a nasty dent, which I fixed, looks like new now, but the mic didn't got any damage and sounds like the other.

Every now and then they get used when I'm out of LDC's and so they got used on Hammond/Leslie, upright bass, vocals, mallets, piano, trumpet, T-bone, guitar cabs (both clean and distorted, even jazz) and I think I forget a few.

And always those cheap mics did a good job, I didn't like them on the horns, but I used a ribbon as well, I always track horns with two mics on two tracks.

On vocals they either shine or suck, thats weird, the MXL V77S is great on almost any vocal and this is a neutral sounding mic as well.

So you can say the B1 is the best allrounder under $100, it'll sound much better than the SM57 on 99% of the applications ( I agree with Steve Albini in most occasions)

Peace, Han
 
Such voices of clarity and reasoning are always refreshing in these threads.

J.
 
Dot said:
I still think the C1 is a great mic for the money, but in most cases now I'm recommending the ADK Vienna and Hamburg where I would have recommended the C1 before.

Very good post Dan. What I have been saying all along...The B1 is what it is.

Just to set the record straight, the ADK Hamburg and Vienna are $599.99 retail, and $299.99 in the stores. The C1 is $299.00 list and $199.99 in the stores. Again, the C1 is what it is.... :)
 
Hey Alan - What can I do to improve or get around the mic clip for the B1? It dosen't hold it's vertical position well and it won't be long before it's stripped.
 
Supercreep said:
Hey Alan - What can I do to improve or get around the mic clip for the B1? It dosen't hold it's vertical position well and it won't be long before it's stripped.

Hey SC,

This will help....B Series Clip Adjustment

We can replace the clip as well if it is stripped out totally. You can also look into a B1 Shockmount. E-mail at alan@pmiaudio.com and we can talk about that if you need it, but the adjustment on the clip might solve your problem...
 
Thanks Alan.


Yeah, I guess I already have the shockmounts then. The plastic wingnut that restricts vertical movement dosen't tighten enough to keep the heavy mic in place - it sags under the weight of the mic. If I really crank on it it will stay but it won't last at this rate.

Is there an aftermarket shockmount that'll fit?


Peace,

-Casey
 
No SC, e-mail me your address and we wil send you a new one....
 
alanhyatt said:
Just to set the record straight, the ADK Hamburg and Vienna are $599.99 retail, and $299.99 in the stores. The C1 is $299.00 list and $199.99 in the stores. Again, the C1 is what it is.... :)

Oh no... don't put it like this, Alan. Now I have to get the Hamburg also. I have a B1 and a C1 already :)

Just to set the "record" straight: Here in Denmark, the prices are as follows:

SP C1 is 327 USD - list and sales price
Hamburg/Vienna are 492 USD list and 262 USD sales(!)
CAD M179 is 689 USD - list and sales price...

So you're now saying I have to buy a Hamburg as well ;)

What kind of SP marketing is that...


-- Per.
 
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