Good budget ribbon mics

[Tubetec]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas about modern ribbon mics ,

There are the usual bargain basement suspects like T.bone ,MXL and Goldenage project ranges , all look pretty much the same .

The Stagg SRM70 with identical case work to the to the Royer 121 ,for around 220 euros , where the genuine article is 1150 euros now on Thomann .

I found a Belgian importer who handles several marques but also does his own Nohype NRM2b for around 220 euros , no extra charge for a matched pair so I assume he can provide a calibration chart with frequency responce for each microphone , theres also a lundahl transformer option . He also handles Triton products so you can pick up a fet head at a concessionary rate while your buying the mic if you want . Theres plenty of examples of music recorded with these mics on the website , there really is some very nice sounding recordings here .

Bumblebee music do ribbon mic kits for similar money ,starting off at around 199 euros ,including their own toroid transformer ,they also have a fet based head amp option . In terms of build its quick , five minutes with a soldering iron ,snips and screwdriver and your done . What I didnt like was everything was kinda stuffed up the pipe , transformer and preamp board are left dangling to clunk around the place inside the mic body . Their top of the line motor is 150 euros and maybe another 50 for the casework which looks like a good starting point for a design .

 

[wlinart]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas about modern ribbon mics ,

There are the usual bargain basement suspects like T.bone ,MXL and Goldenage project ranges , all look pretty much the same .

The Stagg SRM70 with identical case work to the to the Royer 121 ,for around 220 euros , where the genuine article is 1150 euros now on Thomann .

I found a Belgian importer who handles several marques but also does his own Nohype NRM2b for around 220 euros , no extra charge for a matched pair so I assume he can provide a calibration chart with frequency responce for each microphone , theres also a lundahl transformer option . He also handles Triton products so you can pick up a fet head at a concessionary rate while your buying the mic if you want . Theres plenty of examples of music recorded with these mics on the website , there really is some very nice sounding recordings here .

Bumblebee music do ribbon mic kits for similar money ,starting off at around 199 euros ,including their own toroid transformer ,they also have a fet based head amp option . In terms of build its quick , five minutes with a soldering iron ,snips and screwdriver and your done . What I didnt like was everything was kinda stuffed up the pipe , transformer and preamp board are left dangling to clunk around the place inside the mic body . Their top of the line motor is 150 euros and maybe another 50 for the casework which looks like a good starting point for a design .

Just answered your question in the other thread
But i've also got 2 of the older Nohype audio ribbon mics. These are already amazing. Recorded a lot of drum overheads with it, but also some guitars, contrabass, and classical piano. They sound amazing. The new ones should be even better. I think with a stereo pair of them and maybe also a bumblebee one/pair (for another colour), you can't go wrong. or maybe buy the tbone ones, replace the motor and transformer to get yet another colour.

 

[totoxraymond]

A good friend of mine bought a stereo pair of the Nohype and is very pleased by them.

 

[mrgrooves666]

http://www.bashaudio.ru/rmbiv1.eng.html
These are very afforable and sound very good actually. You can get a pair with phantom powered boosters and mounts for a very accesible price. They also have a double ribbon mic. They all are nice. I installed a bumble bee booster inside the bash double ribbon to make it active annd its become an excellent vocal mic with a very warm smooth sound.

 

[shabtek]

the latest Samar seems like good value

 

[Whoops]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas about modern ribbon mics ,

There are the usual bargain basement suspects like T.bone ,MXL and Goldenage project ranges , all look pretty much the same .

For really good budget Ribbon mics the Tbone RB500 and the RM700 are amazing,
I highly recommend those.
And are also amazing for the price, I can order from Thomann without VAT so it's 80€ each,
unbeatable

I use them professionally all the time

 

[andYz00m]

Cascade Fatheads always solid. You can get a stereo pair with blumlein bar for 300-400$. Used a pair of them for many years.

 

[Tubetec]

.
With the Nohype and Bumblebee mics you do at least have contact with the person who sets up the ribbons for more or less the same price as an off the shelf mid level Chinese mic , they both sell you a matched pair .
Nohype uses a tuned Chinese motor and transformer for 220 euros, painted body , Bumblebee gives you a stainless mic body with plenty of space and a third generation magnet/motor design for around 220 as a kit , you can add any transformer or active elements you like .

Below, Bumblebee RM-7 Motor assembly looks the bee's knees ,

I see a fair few Fatheads around the secondhand market alright , body size might be a limiting factor if you plan modding them though.

 

[Ricardus]

I built a pair of Bumblebee RM6s and am very happy with them.

 

[Tubetec]

Have you tried them with Abbeys Fet booster Ric? .

Another nice thing about the Bumblebee product is a lot of the parts are machined locally in Latvia . The pressed steel frame in the usual Chinese mics wont have anywhere near the same tollerances .

I did take a look at the BASH audio also , the dual ribbon arrangement looks interesting .
He also has an interesting take on the fet head idea , with 3 switchable input Z settings as well as gain adjust , it comes in a nice polished stainless housing . Couldnt seem to get a price on it though probably less than 100 euros .

 

[Ricardus]

Have you tried them with Abbeys Fet booster Ric? .

Indeed I have!

These mics have some decent gain though, so it isn't always necessary, but they sound great with Abbey's FET booster, too.

In fact, 2 of his boosters live in the case with the 2 mics.

 

[TwentyTrees]

To throw in my tuppence-worth, I have a couple of NoHype ribbons - the LRM2 and their newer stereo SRM. Both are great (the LRM is fabulous on things like banjo, mandolin, violin and even trumpet - carefully), and JP is an absolute pleasure to deal with. They're leagues ahead of the GAP ribbon I've got, for what that's worth, in terms of detail and overall tone.

 

[amplexus]

Another vote for Bumblebee here. I grabed a pair of rm5 kits a couple years ago and really like them on drum rooms and overheads, guitar cabs, strings.

While they do sound quite different, they hold their own as a great sound against my AEA R88, Royer, and vintage RCA’s.

 

[brandonwong]

Another vote for Bumblebee here. I grabed a pair of rm5 kits a couple years ago and really like them on drum rooms and overheads, guitar cabs, strings.

While they do sound quite different, they hold their own as a great sound against my AEA R88, Royer, and vintage RCA’s.

How would you describe the difference to AEA and Royer?

I just wired up two RM7 and while they sounded great, I wish they were a tad brighter on brasses.

 

[beatsnblunts]

Re: AEA R84 vs Royer 120- much larger ribbon in the AEA and cinemag xfmer. bigger wider band width. if i had to choose between the two, id go AEA all day as i find them way more useful.

i have a re ribboned mxl r40 that sounds pretty great-will probably switch out the iron to compare the differences.

 

[brandonwong]

How about your thoughts of the AEA or Royer compared to the Bumblebee?

I have tried the Audio Technica 4080/4081and although they are ribbons, they still have a condenser like presence without the harshness.

 

[Ricardus]

How about your thoughts of the AEA or Royer compared to the Bumblebee?

I have tried the Audio Technica 4080/4081and although they are ribbons, they still have a condenser like presence without the harshness.

I would love to do a direct comparison between my Bumblebee and a Royer 121.

 

[Tubetec]

I had been thinking about installing some form of active electronics in the Bumblebee , but then I saw Rics setup . Having the active element in its own seperate enclosure makes plenty of sense , then you can choose with/without depending on the source you find yourself recording . I'd like to try Abbeys Fet , but instead of a pair of transistors driving the output I'd like to try op amps followed by a transformer .

I see Ivan(E1DA) has a new scaler module coming out , basically two channels of fet based balanced input followed by a pair of instrumentation grade op amps , it looks like a good match for the output of a ribbon mic , input z is 100kohms ,but of course we could adjust the input resistances to suit the ribbon mic transformer termination .

 

[amplexus]

How about your thoughts of the AEA or Royer compared to the Bumblebee?

I have tried the Audio Technica 4080/4081and although they are ribbons, they still have a condenser like presence without the harshness.

The bumblebees are darker for sure. In would say in order of “most condenser like presence” to darker toned of the ones i’ve had side by side:

AT4081
Royer 121
RCA BK5A/AEA R88
Bumblebee.

but i would say the AT is maybe +2 over the royer, the royer maybe +1 over the RCA and AEA, and then that group is +2 over the bumblebee- but these aren’t like, huge huge degrees of scale either.

in my highly subjective scaling system

 

[brandonwong]

The bumblebees are darker for sure. In would say in order of “most condenser like presence” to darker toned of the ones i’ve had side by side:

AT4081
Royer 121
RCA BK5A/AEA R88
Bumblebee.

but i would say the AT is maybe +2 over the royer, the royer maybe +1 over the RCA and AEA, and then that group is +2 over the bumblebee- but these aren’t like, huge huge degrees of scale either.

in my highly subjective scaling system

Thanks for this.