I'm going to start buying microphones instead of records!

I would like 2 decent ribbon mics for guitar cabinets/room mics. Can a decent model be had for under $600? I was looking into the Nady ribbons, but I'd imagine they couldn't take the SPL of a guitar cab.

I was thinking maybe Beyer M130? I've only found one british auction on ebay for one in the past couple of weeks I've been looking.

Any other recommendations? Our guitar cabs are loud, and since they're non-master volume, we really can't turn down, even if I did believe in doing such a thing.

The ribbon mic, is she even such the good idea?

I got an m260 a while ago, it's great for drums and guitars.

you can have a problem with too loud of levels, "stretching" the ribbon, so
if your amps are really loud.. a dynamic might be necessary.

i would look thru the beyers. and maybe supliment it with an oktiva?

I dunno how loud you play, but we use ribbons on loud cabs around here, so far without ill effect on the mic(s). The Beyer M500 can often be found under your $600 limit, and it's great on loud cabs. Same with the old RCA BK-5, though they're a bit harder to find. Shure 300 and 330 are o.k. on cabs, but I like them better for vocals. Other than the Coles 4038 (out of your price range but very nice piece of gear...) those are the ribbons I'm familiar with. You might get lucky and find some old RCA 74 Jr. or Varacoustic, or an Electro-Voice EV-1 for cheap, but I'd be sending those to Steven Sank for a rebuild with the information that you intended to use the updated model on loud sources. He might laugh, or he might be able to fix you up.

Beyers, though. Find an M500 and you're in business...

That's two for $600, right?
I was surprised how good those Chinese ribbon mics sound. They can be a bit boomy for certain amps but can take a max. SPL of 165dB. I like them.
t.bone offers the cheapest, PPA, Nady and others are a bit more expensive. They are all the same mic.
Those look really interesting:
http://www.shinybox.com/thelab.php

Of the Beyer, I prefer my modified M260 and M500 over my stock ones for electric guitars. They get even used more often than my M160s.
More here:
http://www.thuntek.net/~bk11/bk11.htm
Good luck,
Max

max wrote:That's two for $600, right?
I was surprised how good those Chinese ribbon mics sound. They can be a bit boomy for certain amps but can take a max. SPL of 165dB. I like them.

Those look really interesting:
http://www.shinybox.com/thelab.php

Of the Beyer, I prefer my modified M260 and M500

Yeah, the Chinese ribbons should take shit-loads of volume for a ribbon. They are a nice design too, with the exception of decent but not great output transformers.

Shinybox offer different transformer options which is very nice.

Max, how are your Beyers modified? Are they re-ribboned by Sank?

beyer 500 - yes.

also the rca 74-b can be a great mic on guitar amps and costs under $600.

-ew

I second (or third) the Beyer M-500. I love my pair, though I am not sure you can get two for under $600.

Has anyone here actually used the newish PPA ribbon mics? They look great and are cheap ($250 each?). Do tell.

Mayfair wrote:Has anyone here actually used the newish PPA ribbon mics? They look great and are cheap ($250 each?). Do tell.

The PPA Mics are standard Chinese ribbon mics. Shinybox sells them too with transformer options IIRC (and cheaper I think).

Rodabod wrote:

Mayfair wrote:Has anyone here actually used the newish PPA ribbon mics? They look great and are cheap ($250 each?). Do tell.

The PPA Mics are standard Chinese ribbon mics. Shinybox sells them too with transformer options IIRC (and cheaper I think).

How did they sound/work for you? Are they worth the money or is it worth spending a little more for something better like the Beyers?

I don't actually have a set of the smaller Chinese ribbons. I think they'd probably be quite good though and excellent value for money.

From listening to a couple of recordings, the smaller model sounds more midrange-y and more present than the larger one which is more like most classic ribbon mics - ie. big proximity effect, smooth sound.

There is a very simple demo of them here:

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewto ... t=shinybox

And here:

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewto ... t=shinybox

I have the Beyer M260 and M160 models which I think are great. The M160 is brighter sounding and more modern in sounding in that way. The M260 is more reminiscent of classic ribbon mics - big proximity effect but still sounds like a Beyer. The Beyers are quite versatile (for instance, the M160 can sound beautiful on acoustic) and are hypercardioid (with the exception of the M130) which is handy for isolation.

All are good, including the Chinese ribbons (I actually only have a ribbon motor from the Chinese model but can vouch for its quality).