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 find myself in a funny position here. How do you convey to people that your products are great tools, and that they are priced where they are so that people can afford to buy a usefull tool, and still have people take them seriously?

It seems like I need to raise the price by three times for people to think they are worth considering? This seems backwards, but then I guess there is a lot of crap to wade through out there ( and I am in no way implying that the Beyers are in this category, they are great tools).

Let me know if I can help in any way. I don't want to come off like a sales droid, but I wouldn't be selling the ShinyBox mics if I didn't think they were great tools.

For guitar cabs, I'd steer you toward the 46 models.

Regards

ju

Wow, I had not heard of Shiny Box until today. The things on your site look very impressive. Please tell me more.

Thanks.

I've been building my own studio equipment for several years now. My site is divided into products I have for sale (Ribbon Microphones), and the lab, which is equipment I've primarily built for my own use, to gain a better understanding of the design principles behind the equipment, and to help with working on original designs.

I found myself looking at my mic locker, and seeing nothing but dynamics and condensors of varying sizes, so wound up with a ribbon mic fetish, and well, here I am =).

I've spent quite a bit of time playing with the insides of the microphones, and offer three different flavors of the two models, to try and satisfy the different requests I've gotten over time.

I've posted soundclips of a lot of the models, I think I have some in the 46 series to finish still. The soundclips are there to illustrate the difference between the microphones, not to show how "killer" the mic is.


The focus was on a simple signal path(no compression, no funny stuff to make it sound as good as possible) so that you could compare what a stock 23 does to the guitar vs. the 23C vs. 23L, etc.

I've been really pleased with performance of these microphones, and have gotten really good feedback from my customers.

Regards

ju

i can't hear any difference between the microphones

ok, I can. the 23L sounds nicest on the acoustic to me.

I'm with Mayfair re: Shiny Box "tell me more". I'd just recently been to the Shiny Box site from another post here on EA somewhere, and was initially impressed. I understand your reticence about being a sales droid, especially on a message board that someone else is hosting, but this is a thread about ribbon mics. Perhaps a bit of discussion on who manufactures the Shiny Box products, whether you take stock units and upgrade them, etc. would be helpful. What led you to those particular models? Did you have any input on the design, or were they the best of what you could find from overseas manufacturers? Those are the kind of things I'd kinda like to know and they don't seem to be well addressed on your website. It appears you have some knowledge and electrical competence, Fum; I've seen that blue compressor on your site on the "groupdiy" site. Maybe you can help some of us that record for clients make the Shiny Box choice and better get your name out there if your products warrant it...

Ok, so more detail =)

The microphones are of course made in a factory for me ( I initially looked into having parts machined here in the states, and that would easily put the products into the really expensive category).

I initially brought in a small quantity of the 23 model, and was very pleased with the sound. Over the course of a couple months I finalized the first order for the 23's, and that process of going back and forth about what I'd like different is what led to the 46 model.

So I'd say that I did have input, but it was more functional input than designing it ground up.

So based on the stock models, I've looked at where it would be worth the time & money improving the microphone. This is what led me to working with the different output transformers available. I found that using different transformers can change response of the microphone subtley, or drastically, depending on the transformer used.

I'm also in development on a version with a custom made ribbon, and depending on how it performs(it would have to offer significant improvement to be worth the time spent), may offer this version in the future.

So in summary, my inclinations toward building high quality studio gear also put me inside these microphones looking for ways to eek out performance. Performance gains can be made, but overall, the stock microphones perform very well.

Hope this helps

Regards

ju

Fair enough. Thanks for responding, Fum. I took another look at your site and things seem clearer to me now that I'm actually focusing on the material there and what you've said here. I have a few other questions, but I'll handle them with a direct e-mail to you...

thanks again...

What are the prices on "the lab" items like the compressors and pres? Are they sold as kits or built units?


Eddie

Hey there,

Items in The Lab are not for sale. Those are things I've built for my own studio and use ( I occasionally do work for people (racking, etc.), but I don't built the high end stuff to sell directly.... yet. =)

Regards

ju