Garth wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:50 am Dissenting opinion here... It's all cheap stuff made cheaply. ...Credit where credit is due though, their DMX cables have all seemed well-made and never given me any issues and the LED Stage lights have all been fine even getting badly treated. HDMI cables have all been fine too. Seems to be a crap shoot, some stuff good, some stuff bad. I've heard good things about their headphones and will keep those in mind....

I'm not in any way saying everything they make is great. I've seen a lot of weird stuff from them, especially lower-end audio cables. Some that were all rubber, some I swear were made with the twisted pairs they use for ethernet cables, etc.etc.

BUT, for the good stuff, the quality to price ratio is favorable. HDMI cables and splitters and HDBaseT stuff has all served me well (except for some doomed to die wall warts that came with). Also had good luck with their PLA 3d Pringing filament, and I hear their printers aren't half bad either. Gotta look for thoughtful reviews on their site and elsewhere. The new "stage right" mics, including the LR-100 have cheap, light-weight bodies, but the important stuff seems to be pretty decent, and it's all through-hole so you can mod if you like. The sale prices for those mics are a deal for the case and shock-mount alone compared to other sources. Also I just recently got some dynamics from them (Product # 600058) they're not SHURE level hammering nails quality, but they're absolutely awesome for the $15 I paid when they were on sale. Their DI boxes are next on my list.

This thing arrived this morning and I did a few quick vocal tests with it. It is pretty good to my ears. Smooth top end and loads of low mids when you are close. Way better than my other cheap Ribbon (MXL 144) which just sounds like a cloudy mess on most stuff. The housing is what you would expect from something that was only $200. Made to look expensive but when you touch it, the illusion fades. The switches come through the front at a extremely weird angle to the body and feel really cheap. I'll definitely get $220 worth of use out of it and if it breaks, whatever. Takes Phantom power. Has a "cloudlifter" type thing built in. Mechanical self noise is very high. Thats about all. Doing some drum recording this weekend. I'll probably try it out as a mono Overhead or maybe a Mid-Side with some random condenser or a EV635a if I feel trashy

^ Looks classy. Hopefully the hardware on the sides holds tight. Accidental swiveling makes me angry.

I got to hear a recording of an acoustic w/ the MXR ribbon this past week. It sounded...fine, but there was a startling amount of background noise/hiss. The preamp was one of those Warm audio Neve clones - and w/ 80 db of gain, I don't think it was the mic pre making the noise. I've used these units before w/ condensers/dynamics w/ no real noise issues that I noticed. I don't mind some noise with certain applications but I'd say there's enough self-noise on the mic itself to be almost unusable in quieter settings.

Not to belabor a point but the other thing to remember is that these cheap ribbons are especially gain-thirsty. If you don't have a really good, clean pre-amp, you're going to get a lot of noise introduced there too. This too may find you recording quieter, more delicate sound sources & having it bum you out. Add the aforementioned self-noise and I'm not sure how useful these end up being.

So these would be fine on loud sound sources then right? Like drums or electric guitars? Well yeah but then if you go TOO loud (and you'll need to check the specs on the individual mics if you can) you could damage the ribbon - especially if it's generating air movement like the sound-hole of the kick drum or a very loud bass amp. Ribbons have changed a LOT in the last 10-20 years but AFAIK, the cheaper ones are still delicate little flowers. I guess it depends, they vary widely don't they, there are so many of these out there, hard to keep up.

Just stuff to keep in mind. Logic tells you that you'd want to baby the more expensive gear, but in many cases, more expensive gear is going to be more well-built and rugged (that Shure unit for example can handle startlingly high SPLs but NOT cheap). And if you end up needing to get a cloudlifter something-or-another to get a clean signal, how much money are you saving, really? Bottom line for me is you have a narrower "goldilocks" zone that I think really decreases their versatility and value.

^ The sensitivity and impedance of those are similar to the lauded 4038. Not saying it will sound anything like one (or why TF did I lose my mind and buy one?) but I imagine the gain requirements are similar. A lot of preamps are fine until you hit the last 25% of gain and then the hiss comes in. Some of my favorite preamps are unusable with a ribbon mic'ing an acoustic source.

my first ribbons were beyer m500s. I still own them and they still sound great.

losthighway wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 1:10 pm ^ The sensitivity and impedance of those are similar to the lauded 4038. Not saying it will sound anything like one (or why TF did I lose my mind and buy one?) but I imagine the gain requirements are similar. A lot of preamps are fine until you hit the last 25% of gain and then the hiss comes in. Some of my favorite preamps are unusable with a ribbon mic'ing an acoustic source.

That's a super good point - so this actually does make a good case for a Cloudlifter or similar device in the chain helping out.

Garth wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 4:03 pm

losthighway wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 1:10 pm ^ The sensitivity and impedance of those are similar to the lauded 4038. Not saying it will sound anything like one (or why TF did I lose my mind and buy one?) but I imagine the gain requirements are similar. A lot of preamps are fine until you hit the last 25% of gain and then the hiss comes in. Some of my favorite preamps are unusable with a ribbon mic'ing an acoustic source.

That's a super good point - so this actually does make a good case for a Cloudlifter or similar device in the chain helping out.

I have a mxl 144 and with a cloud lifter style device it sounds OK. Without it, even my sytek has trouble getting enough gain for it. It's a very dull sounding mic. I've gotten in the habit of using slate revive with it as a default. The golden age has a lifter built in and so far I think it sounds pretty good.

Hey look, I know you all were SUPER worried me not digging the Cascade Fathead, but turns out it makes a pretty damn nice snare mic, especially if you're playing chill stuff & not really blasting.

To get it all the way there, I need to try to figure out how to fashion some sort of baffle behind it to help tame the figure-of-eight pattern & not pick up so much of the crash/hi-hat.

Garth wrote: Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:41 pm I need to try to figure out how to fashion some sort of baffle behind it to help tame the figure-of-eight pattern & not pick up so much of the crash/hi-hat.

Rubber-band a folded piece of fabric to the back of it? Or maybe a sock filled with rockwool or pink fiberglass?