Our good friend Warren Huart is back with another video and this time he has brought along a few ribbon microphones for a good, old-fashioned shootout. Ribbon microphones are known for smoothing out the harshest sounds a studio can offer up, in addition to being a favorite tool for recording guitars. Warren puts four mics, including the Royer R-121, Mesanovic Model 2, AEA R84 and Coles 4038, to the test on both acoustic and electric guitars.
You can hear Warren test all four microphones in the video below or download each individual file by clicking here and give them all a closer listen. Stay tuned for more videos from Warren that feature the world's best audio gear from Vintage King.
Playing back on the tiny speakers in my monitor...
Clean I prefer Mesanovic and Coles, depending on whether you are after "balanced" or "beefy".
Driven I prefer Mesanovic and Royer, depending on whether you want "balanced" or "aggressive".
The AEA actually is pretty good, but didn't seem to win either category. If you have one though, it's fine sounding.
If I was buying one today, I'd probably go Mesanovic.