Coles 4038 Studio Ribbon Microphone

I’d used these before, so there’s no real surprise I have to report….I bought because of previous experiences. Being a sax player, I’m a fan of ribbon mics. This is one that others aspire to be—a classic. I do see a lot of folks who haven’t gotten along with ribbons, but you do need the right preamp, and you need to understand that eq is your friend. These mics sound so nice in that they lack a graininess that condenser mics can often have…. It’s a very real sounding capture. It’s nice and smooth for instruments that can have harshness when mic’d up….horns, fiddle, even acoustic guitar(eq fully needed in the application).

My favorite artist used this mic for her best songs, now my new record has that sound with my own voice and it feels fantastic. There may be 5 better mics in the world than this one, but none give you the color and weight that the Coles gives you, just if you can treat yourself to this mic, don't hesitate and give it a try.

I’ve been using ribbon mics since the ‘90s. I’ve used numerous brands and models. Unless you’re fond of sending them off to be re-ribboned, I wouldn’t put a 4038 up close against a super loud sound source like an amp, or close-miking drums, but for transducing many acoustic instruments with an incredible amount of power and detail, and a very “natural” sound, this mic is amazing. I love it on distant drums, percussion (sounds amazing on vibraphone! and often also on piano), upright bass, string family. Sometimes, but not always in my experience (just like any other ribbon mic) it’s just the right touch with brass and woodwinds and vocals… Considering how pricey some upper-end ribbon mics are, I think these are priced very fairly. I hope I didn’t just inspire them to raise the price!

Excellent customer service and products.

She’s a classic, and for good reason. For a task at hand I set up a side-by-side test with another highly regarded ribbon that has an even larger price tag. I found the Coles warmer and quieter, and since I use a Cloudlifter on all of my ribbon mics I had no issue with output level. The only negative was really my fault. Eager to compare my two best ribbons I recorded a glockenspiel with both ribbons side by side. Both ribbons had such amazing transient response that the glockenspiel just came out too “ping-y”. No amount of compression could tame the ping on tracks recorded with either ribbon, and I reverted to a nice tube condenser, saving my ribbon comparison for another instrument. Anyway, despite having some wonderful other ribbons, the Coles has a velvety warmth I love.

There’s a reason why this mic is legendary. Only fault with mine is I didn’t buy two, bank account wouldn’t allow it yet.
Beautiful on vocals, drums, and so many things. Love it and I’ll keep it forever

Coles is coles! It’s really nice to have a clean take, natural sound, I have more than 20 years recording and playing different kind of music and I know that the capture of the sound is always a mistery, After of years and years searching I am using that in me personal studio for Trombone recordings and the sound is amazing! 5 stars.
PD : Obviously the preamp is the key! I am very happy with mi AEA (trp2).

Such an amazing microphone. (PERIOD!)

Top rate, warm sounding, can you record anything with this mic. I'm a sax player and this mic brings out an original sounds that I can only get from this mic. 5* for sure.

Classic mic. Sounds incredible