Fishman Ribbon Pickup For Classical Guitar

I'm a jazz guitarist playing an 8-string classical guitar that goes higher and lower than a regular guitar. It has a K & K pickup and I my amp is a JBL EON powered speaker, which, for this instrument sounds better than any jazz guitar amp. I have used the Zoom A-3 preamp as well as an L.R. Baggs Venue DI. They are both very good but I'd say the Grace Alix is the best I've found. It has great features you can read about but I must say that the sound of my guitar with the EQ set flat is strong, clear and simply amazing! It's very well thought out. Worth the price.

for recording my classical guitar

Great things come with the Fat Head Ribbon Mic package! First off, if you haven't used this mic before.. definitely give it a shot and add to your collection. It's an affordable ribbon mic packing high end quality! Build quality is excellent, sounds so real and smooth which a ribbon mic should (not overdone at all in the highs and not muddy at all..just right), and overall just a very cool smooth working and looking mic! I've used this on male and female vocals with success and it REALLY shines when recording electric guitar cabs. I've also heard numerous times that it captures a great sound with an acoustic guitar, sax, and violin as well as many other instruments I can imagine. The mic package includes a sharp looking carry case, sleek wood type box for the mic, soft cloth mic case, and quality shockmount! All that for under $200! One of my best investments in recording so far. Give it a try, I think you'll appreciate it as much as I do!

Great for drum overheads and guitar amps. I'd highly recommend them if you are looking to get into ribbon microphones.

Perfect fit in my Cordoba classical guitar and very fast delivery. You couldn't for better service.

I needed to control the volume for an acoustic guitar with a pickup. This volume control does the job quite well. I am well pleased with its performance.

Don't be put off by the bargain price, this is a wonderful amp mic, period. The RSM5 is impressive sounding on guitar amps or speaker cabs. In that application, it's better combine the RSM5 w/ another non-ribbon mic, like condenser or dynamic. I get great results combining RSM5 with a ShureSM57. The RSM5 adds a delightfully smooth, warm low end girth & the SM57 adds presence, cut and sparkle. Experiment with positioning the mics on the speaker cone. As with all bargain ribbon mics, be sure to check your RSM5 for loose ribbon tension before keeping it. Google the issue and how to do a test. The tension inside mine was perfect out of the box. The RSM5 takes EQ great, yet doesn't need much to fit into a mix. It's very low noise. I have not yet really tried the RSM5 on other sound sources. Like all passive ribbons, this one needs lots of preamp gain or a mic booster to get a good level with quiet sources. With a loud source like guitar amp, that's not an issue with the RSM5. The preamps built into my Steinberg UR44 interface are more than powerful enough to get great results with Nady RSM5 on amps. I even briefly tried it on my male spoken voice, for which the preamps had to be turned up quite a bit, but I think even that would work without any extra preamp booster. I suspect that on quieter voices, or acoustic guitar from a distance, you'd need a gainier preamp, or FETHEAD or Cloudlifter to get a good level with the RSM5. The RSM5 has presentable build quality, and it sounds much, much better than I imagined, especially at this price point. It's downright unbelievable! I love the tones I am capturing having this mic as part of the mix. I have been playing music seriously for 40 years, and am fanatical about good tone. Nonetheless, given the great results with the RSM5, I could not justify the extra cost of the high end ribbon mics.

Being an orchestral music composer, sound is everything and when using mics I try to not eq anything but keep the natural instrument and the microphone natural. For under 100 bucks these mics deliver a great sound on toms, vocals and nylon string guitar. That is what i have recorded so far. With this ribbon mic you do need a thick pop filter since the aluminum element is very pop sensitive, but well worth having in the collection. For vocals this mic set up with a Neuman 87 made a great pair, a bit more sizzle on the 87 and warmth and bottom with a clear mid range for the R144. I have two of these mics and will buy a another pair to try out on timpani, electric guitar cabinets, and the grand piano.I would reccomend these mics to anyone who needs a sensitive mic without spending 4k on a ribbon.Michael Schumann Smith - Composer@

I have an extensive collection of ribbon microphones in my mic locker that I use on a regular basis, mostly live, but also in the studio. When the N13 came out, I ordered it as soon as I could.  AEA makes up a good part of my inventory and I knew it was a good bet that the N13 would be a quality microphone. Since purchasing it I have put it through its paces on a variety of sources.  Piano, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, trumpet, flute, vocals, drum overhead, sousaphone and steel pan. The N13 has all the same great characteristics that you would expect from a ribbon, but with something a little more.  With a shorter and thinner ribbon than the other AEA Big Ribbon Mics, the N13 has a better impulse response which translates into a much more detailed signal.  Although I have seen it described as brighter, I would stick with detailed.  Often ribbons are used to tame the highs on drum overheads, brass and especially steel pan, the N13 was wonderful on these sources as the detail was there, but I never felt like I needed to tame the high end and there was absolutely no harshness.    On vocals, I still have the same wonderful ribbon response, but the extra detail which captured breath sounds so smoothly, and added an intimacy to the vocals that was something I didn’t know I was missing until now. The sousaphone was my favorite use, as it was a fusion band, with a New Orleans second line feel, but with electric guitar, bass, drum kit and trumpet.  The N13 made the sousaphone big and bold, but the detail added and element that really made it work in the mix like never before.   For the finale, I was even able to work it into the sub, it was huge.   I definitely plan on adding more to my inventory as I definitely want to use it on multiple sources for some shows I do.

I needed a ribbon mic in the home studio, mainly to record anything that's loud and needs a warm tone. Most ribbon mics seem really expensive, so I'm glad this one exists. Using this up close to a guitar amp sounds great. Combining this with a good dynamic (Shure SM57/Audix i5/Audio-Technica MB 2k) side by side up against a guitar amp sounds awesome!! I also tried to record a trombone with it, as I've heard ribbons are the best mic to use for that. This thing blew any dynamic mic out of the water for capturing brass sound. Thank you Nady and B&H!!