The Fathead Ribbon mic is a great deal. Sure a Royer or a Coles is going to sound better - a little, but they're also going to make your wallet thinner - a lot.
I got mine for $159 and the price is $199 now. (http://www.cascade
microphones.com/cascade_FAT_HEAD_II.html)
I listen to the Project Studio Network podcast quite a bit and they had a couple shows dealing with ribbons. I already owned the Cascade Fathead and was interested in what they had to say. A guy named Slau was very complimentary and when I heard the comparison of a Coles 4038 to a Fathead with a Lundahl transformer, I knew I had to mod my own. I got the new tranny a Lundahl 2912 from K&K Audio for $70 with shipping. (http://www.kandkaudio.com/transformers.html) Cascade will also do the mod for $150 or you can buy the upgraded model from them.
The mod took about half an hour. Very simple. You unscrew the bottom of the body, pull off the shell, take out the screws holding the old one in place. Keeping track of where eveything goes is easier with a digital camera, but there are only four places to solder. K&K provided great instructions also. Basically the thin white wire connects to pin 3 of the XLR (center pin, and the thicker black wire will connect where the red wire was on the PCB. Connect the other two and that's it. Put it back together and you have one heck of a great sounding inexpensive ribbon mic.
For me, the total was $239!
2 comments:
Nice quick summary Bill. Folks can learn how the Fathead is similar to other ribbon mics, and also learn about the other basic Chinese ribbon motors in an article called "Chinese Ribbon Microphone Buyer's Guide":
http://recordinghacks.com/2008/11/01/chinese-ribbon-microphone-designs/
Just posted some Coles 4038 vs modded RSM-4 (Fat head style) ribbon samples.
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