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Thanks for checking it out!

I think the Audix mic has the best sound. For a while I was using the Audix mic and clip, with the Samson transmitter fastened to it with zip ties. But that’s not a very elegant solution. I eventually went back to the Samson mic, it’s capable of sounding decent with the right mic placement. I like mine slightly off-axis up near the body to capture more overtones for a fuller sound.

The noise is coming from the samson mic transmitter glued to the bell, great sound but to much noise

Agree your comments on lifeless versus sizzle, but I think the nux might be good enough for my level of ability. In a pub situation, I'm not sure the consumer would tell any difference. Yours has been by far the best demo on RUclips, many thanks.

amazing what these low price ribbons can do though . you can use them all on a session!

Thanks!

That's my favorite mic for trumpet and also for directly in front of a guitar amp.

I liked the sound of it best on my saxophone too, but I like the Cascade better for other instruments.

Thanks for watching! Yeah, this isn’t the most scientific method to test mics, for sure! I did end up with a favorite mic out of it, and the others have ended up being my go-to for other applications. The Fathead sounds amazing in front of a guitar amp, and I love the sound the ST170 gets on low brass instruments like trombones and tubas. None of them are anywhere near a Coles 4038 but they’re not meant to be.

@@spankypdx And some of people’s fever about their 💰 mic locker is gear-porn (Hey guys, I own a Faberge egg!) It’s obviously not all hype re: Coles, but we have access to great cheap mics compared to the past. Null!

You are so welcome!

I agree the Sterling is a bigger more up-front sound, the fact that it’s powered might be part of the reason why. Overall I didn’t like the tone on my sax as much on the Sterling as with the other two though. I might not necessarily want to use a ribbon mic for piano, a stereo pair of small condensers work better IMHO. I use a pair of Røde NT5 condensers in XY formation about 6 inches above the middle of the strings. Preamps make a huge difference as far as noise. Get a preamp that’s as clean as possible, especially for the passive ribbons which need more gain. Some people also will use an additional box like a Cloudlifter; I’ve heard good things about those but haven’t tried one myself. I use an Apogee Element 88 which has the lowest noise of any pre I’ve ever tried. Apogee pretty much invented D/A converters too so there’s that.

@@spankypdx hey cheers. It is very good for the price I guess. I was looking at rodes, oktava and line audio mics. There's also a small company in Australia I found called 3u audio and for budget custom ribbons called No Hype Audio. Thanks : ) I'll check out the apogee 88.

As said above, the Sterling is an active ribbon mic, which needs phantom power, so that gives it a higher output. As for passive ribbon mics, you can use something like the cloud lifter, or any of the other "mic pre-pre amp booster" for an extra 25db of gain, which allows for a lower noise floor.

@@phoenixrising1576 I have heard alot of folks say 'nah nah, don't use ribbon for pianos only SDCs' but I beg to disagree. RIbbons' have a high fidelity reproduction when it comes to acoustic instruments and way easier to eq than SDCs esp very colored ones like the Rode NT5. If you can't afford a KM184, get a ribbon. I guess the Sterling would sound better on the piano because of its active circuitry. If you haven't bought any yet, try the ART AR5 active ribbon, it seems to sound better than the sterling and nearly like the Golden age. As for noise, passive ribbons have a noise level that will NEVER make its way into your recording ( pretty low noise ) but the active ones will have a self noise just like any condenser. I wouldn't worry about noise at all. It's the least thing to worry about. Get a Triton fethead for dynamics to get a +27db gain ( fethead's got one for passive/Dynamic mics and one for condensers/active mics )

Thanks! The Golden Age is my favorite too.