This looks likes its a solid state version of the blue bottle mic which features changeable capsules. Looks interesting. It comes from Red Mic which is owned by blue. The price is very good.

I wonder if it uses the same electronics as any of the existing blue mics and of course i wonder how it sounds. It is supposed to ship in march.

http://www.vintagemicrophone.com/JShop/pro...306a617f37df67c

A lot of people seem excited about these. I've heard a couple of comments about it lacking a transformer. Maybe Ty or someone more knowledgeable could chime in on the design being transformerless.

That was exactly my criticism. That said, the dragonfly sounds just fine sans transformer as do the TLM 103/193 and others.

Quite a few well regarded mics are transformerless, and it has gotten to be something of a norm. The TLM-103, I think the KM-184, some Gefell things, and many Chinese made microphones come to mind. Interestingly, many of the China mics basically lift a Schoepps transformerless circuit which is pretty damn good - a couple capacitor upgrades and the only real thing left to complain about might be the capsule.

I would expect a transformer to add something like $150 or more to the price of that mic, so transformerless might have kept BLUE/Red/whoever from pricing themselves out of some interest and sales. DIY-er's will probably figure out what transformer and alterrnate circuit fits in there in short order it it's a huge issue for you.

Bear

Cool looking mic anyhow! Haven't heard a thing about it though.

War

that huge hump at 6k looks scary to me. SSSSSSSSSSSSSS

SSSSSSSS

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

otherwise the price and looks are spot on.

This seems like a great deal. I love modular stuff like this. Each additional capsule is another $649, though, so the capsule that comes with it is probably not as nice as the optional capsules. I wonder if they'll let you buy just the body and start with a different capsule.

I just contacted Blue and they said they'd sell you the Red mic with one of the high end capsule for $1050 before March and $1100 afterward.

The Red mic price on its own was being touted as an introductory price, the $50 off for a limited time. So you might not be saving specifically on the capsule by buying both now . . .

Bear

That's the price Blue quoted me. You save $50 if you buy before March.

Okay, if that's anything but the B3, B4, or B5, that's a better deal then the introductory Red deal and capsule separtely. Hadn't looked at the prices on the site.

Bear

The issue of transformers (or not) is very tricky. One side slams them because they "just don't sound right" or "are lacking a part."

I'm enough of a new boot not to care as long as it sounds good. I have two TLM 103. I think they are great for many things.

Their overall sound changes depending on what preamp you have them plugged into. They don't like the Focusrite Red two channel preamp. This is not an indictment of the TLM103. Just about ANY mic will sound different when plugged into different preamps.

Skipper Wise of BLUE is brilliant at marketing the look of microphones. His always stick out in a crowd. Neumann, on the other hand, doesn't seem to feel the need to go to such extremes.

The RED offers nine diffferent capsules. My experience with different capsules is that they all have diffferent frrequency responses. RED only shows one for all nine capsules and it has a +7 dB peak at 6 kHz.

In the old analog tape days, where a 2" analog master tape would sit on a machine or shelf for months before the final mix, the extra HF from a mic would offset the loss of HF that always happens with analog tape. That's not a problem if you're recording to disk. As such, the curve looks really bright.

Skipper and I have talked four or five times and each chat has been very fun and I enjoy his enthusiasm. At the end of each chat, Skipper mentions that he'll send this or that mic for an evaluation. I've seen a lot mics over the years, but (sorry Skipper) I don't recall having been sent one from BLUE. Local musicians have come to my studio with their BLUE mics to get a reality check. It's been a while, but I think the last BLUE I saw was a dragonfly. We liked the more expensive TLM103.

Selling mics to a fickle crowd of consumers who think mics should cost nothing and sound great is a grueling experience. That so many companies try is truly amazing. The market is way overcrowded. That continues to force prices down. While some of that is good for the consumer, at some point, compromises must be made to hit price points.

The lack of a transformer (You knew I was going to bring this rant full circle, right?) is one of those compromises. Good transformers are not cheap. Bad transformers suck. You're better off without them. The good changes in technology that have allowed transformers to retire sound pretty good. Cheap implementation of the technology, on the other hand, are simply inferior and the sound suffers.

How do you know what you're getting? You have to listen and you have to know what your listening for. If you don't know and you're buying by mail, you're taking chances. The traditional method would be to have the studio engineer or owner to go to a trusted local pro shop, listen to the mic and perhaps even get a loaner for a session to see if it performs the way you want.

That business model exists, but is impractical for the larger prosumer market. Things may change. Hey, in Baltimore back when I was in radio, I remember there was no pizza delivery. I remember saying to someone that it would be great if we could order a pizza and keep on working. They looked at me like I was crazy.

Music stores did, then didn't and now do allow you to listen to music before you buy.

MARS had a great WALL OF HEADPHONES that allowed you to listen to 15-20 different headphones all plugged into the same source.

But for those who don't have a retail outlet or pro shop, online and mail order remain the only viable answer. Maybe that segment of the business model will change. Maybe you get the mic on approval and give them your credit card number until it's returned.

Unfortunately, there are too many stories of abuse by consumers. Buy th emic on friday night, do the gig and return it on monday. That sucks. Since there's that level of dishonesty coming from the consumer, online and mail order sellers are not inclined to extend themselves.

Hey, my laptop battery needs a recharge! Probably some spell checking needed but...

Regards,

Ty Ford

Clearly that frequency response chart is for the capsule that comes with it.

Ty Ford Mentioned:
I only ever visited on Mars Music. They also had a decent bunch of mics put up in a relatively quiet room.....only music store I ever saw with that.

B&H Photo-video , pro audio in Manhattan (a few blocks from penn station) has a similar mic room. Its great. You can quickly determine what works on your voice and what does not. I recall the AKG 3000 really standing out, in a very bad way.

My only complaint is that all the mics are hooked up to a presonus mic pre. I wish they'd connect them to something less colored.

Back on topic, the dragonfly, blueberry, and mouse, sound quite nice (obviously not on everything). I'd expect the red type b to also sound good. Someone there at blue evidently has good ears.

I suspect that the red type B would has the same or very similar electronics to one of blue mics. I'd love to know which one or maybe its all of them but since the dragonfly also has no transformer that might be the best bet.

The thing that I really like about the Blue mics is that they're trying to do something a little different, rather than just make emulations of "classic" designs. I suppose the red mic is an exception to this, but the rest of those mics all have unique sounds, sounds that cannot be found in other mics, for the most part.

I agree with this assessment of blue but will add something. The red mic uses the same capsules as the blue mics and probably even the same electronics so I'd say the red type b is of the same spirit as the blue.

Well, I made the point that they didn't try to emulate, but the Blue Bottle capsules are modeled after classic mics, apparantly.

On the subject of previewing mics...

My local Mars had a display where mics were connected to Mackie. You could listen on headphones. I'm not a Mackie fan but the display beat what you normally get when buying a mic which is nothing.

On these Red mics...

If anyone bits and buys one, then let me know. I want to get with you about possible review.