The other day a guy who I know a little brought a Beyer M 260 to a session. He had asked me before if I was intrested in checking it out and of course I said yes. It was slightly worn, from the 60´s so no surprise, and the connecting DIN-cable was not original -- there was supposed to be some kind of screw-on contraption that´s gone lost.
I briefly tried it through the house PA and it sounded just great. Just great. The G.A.S presented itself before me, in a big way. He pretty much said he´d be willing to *give* it to me ("Buy me a beer sometime") but as the moral fellow I am I said I´d try to check out its market value -- don´t want him to one day see it for sale in a shop and feel ... cheated.
I then asked my microphone guru to give me the going rate for it, and let me know if there were any shortcomings one should be aware of. (And there were a few.) He knows (roughly) everything there is to know about microphones, but next to nothing about them in a harmonica context.
So I wonder, is there anyone with an informed opinion on these things as harp mics?
Last Edited by Martin on Dec 16, 2016 6:41 AM
So what about the SOUND and WORKABILITY assessment of Ribbons when applied to the Tin Sandwich? Well, the warm tone for which the Ribbon is known could certainly be deemed an asset, UNTIL cross-referenced with its WORKABILITY: The great majority of Ribbon mics are side-address, meaning their pick-up pattern is oriented at 90 degrees from the mic's vertical body (making them virtually impossible to cup); they are very susceptible to "pop" and wind (so cupping need not apply); they are considerably more fragile and more expensive than, say, a comparable dynamic. All these aspects would relegate Ribbons to a hands-free, non-cupped application such as off-mic country harp or their specialized use for bass and chord harmonica (as seen in harmonica trios). The exception to all this would have to be the Beyer line of Ribbon mics, Lee Oskar's choice for harp. Configured for polar or "top" address, they are of a "ball and wand" design (the M160 and M260 being somewhat sleeker than an SM58) and were primarily conceived as high-end vocal mics for sound reinforcement applications (the M500 being a favorite with Kenny Rogers and Stevie Nicks) so they're less susceptible to "pop" and "blow-out". But for harp? Well… How would you spend YOUR allowance?
OK, thank you. Hm, I will try to come to grips with this thing. As I understand it, it´s more of a PA mic than for an amp, but that´s no objection. And Lee Oskar´s sound is wonderful -- when he steps off the pedals.
Nothing to add microphone wise. I'm just here to thank 1847 for posting that video! When someone (Wheel?) posted it here a while back, it brought me much joy and inspiration. I am happy to be reminded of it again. Great player. Great band. And it sure sounds like a great microphone to me!
Tom ---------- Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.
1847: You´ve probably got much sharper eyes for these than I (to me it looks like another S58 ... -- but anyway, the one that I´ve been looking at was considerably older and a bit thinner), and there´s nothing in the sound here that discourages. I´ll have to make some sort of a decision tomorrow afternoon and I believe I´m going for it.
