the t.bone RB 500 5-stars Reviews

Amazing value!

Looks great, feels great - and most importantly, it sounds great! Rich, mellow, velvety and very evocative tone. Harks back to the golden days of Big Band Swing, Doo-Wop, R'n'R and early Soul. Perhaps not a mic for everyone as it doesn't really have the clinical accuracy and piercing higher registers of many modern microphones, but for what I do, the RB 500 is solid gold. Horses for courses - and at this price, I think it's unbeatable.

Unbelievable

I was told so many great things about this mic and it totally did not disappoint me!!

I own really good mics for my drum studio, including a Neumann Tlm 107 that I use as room mic. While that mic is amazing, I wanted to also add a Ribbon mic to the mix for tunes in which I needed a darker sound and less cymbals in the mix. Look no further. This mic sounds fantastic even with no processing, just sometimes the low mids need a bit of control with an eq but nothing crazy, it just sounds good for drums, you get a lot of the body and fatness of the drums. The only con is the cable that's attached to the mic directly, not always ideal, but it really is a minor thing. The look of it is fantastic as well which kinda adds to it.

Do yourself a favour and get this, at this price it's a no brainer

Awesome Ribbon Mic

Let's keep this simple... This Ribbon is a gem of a mic!

Surprise !

This mic is too good to be true. As it is a ribbon, and if you buy this you are interested in the 'ribbon' effect which means - warm and round transients, it will do that exactly. If you need more details just blend a condenser mic with it, although it sounds very good as it is (presuming you are using a decent preamp and ad converter).

B.t.w - i read on forums that people claim that taking out it's inner protection net, make it sounds better. Well, i did it and after hearing it, immediately had put back that net and it just sounds worse without it ! It loses all it's ribbon magic and turns into a dull condenser. It is very obvious that this mic was designed and calibrated using that net so my suggestion is - don't touch it ! Just use the mic as is - it is beautiful !

Great for price

I'm using two of these for guitar and vocals. It has a nice, smooth dark sound. My only complaint is the internal XLR but for the price you can't beat the quality. Other t.Bone mics have problems with RFI (SC 140 and EM 9900) but this ribbon is clean and quiet.

Nice addition

I had great fun using a stereo setup of 2 guitar amplifiers on either side of a small bedroom and positioning the RB500 in between. I was strumming my guitar approximately 0,5m above the microphone, but seeing that I was in the 'null'-spot, I didn't hear any acoustic strumming in the recording: perfect!

Very very good

Incredible for this price; I'm really happy with this addition to my studio mics. Don't let the price fool you, this is genuine ribbon sound.

Home Recording

I use this mic for home recording, primarily voice, and it performs perfectly

Warm sound!... Great on vocals and guitar

Warm sound!... Great on vocals and guitar

Amazing value for money

I used this mic for a number of different instruments and vocals and it performed incredibly well. Like all ribbon mics it needs lots of gain but with a good preamp fully wound up I had no hiss or hum. Well constructed and well priced.

I believe this is a rebranded Apex 210, so naturally you'd expect everything from that same mic to be present here. It's very sturdy, in-fact I think dropping it from my roof wouldn't break the damn thing, not that I would recommend trying that.

In terms of sound, it sounds very warm, very vintage. Very nice for drum room (which was the sole reason I bought a pair to begin with) but it also does acoustic guitar some fair justice. I wouldn't particularly want to use it as a main vocal mic, however the figure 8 pattern allows for some very nice duet vocals, and makes back-vocals sit pretty well in the mix.

Highly recommended!

Have been using this microphone as a drum room mic. It gives me a dark, punchy and warm drum room sound that i love.

The quality is good and it comes with a very nice case.

For this price you can?t go wrong.

An interesting mic for the studio

This one gives a certain flavor to what you record with it. It is very warm that in some occasions can be a very good option to have, let?s say you dont want the aggressive picks from the acoustic guitar, this does it. It can also give an original vintage vibe to the drums. Nice as a second mic on an electric guitar cab or use it as a distant mic to get more body or fatten up the sound. It comes with a nice carrying bag that protects it well. Otherwise it is a straight on microphone with no switches or tweaking. It is pretty microphone to have in the collection and budget friendly too!

Can't be happier for the price!

Good micvery smooth,

Well made and seems quite robust, Used it for recording guitar through combo amp, nice and mellow. Also interesting on vocals, (very smooth, but don't stand too close). Only down side is the mic cable which is permanently connected.

Cool looking ribbon mic

It looks cool, sound pretty darn good.

You can not really complain for this price, and frankly I've got nothing to complain about.

Amazing Microphones

I have been recording at home for 25 years and been through so many different set ups and microphones from sdc's at the cheaper end of the market (Rode NT5, Oktava etc) and LDC's (Rode NT1a, SE X1, SP B1, SM7). I have been searching for a nice warm sound on acoustic guitar that really makes you feel the instrument and is not harsh on the ears. Well, these tbone ribbon mics remove any harshness from an accoustic guitar and add a lovely midrange you just dont get on any of the cheaper mics I have ever used. There is no real clarity untill you turn up the eq on the treble end of the spectrum but all of a sudden the recording just comes alive. They take eq very well. I normally position the mic to the side about a foot away to the right of my guitar pointing at the soundhole. You do need a lot of clean gain to get the most out of these mics but using a triton fethead or cloudlifter is the best way forward here. Adding some reverb on to the recording, cut the low bass and magic! absolutely best mic I have ever bought for the price. good solid mic, good quality build and great sound. The case is a bit naff but for this price would rather have a great mic and cheap case!. Cant recommend them enough.

Great color mic

Use this mic alot as 'dirt mic' when recording drums and sounds great for recording clean and 'spy themed' electric guitar sounds. Only downside is the cable stuck to the body of the microphone. Other then that it sounds great!

Great microphone for the price

For the price it is a really good microphone works well on a lot of instruments like drums guitars and bass. The microphone does it's job really well!

Get a Try no compliant

What make me give 4 Star to it's SOUND ........? Becasuse This RB500 really reflect the True voice from the Body. If someone not know to sing. Wow The sound are just come from Hell. So.... it knew you are real or not in sing.

Try it !