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Golden Age Project R1 MKII Ribbon Microphone

Passive Ribbon Microphone with Figure-8 Polar Pattern
$199.00

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Golden Age Project R1 MKII Ribbon Microphone
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Classic Ribbon, for a Song

The Golden Age Project R1 MKII is a vintage-style passive ribbon microphone that, like the classics that inspired it, finesses voices and instruments with its naturally smooth, sweet, and velvety sound. Vocals and choral groups sound amazing through the R1 MKII. It's a revelation on electric guitar — and unlike vintage ribbons, it features 160dB SPL handling, so it won't self-destruct when placed in front of a cranked high-gain amp or a kick drum. The R1 MKII also excels on orchestral percussion, strings, and brass. And it's great at taming sources such as horns, banjo, and cymbals that can sound shrill with the wrong mic. At Sweetwater, we love our ribbon mics. Add the value-packed Golden Age R1 MKII to your mic locker, and you will, too.

The Golden Age Project

The Golden Age Project was founded in 2005 on the belief that vintage gear sounds best, and the desire to pass on this sonic legacy to a new generation of musicians, engineers, and producers. All discrete, Class A signal paths with no integrated circuits; the use of transformers, stepped controls, and military-grade build quality: these are the cornerstones of the legendary British equipment deployed in world-class recording and broadcast studios in the 1970s — the Golden Age of analog. Fat, warm, punchy, and authoritative; this is the sound heard on countless hits for nigh unto half a century. Locating, purchasing, restoring, and maintaining vintage gear is time-consuming and costly. Fortunately, this small, family-owned Swedish company makes gear the same way it was made back in the day — at an amazingly gentle price.

A distributor of high-end studio equipment for many years, Golden Age Project founder Bo Medin wanted to be able to offer products with much of the same exclusive sound in a price range that made them available to a larger audience. Inspired by original designs, Golden Age uses modern technology to re-create that lush, opulent sound, making it surprisingly affordable. They use some modern ingenuity to add new functionality to superb classic designs and produce them in a cost-effective way which allows them to be both optimized and affordable. From outboard equipment to condenser, dynamic, and ribbon mics; you can outfit your entire studio with vintage-inspired Golden Age gear without exceeding your budget.

Golden Age R1 MKII Ribbon Microphone Features:

  • Polar pattern: figure-8
  • Frequency response: 30Hz–18kHz
  • Maximum SPL: 160dB
  • THD: < 1%
  • Impedance: 600 ohms
  • Load Impedance: 3000 ohms
  • Sensitivity: -52dB at 1kHz
  • Output connector: 3-pin XLR

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Tech Specs

  • Microphone Type: Ribbon
  • Ribbon Type: 2-micron Aluminum
  • Mono/Stereo: Mono
  • Polar Pattern: Figure-8
  • Frequency Response: 30Hz-18kHz
  • Max SPL: 160dB SPL (1kHz at 1% THD, 1 Kohm)
  • Output Impedance: 600 ohms
  • Sensitivity: -52 dBV/Pa
  • Connector: XLR
  • Weight: 0.88 lbs.
  • Manufacturer Part Number: R1 MK2

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5/5

Part two, several months later

After having this mic for a few months now, I have even higher praise for it. A drummer friend of mine uses a pair of PRISTINE Coles 4038s and doing a few drum sessions with him made me realize how similar the Golden Age R1 behaves. No, it doesn't share a frequency response with a $ mic.. but it sure captures transients the same way. There's a "thing" that Coles and other similar ribbon mics do on cymbals, specifically hi-hats & ride cymbals. They seem to pick up the stick making contact with cymbals more than they pick up the actual resonances & overtones of the cymbal. Basically, when u put a 4038 right over a hi hat, u get a certain recognizable "CHCK" sound. It's thick, and I would describe it as 'tappy'. no more crazy cymbal wash and mega frequency overload (which.. even a pair of the most expensive condenser mics can quickly fall victim to). But not with this mic. not one bit. the Golden age delivers a very tasteful "CHCK".
I would also like to point out how good this mic sounds in mono. When a mic sounds good in mono, its a good mic. I was always taught that stereo is "how our ears hear" and mono is "what the mic sounds like". mono doesn't lie, baby!
I've been using it in mono over my kit for at least the past 25 sessions WITHOUT FAIL. It sounds incredible, and more importantly, it handles processing like an absolute champion. My favorite is putting a brick wall limiter on the whole drum mix and then sitting back to admire the rich, full transients suddenly come to life. To me, that can only be achieved with a nice dark ribbon mic. And its been my secret weapon mic for electric guitars lately, too. I use two different dynamics up on the speaker in stereo, then I have this bad boy about 4 feet away from the amp, closer to the musician, panned center. It picks up a ton of ambience, and more of their strings being plucked than the speaker of the amp. It adds a character and liveliness to guitar tracking that I will not soon forget. While on the topic of mono; this is also a fantastic vocal mic when employed properly. (No death metal sessions, please.)

Oh, and did I mention its an excellent drum mic? hahaha. get two of these, and a +25db stereo mic booster. you'll thank me later! Even if you don't record a lot of drums, this microphone sounds excellent and has not let me down no matter what I try it on.

Try to keep in mind it is a ribbon mic, so it is sensitive to 48v phantom power and plosives from vocalists, kick drums, trumpets, etc. A good rule of thumb is to hold your hand in front of the ribbon and test if you feel any air coming onto it. Even a small "breeze" can be seriously harmful to a ribbon mic. I don't think these are super thin ribbons like a Coles 4038, but they aren't going to last forever if you are careless with them.
Music background: Multi-instrumentalist, Producer, Songwriter, Recording Engineer
Rated 5/5

Golden Age ribbon microphone

I almost feel silly going on and on about this microphone, everything you have read about this is true, so many great reviews on this and so much so that I am purchasing the active and the tube pre versions of this microphone when I can afford them. I love this microphone!
Music background: Guitar builder
Rated 5/5

great on everything. true secret weapon

Conventional wisdom from the analog tape recording era is that you need large diaphragm condensers to get clarity. While that's true if you are recording to tape, the opposite is true in digital recording: cheap LDCs sound harsh and tinny. This mic costs the same as a cheap LDC but provides that natural response, clear but not shrill highs. You'll need a cloudlifter (or the cheaper Klark copy), but it comes with a surprisingly great low-noise cable. Roll off the lows and you can close mic *anything* with this ribbon. Great on overheads and vocals, or use a pop filter and shove it in front of your kick or bass amp. Very low self-noise, and it's not as fragile as people say ribbons are.

You will want to detach the weird little mic cable holder and also think about spending another 50 for the golden era mic shockmount. But all in all, this is a perfect budget studio mic.
Music background: 20+ years of home recording
Rated 5/5

ribbon mike

Golden Age R1 MK11 ribbon mike is the closest I've seen to the old time RCA 77 sound. It gave me that 40's bluegrass
sound I've been looking for. The best of all it didn't cost three legs and an arm to buy. If you all are looking for that
Earl Scruggs sound out of your banjo get one of these ribbon mikes (by the way you'll need a good prewar Gibson banjo).
Music background: Bluegrass for over 50 years (40 years in a road band)
Rated 5/5

Nice Addition to My Studio

I'm very pleased with this affordable ribbon mic. In the short time since its arrival I've used it for a variety of acoustic instruments, vocals and guitar amp with great results. The figure 8 pattern really does add a new spacious dimensionality to recordings. It's quickly become my favorite.
Music background: Engineer, player, tech.
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