Growing a Fat Head

Today I received my Cascade Fat Head ribbon mic. I ordered the one with the Lundahl transformer just for the heck of it. This is my first ribbon mic, and I’m going to have to say this thing was worth every penny. It comes in a box within a box. That’s almost my favorite part about it.

I’ve used it on a few instruments today and it has proven to be pretty versatile. I mic’d bass through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and the low end response is amazing on this thing! I had to round off some lows starting at about 100hz to tame it. This probably also had a lot to do with mic placement.

I tried it as an overhead in MS Stereo with a cheap little MXL 991 as the mid signal. I originally paired it with a Rode NT1-A, but I didn’t really like the sound I was getting and it was a pain to position with the stands I have. I’m pretty happy with the sound I got out of the two; a pretty dark sound. I did have to EQ the MXL a little to match the Fat Head’s high end response, as it’s not as bright.

For acoustic guitar (again in MS stereo with the MXL) it gave a nice flat sound. It may not be sparkly enough for some people’s taste, but I really like it.

But where I think this thing really shines is electric guitar. This is the best sound I’ve gotten with my Blues Jr., and with only one mic and minimal to no EQing. It seems to give it even more bite and character. I have yet to try it with another mic, but it seems like it would do well for room sound.

Sometime this week I’ll put up my Fat Head test song. If you can think of any preloaded DAW demo song, you’re probably not too far away from what it sounds like.

Update
Here it is.