Which is the best ribbon microphone for me?

The VR1 or the VR2; which one is best for me?

Our two workhorse ribbon mics look a lot alike, and they are essentially the same microphone. So, what is the difference? And which one should you choose?

First of all, let’s talk about the industrial design of the VR series ribbon mics. In the past, ribbon mics had a reputation for being fragile and delicate. They had to be handled a certain way, stored a certain way, etc. The VR1 and VR2 do not need to be babied. These unique-looking mics can take a beating! Here in Nashville, one of our busiest local venues uses VR1s for a minimum of 42 hours each week of live shows. They get placed on all kinds of guitar amps, from little Fender Princetons to Marshall halfstacks. In switching the stage over, they get knocked over and trampled pretty regularly. The mics were brand new in 2021, and after nearly 4 years of constant abuse, they’re holding up just fine.

All that being said, let’s discuss the difference. Passive ribbon microphones, like the VR1, do their best work on loud sources. They’re great on guitar amps, drum overheads, etc. If you want to record a quiet source with a passive ribbon mic, you either need a specialty mic preamp (the Grace Design m101 is a good example) or an inline boost– like our DM1 or DM2. The VR2 has the DM1 boost built in, making it an active ribbon mic. The reason this boost is necessary for quiet sources is that ribbon mics require more gain, and have a higher noise floor than dynamic or condenser mics. If combined with a noisy mic preamp, such as the ones built into the average audio interface, the noise level can make the track unusable. The inline boost– whether from a DM1 or the internal active circuitry of the VR2 – adds clean, quiet gain to the signal path, alleviating the need to crank your interface’s preamp.

To sum all this up, if you want to record a mix of both quiet and loud sources with a ribbon microphone, the VR2 is the right choice. If you’re looking for a ribbon mic for guitar amps, the VR1 is perfect. And you can always add a DM1 DYNAMITE or DM2 TNT to your VR1 signal chain down the line, and have the equivalent of a VR2.

Published: August 2024
By: Chris Frasco (Owner & Operator of Master Frasco Audio Lab, Nashville)