R-121

Tonal Profile

The microphone that brought ribbons back to guitar cabinets: a 2.5-micron aluminium ribbon in a figure-eight, rated above 160 dB at 1 kHz, so it can sit on the grille of a loud amp where a condenser would be padded. Royer notes that the front and back of the element have equal sensitivity but different tone - the rear side is brighter, and engineers use that deliberately.

Gain Staging Advice

Royer writes 'Sensitivity: -47 dBv Re. 1v/pa'. The lowercase v is the historical spelling of dBu in some houses, but the reference is named on the same line - 1 V/Pa - so this is dBV per pascal: 4.5 mV/Pa, hotter than most dynamics. The load is what to plan: 300 ohms nominal with a rated load above 1500 ohms, so a preamp input of 1.5 kilohms is the floor, not the goal, and a preamp with a selectable 2.4 kilohm or higher input will hold the low end better.

Production Warning

Passive ribbon - it needs no phantom power. Royer's own position is unusually specific and worth quoting rather than repeating folklore: 'Royer ribbon microphones are not usually affected by the presence of phantom power. However, we still recommend that you deactivate phantom power when Royer microphones are being connected or disconnected simply because other abnormal conditions may exist that could cause problems.' In other words the danger is not 48 V sitting on a correctly wired cable, it is the transient when something is plugged, unplugged or patched while the supply is live. Older ribbons from other makers are far less forgiving than this one.