Thanks for the video. It seems that the Stagg can be used for electric guitar, brass and maybe woodwinds. It lacks some midrange bite and together with its old school ribbon hi-end roll off it gives some limitations. When talking so much about copies, it would be appropriate to mention that the Royer 121 is a copy of the B&O BM3 from the 1960s.
Thanks for checking it out. I went into the B&O thing in the Royer video, probably should have brought it up again here though. Royer at least changed the head of the mic a bit from a rounded dome to a flat cap. Stagg changed the grill cutouts, slightly.
One of the most detailed mic comparisons I seen. I have a pair of the stag mics but have not used them yet but this video gave me some great starting points for when I do. Great Job Sir !
Stagg. This is a deep cut… $200 and it does something. The 121 had a lot more life on most instances. I recently went down an ice bell rabbit hole in the vein of Stewart Copeland… stagg being one of the several but limited companies that came up and was actually sonically blown away by them. Unfortunately they only have one line of them now… and like most cymbals will be a mixed bag of weight and pitch.
I was really tempted to try out some other non-pro audio stuff from them. Nice to hear that some of their other stuff is of decent quality as well. Odd choice for them to go with a more squared off bell on the current line. Looks interesting though! Thanks for checking out the video!
On piano: I noticed the pedal noise was more prominent via the Stagg mic, even to its detriment. It was picking up a wierd tone from the pedal, similar to bumping a mic stand with a hot mic. The Stagg was brighter on piano and lacking character. On acoustic guitar: I found opposite results. The Royer was clean with a nice presence. The Royer also captured the sustain better. I hated the Stagg on it. The Stagg sounded muddy. On drums: They both lost. I just didnt like them at all as an overhead. But I could imagine them being great for a room mic. But tonally, I don't see a $1200 difference between them. Your $100 dynamic Heil Handi Mic would whoop them both with change left over. (I know. Dynamic/Ribbon = Apples/oranges.😂) Great video as always. I really enjoyed this one.
Theres a lot to clean up on the stagg for sure. But for $200 its not terrible especially if you have some space between it and the source. Proximity effect is disastrous on it and i think thats likely due to bad ribbon tensioning. Not a fan either on the drums. The R88 definitely beats both of these out for a ribbon overhead (or room). Though i am curious about the stereo version of the stagg. And youre probably right about the Heil hahahaha.
@meistudiony I'd love to see the Stagg compared with some of the cheaper ribbons from MXL. I own a MXL r80. I bought 2 as a pair for oveheads. Only one came, and they refunded the other. Guitar center said that I bought the last one. It has apparently been discontinued. So I tried it as a mono. I didn't like it. But when I tried it on vocals, it did OK. Im gonna see what it does with harmonica. Wish me luck.
@ ribbon on harmonica sounds like a bad idea lol. The air going on and out may be too much stress but if youre willing to risk it, please let me know how that works out! I have one of those mxl ribbons, i just put in for another cheap ribbon the ART AR5. I have a few others floating around. I recently sold a tbone ribbon i felt was particularly bad and have a monoprice active ribbon that is possibly one of the darkest ribbons ive ever used.
Listening on Sony 5000XMs. Cheap mic sounds very good and in most contexts inside a mix either would work great. That said, the Stagg feels like it has less headroom which in turn feels a little pinched, like it gives a bit less sparkle on top and a slightly looser low end. This may actually be a good thing in a dense mix but on something with big dynamic shifts that you want a more open feel (and only if you had the Royer for comparison) the Royer would be my choice. All that aside I am not hearing a $1,200 difference between these mics. For $200 this is a bit of a steal. Curious about long term reliability but from a,sonics standpoint I can see these being a huge boon for people who want a good ribbon sound without breaking that bank. Thanks for the demo, subscribed
Hey! Thanks for the comment and sub! At a distance, the mic performs pretty well. Lot of work to do when dealing with it close miking anything. But yeah, for the $200 this is currently sitting at, its definitely a bargain. I think with a proper tensioning, this mic would be even better than it is.
On the Piano and the horns.. I was having real trouble distinguishing them. Might be interesting to consider a comparison of some 'cheap' ribbons. I own a few and can always find a place for them (although I need a couple cloud lifters maybe as I only have a couple pre-amps that supply the gain). Nice demo as always, Pags! Thanks for sharing.
They were really close on overheads as well. I used the royer for the ride side and SRM70 for the hat side. They worked well as a pair. Only time i didn't like the SRM was when it was CLOSE to a source. It doesn't handle proximity well at all and the bass test was kind of telling. Ive had a few people suggest a cheap ribbon shootout recently. I have a bunch and @joesalyers recommended the ART AR5 in another comment. Def worth lookin into! Thanks for checkin it out and checkin in! Have a great holiday season!
This is a copy of the original video with the volume essentially reduced by less than 2db, and no strike. So weird. I had to leave the original up but unlisted until the claim goes through.
I have the SRM75 Stereo version of this and used it as a Mid/Side Room mic for a couple years on tons of stuff. Its a great mic too and worth the $400 price tag. I never used the mono version but I already had the Royer 121 if you want a real GEM of a ribbon mic for very little money look at the ART AR5 Ribbon Mic (its about $150) and is a very unique ribbon for drum rooms and guitars giving them power and thickness no other active ribbon I have ever used does. Pair it with a nice condenser on a amp cab or as over board on a piano and you will be shocked at how good a $150 active ribbon can be!
Thanks for the info! Would love to check that out! I've been looking at the stereo SRM75 as an alternate to the R88 i have for drum overheads. Another stereo ribbon out front of the kit is usually nice, but Id rather not spend another $2k+ on another AEA (even though they sound amazing). Gonna put that AR5 on the list! Thanks again!
I like the mics of AEA more. Especially the R88A. The N8/N22 also rock. I was never a big Royer fan. But of cause a cheap Ribbon is better than no ribbon in the mic locker.
Never gonna argue against someone for the R88. That mic is a beast. I do prefer the royer on guitar cab, but not many other places. It does work well on horns esp lower brass. I gotta get an N8 one day. Ive heard nothing but good things.
You could buy 5 Stagg mikes for the cost of 1 Royer121, so cost is important. I would not trade my single 121 for 5 Stagg mics, and I loathe the notion that a company is making knock-offs for a living without bringing anything new to the table or advancing the science. Being just a cheap copy-cat is ugly, but that is the world we live in. Thanks for the video.
I've two Subzero 57 copycats. Not a fan either but bought them because they had extended range compared to a real 57. Also you can pick up 4 for the price of one real 57 here.
While i wouldnt trade my 121 for them either, for $200, its really not a bad sounding mic if you're not having to mic really close. I also do NOT agree with companies copying designs of current production models. Rampant IP violations permitted in the countries that manufacture these items and the market are certainly to blame for that. They do just enough to get past infringement rules. Sad, just come up with your own design at that point and if the product stands up on its own, you look like the innovator not the copy cat.
Yeah the low end is way exaggerated on the stagg when its close to a source. Its not AS bad when its got some distance but the lows are still a little mushy. I think its just a ribbon tension issue. One day ill muster the courage to re-ribbon it and tension it properly.
@@meistudiony if not @mannysmiclocker tensions and reribbons over your side of the water. I still havent mustered the courage to buy a ribbon mic due to the storage conditions too.
I think Stagg does not manufacture microphones, they must brand Chinese OEM microphones. I know at least two companies (Stellar and OPR) that use that microphone. OPR improves it by changing the transformer and the ribbon. And to be fair, Royer's design is based on a B&O design. Greetings from Argentina.
Without a doubt royers design is based on the Bang & Olufson design. Most of the "bargain" companies rebadge mass produced items, usually with a slight modification here or there, so thats likely true as well. I have run into instances where a company in china was building a product for a major manufacturer of pro audio gear, lost the contract but continued making the device they were making and slapped a different brand name on it... logs of strange things going on out there that probably border on legality. Thanks for checkin out the video! Appreciate it!
Thanks for the video. It seems that the Stagg can be used for electric guitar, brass and maybe woodwinds. It lacks some midrange bite and together with its old school ribbon hi-end roll off it gives some limitations. When talking so much about copies, it would be appropriate to mention that the Royer 121 is a copy of the B&O BM3 from the 1960s.
Thanks for checking it out. I went into the B&O thing in the Royer video, probably should have brought it up again here though. Royer at least changed the head of the mic a bit from a rounded dome to a flat cap. Stagg changed the grill cutouts, slightly.
One of the most detailed mic comparisons I seen. I have a pair of the stag mics but have not used them yet but this video gave me some great starting points for when I do. Great Job Sir !
Thanks for checking it out!
Stagg. This is a deep cut…
$200 and it does something. The 121 had a lot more life on most instances. I recently went down an ice bell rabbit hole in the vein of Stewart Copeland… stagg being one of the several but limited companies that came up and was actually sonically blown away by them. Unfortunately they only have one line of them now… and like most cymbals will be a mixed bag of weight and pitch.
I was really tempted to try out some other non-pro audio stuff from them. Nice to hear that some of their other stuff is of decent quality as well. Odd choice for them to go with a more squared off bell on the current line. Looks interesting though! Thanks for checking out the video!
On piano: I noticed the pedal noise was more prominent via the Stagg mic, even to its detriment. It was picking up a wierd tone from the pedal, similar to bumping a mic stand with a hot mic. The Stagg was brighter on piano and lacking character.
On acoustic guitar: I found opposite results. The Royer was clean with a nice presence. The Royer also captured the sustain better. I hated the Stagg on it. The Stagg sounded muddy.
On drums: They both lost. I just didnt like them at all as an overhead. But I could imagine them being great for a room mic.
But tonally, I don't see a $1200 difference between them. Your $100 dynamic Heil Handi Mic would whoop them both with change left over. (I know. Dynamic/Ribbon = Apples/oranges.😂)
Great video as always. I really enjoyed this one.
Theres a lot to clean up on the stagg for sure. But for $200 its not terrible especially if you have some space between it and the source. Proximity effect is disastrous on it and i think thats likely due to bad ribbon tensioning. Not a fan either on the drums. The R88 definitely beats both of these out for a ribbon overhead (or room). Though i am curious about the stereo version of the stagg. And youre probably right about the Heil hahahaha.
@meistudiony I'd love to see the Stagg compared with some of the cheaper ribbons from MXL.
I own a MXL r80. I bought 2 as a pair for oveheads. Only one came, and they refunded the other. Guitar center said that I bought the last one. It has apparently been discontinued.
So I tried it as a mono. I didn't like it. But when I tried it on vocals, it did OK. Im gonna see what it does with harmonica. Wish me luck.
@ ribbon on harmonica sounds like a bad idea lol. The air going on and out may be too much stress but if youre willing to risk it, please let me know how that works out!
I have one of those mxl ribbons, i just put in for another cheap ribbon the ART AR5. I have a few others floating around. I recently sold a tbone ribbon i felt was particularly bad and have a monoprice active ribbon that is possibly one of the darkest ribbons ive ever used.
@@meistudiony good point. I will put a pop filter in front of it.
Listening on Sony 5000XMs. Cheap mic sounds very good and in most contexts inside a mix either would work great. That said, the Stagg feels like it has less headroom which in turn feels a little pinched, like it gives a bit less sparkle on top and a slightly looser low end. This may actually be a good thing in a dense mix but on something with big dynamic shifts that you want a more open feel (and only if you had the Royer for comparison) the Royer would be my choice. All that aside I am not hearing a $1,200 difference between these mics. For $200 this is a bit of a steal. Curious about long term reliability but from a,sonics standpoint I can see these being a huge boon for people who want a good ribbon sound without breaking that bank.
Thanks for the demo, subscribed
Hey! Thanks for the comment and sub! At a distance, the mic performs pretty well. Lot of work to do when dealing with it close miking anything. But yeah, for the $200 this is currently sitting at, its definitely a bargain. I think with a proper tensioning, this mic would be even better than it is.
On the Piano and the horns.. I was having real trouble distinguishing them. Might be interesting to consider a comparison of some 'cheap' ribbons. I own a few and can always find a place for them (although I need a couple cloud lifters maybe as I only have a couple pre-amps that supply the gain). Nice demo as always, Pags! Thanks for sharing.
They were really close on overheads as well. I used the royer for the ride side and SRM70 for the hat side. They worked well as a pair. Only time i didn't like the SRM was when it was CLOSE to a source. It doesn't handle proximity well at all and the bass test was kind of telling. Ive had a few people suggest a cheap ribbon shootout recently. I have a bunch and @joesalyers recommended the ART AR5 in another comment. Def worth lookin into! Thanks for checkin it out and checkin in! Have a great holiday season!
Woop woop
This is a copy of the original video with the volume essentially reduced by less than 2db, and no strike. So weird. I had to leave the original up but unlisted until the claim goes through.
@ super strange
I have the SRM75 Stereo version of this and used it as a Mid/Side Room mic for a couple years on tons of stuff. Its a great mic too and worth the $400 price tag. I never used the mono version but I already had the Royer 121 if you want a real GEM of a ribbon mic for very little money look at the ART AR5 Ribbon Mic (its about $150) and is a very unique ribbon for drum rooms and guitars giving them power and thickness no other active ribbon I have ever used does. Pair it with a nice condenser on a amp cab or as over board on a piano and you will be shocked at how good a $150 active ribbon can be!
Thanks for the info! Would love to check that out! I've been looking at the stereo SRM75 as an alternate to the R88 i have for drum overheads. Another stereo ribbon out front of the kit is usually nice, but Id rather not spend another $2k+ on another AEA (even though they sound amazing). Gonna put that AR5 on the list! Thanks again!
I like the mics of AEA more. Especially the R88A. The N8/N22 also rock. I was never a big Royer fan. But of cause a cheap Ribbon is better than no ribbon in the mic locker.
Never gonna argue against someone for the R88. That mic is a beast. I do prefer the royer on guitar cab, but not many other places. It does work well on horns esp lower brass. I gotta get an N8 one day. Ive heard nothing but good things.
The R88A is an amazing looking mic. I've watched about 9 videos on that. If I ever win the lottery 😅
You could buy 5 Stagg mikes for the cost of 1 Royer121, so cost is important. I would not trade my single 121 for 5 Stagg mics, and I loathe the notion that a company is making knock-offs for a living without bringing anything new to the table or advancing the science. Being just a cheap copy-cat is ugly, but that is the world we live in. Thanks for the video.
I've two Subzero 57 copycats. Not a fan either but bought them because they had extended range compared to a real 57. Also you can pick up 4 for the price of one real 57 here.
While i wouldnt trade my 121 for them either, for $200, its really not a bad sounding mic if you're not having to mic really close. I also do NOT agree with companies copying designs of current production models. Rampant IP violations permitted in the countries that manufacture these items and the market are certainly to blame for that. They do just enough to get past infringement rules. Sad, just come up with your own design at that point and if the product stands up on its own, you look like the innovator not the copy cat.
Stagg sounded kind of bad in the lows/low mids on the electric guitar. Heard that clipping there too.
Yeah the low end is way exaggerated on the stagg when its close to a source. Its not AS bad when its got some distance but the lows are still a little mushy. I think its just a ribbon tension issue. One day ill muster the courage to re-ribbon it and tension it properly.
@@meistudiony if not @mannysmiclocker tensions and reribbons over your side of the water.
I still havent mustered the courage to buy a ribbon mic due to the storage conditions too.
I think Stagg does not manufacture microphones, they must brand Chinese OEM microphones. I know at least two companies (Stellar and OPR) that use that microphone. OPR improves it by changing the transformer and the ribbon. And to be fair, Royer's design is based on a B&O design. Greetings from Argentina.
Without a doubt royers design is based on the Bang & Olufson design. Most of the "bargain" companies rebadge mass produced items, usually with a slight modification here or there, so thats likely true as well. I have run into instances where a company in china was building a product for a major manufacturer of pro audio gear, lost the contract but continued making the device they were making and slapped a different brand name on it... logs of strange things going on out there that probably border on legality.
Thanks for checkin out the video! Appreciate it!