R-122 MKll Studio Ribbon Microphone - Stereosett

The R-122 Mk. II is a second-generation design of the venerable R-122 active ribbon mic. It shares the original mic’s ribbon geometry, transformer, and circuitry, but adds two switchable features: a high-pass filter, and a pad.

According to Royer Labs, the original R-122 design can, in cases where the phantom power supply is compromised, or the preamp’s input impedance is very high, run out of headroom. The distortion happens within the active circuitry.

The pad on the Mk II will offer at least 10dB attenuation; the actual value has not yet been determined. The high-pass filter will roll off frequencies below 80Hz. These features will make the microphone much more usable for high-SPL sources, and for close-miked instruments: because ribbon microphones are very sensitive to proximity effect, the switchable filter allows the boosted bass frequencies to be filtered out right at the microphone, while the pad increases headroom available to loud sources.

The two new switches are mounted directly to the microphone’s circuit board, and are accessed through two small slots cut into the rear face of the microphone body.

When the pad and filter are disabled, the R-122 Mk II sounds exactly like the original R-122; the signal path, with switched features disabled, is identical to the original mic’s signal path.