royer R-121
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The so-called ideal preamplifier is the proverbial “straight wire
with gain.” This may be considered the technological ideal and
does not include “coloration” as a desirable feature. However,
coloration is often desirable and has given rise to the populari-
ty of certain preamps and even preamp stages in mixing desks.
Neve preamps and the famous Trident A Range mixing console
are highly praised for their classic sound.
So what should we use with our beloved ribbon microphones?
The features that translate into top performance for a ribbon
microphone are the following:
1. Lots of gain! A ribbon microphone works best with pream-
plifiers that have at least 60-70dB of maximum gain.
2. Low noise is a must! With the amount of gain required for
efficient operation of a ribbon microphone, the noise character-
istics of the preamp play a pivotal role in overall performance
of the captured acoustic event.
3. Load characteristics: A suitable preamplifier should have
input characteristics that impose the least amount of loading on
the ribbon element. In other words, the input impedance should
be high enough that its effect on the performance of the mic is
negligible. A good rule of thumb is to have a preamplifier with
input impedance at least
five times the impedance of the micro-
phone. For example, if the mic is rated at 300 Ohms (as Royers
are), the preamp should have an input- impedance of at least
1500 Ohms. If the impedance of the preamp is too low, the
microphone will lose low end and body.
4. Transparency: A good preamp should sound natural, with no
edginess. Tube preamps sound warm, yet wonderfully transpar-
ent. Transformer coupled preamps sound punchy. When record-
ing with condenser or dynamic microphones, engineers often
choose mic preamps that help “warm up the mic,” but warming
the signal up does not need to be a consideration with ribbon
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