AR 520 Active Ribbon Microphone

I really wanted to like this microphone. First off, it came with zero documentation, none, not the slightest bit of printed matter in the box about how to use it or power requirements. It's billed as an Active Ribbon Microphone but it works with or without phantom power which is a bit disturbing.I compared it to my Royer 121, Nady RSM-4, Fab 56 and MXL R144 ribbon microphones using a reamped guitar track through a Mesa Boogie through a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. I recorded each mic twice, the first time with each mic in exactly the same physical location. The second pass I moved each mic to get the brightest sound possible from the mic being used. The Royer sounded good on both takes, smooth, uniform, good amount of room in the sound but overall great rock tone. The Nady ($80 here on Amazon) was the closest challenger to the Royer, it's the best deal going in cheap ribbon mic. The MXL R144 and the Fab 56 dueled for second to the last place, the BadAax just sounded bad and came in last in every listen.With phantom power off I cranked the gain of the mic preamp up to around 51 dB and the mic matched other passive ribbons in level but the tone was horrible, muffled and dark. With phantom power ON I reduced the gain to around 25 dB to get the right level, using the active electronics like this made the mic sound like it was running through a bandpass filter with no low end and no high end, just a big wide midrange, like a cheap AM transistor radio from the 60's. It was not a tone any of us in the studio could imagine using for any recording, we finally concluded that maybe it was a bad microphone.The AR 520 has a heavy feel in your hand, the shock mount is one of the better quality type (not cheap formed steel), the mic came in a cute wooden felt-lined box inside a brief case WITH NO DOCUMENTATION. I've been recording for over 50 years so I know how to use the mic, I don't need that, what I would like is some specifications about the circuitry and why it works with or without phantom power.We voted the BadAax out of the studio, it's just plain BAD.Good music to all!

Spectacular quality, I get pristine quality sounds around 14-20khz goes great using xy pattern with a 57. I love it, highly recommended.

Good mic esp for the price!

I have had this microphone for years but never the right mixer. I picked up the RodeCaster Pro and this microphone sounds juicy with the phantom power setting and using it as a condenser microphone. It sounds almost as good as my Shure SM7B

I purchased one of these used from eBay about 2 months ago. I think it's a great bargain for the money.I wanted to check the ribbons condition so I begin to remove the layers of head basket. There were so many layers of mesh. 1 layer of hard thick metal, then 2 medium duty layers of mesh, followed by 1 last layer right in front of the ribbon. The ribbon looked great and seemed to be in fine shape. So I began to put the mic back together. I only put back a single layer of the medium duty mesh. It made the ribbon more vulnerable but also was a great free way to open up the sound of the mic. Quite a bargain at the price. A pair of these would make a nice cheap stereo pair of mics. Fantastic on electric guitar