This is my first ribbon mic, but I have been recording long enough to tell that this is a very honest mic. Although it requires a certain control over your dynamics when recording singing, because it is very sensitive. The sound is "realler than real"

The mic body itself seems quite solid. It also included a foam fitted carrying case, a decent shock mount (with extra band) and a cleaning cloth

It's a ribbon mic. Make sure you have a low noise preamp with a lot of headroom. Never let this mic anywhere near phantom power, because it will kill the ribbon element. Other than that, just make sure you use a pop filter to protect it from explosive air bursts.

This seems to be very well made, especially for the low price tag

Great mic for the money, provided you can accommodate a figure 8 pattern mic which requires a decent preamp, and must be handled with care because ribbon strips are delicate

Haven't needed any support, so I suppose that's a good thing haha

This is one classy lady. She is very easy on the eyes, but you have to set everything up just right to get the "magic" hahaha I plan on buying another to enable certain stereo schemes and drum overhead micing.

Active Musician and Recording Engineer

Acoustic rock to Death Metal and everything in between

I’ve been playing various instruments 55 years, in bands & solo

Gospel folk country pop

This is of course the only rating on a mic that really matters. I'm comparing the R144 to other condenser and dynamic mics in its price range - in particular the Audio Technica AT2020 and the Shure Beta 58A. Taking those as a reference 10, I give the R144 an 8 based on how much tweaking has to be done with the preamp and the recorder. You have to work with this mic to get a good sound out of it. I have your basic zZounds-supplied low-end home studio, and use an ART Pro Channel preamp which is anything but "Pro", but it's a solid budget preamp and gives good results if you a)swap the tubes for something better (like reissue Mullards) and b) know what you're doing with gain staging. The R144 requires a lot more input gain than either of the reference mics - to be expected in a ribbon mic. It also absolutely requires compression to avoid distortion peaks and EQ to sculpt some definition. But if you work with it you can get a full, warm sound out of the thing with some upper-end clarity. It's never going to sound like even a $200 - $300 ribbon mic - remember this is a hundred-buck-chuck model. But if you want to play with a ribbon and see what it's like this works. For demo-quality audio it works. This is a nice mic for what it is: entry level. And the sound is quite unlike a condensor or a dynamic. I'm not sure how a female vocal would come through here, but my mid-rangey male vocals were kept nice and warm with a little bass rolled-off and a little high-end boost, plus some mid-range adjustments with wide Q. Be aware this mic is VERY subject to plosive explosions without a good pop-filter (I found a dual-screen with side vents worked best), and it has a LOT of proximity overloading. You have to stand-off a bit for the best results. That said I didn't have much of a problem with room noise with the figure 8 polar pattern - just keep away from walls and corners and it will give you a nice bit of dimension.

For a hundred bucks you get a metal shock mount (pressure clamp variety), a cleaning cloth, a nice plastic carrying case, and the mic. A nice package. The mic has no frills: no pads, no high-pass, no whatever (I'm not even sure I've seen this stuff on a ribbon).

This is a cranky little beast that requires a lot of attention to get set up - but that's mainly something you work-out when you first get it and once you are aware of its quirks you can make it do some tricks. Don't expect a lot of range from this thing. I've only used it for vocals but I imagine it might do a good job on a guitar amp (I DI a Boss GT-8 so I haven't tried it). I doubt it would have enough sparkle for acoustic guitar.

This is a cheap mic made in China and it looks, feels, and even smells like it. It's pretty solid but I wouldn't write home about either the materials or the finish. Like most MXL mics it's colorful and shiny. You get what you pay for.

Overall you get a good bang for the buck here - a nice package and a workable mic for a hundred bucks. What's to complain about?

No idea but I won't ding them for something I have no experience of. If you want to go by the supplied documents there aren't any except for a spec sheet and the usual marketing mumbo-jumbo.

It's "pretty" in the same sense that a dolled-up hooker is: lots of surface glitter, not much class. But we don't really care what it looks like - we only care if it gives us $100-worth of sound, and it does that.

Hobbyist with dreams

Midwestern reggae