Ribbon microphone manufacturer Crowley and Tripp has introduced el Diablo, a new type of ribbon microphone, at the 123rd AES Convention. The microphone demonstrates is one of the first commercial uses of Crowley and Tripp’s Roswellite advanced material as the ribbon element.
When the Fletcher of Mercenary Audio first learned of Roswellite’s development, he challenged the company to come up with a ribbon microphone suitable for a kick drum. After more than a year in development, the new el Diablo Mercenary Edition was born. Fletcher was very specific as to what he wanted to hear from the tuning of the mic: the sound of a 421 inside the drum and a 47 FET out by the hole. The el Diablo was engineered to meet this specification without any of the phase issues that can occur when using two mics on a single source.
Roswellite is a super strong material designed to mimic the sound of traditional ribbons made of foils, but without their issues of strength, sagging, phantom power or SPL handling. “We figured out how to make it bulletproof,” said Hugh Tripp, the inventor of the processing technology required to produce the material. “Roswellite is just one of several super elastic and strong materials we have under development for acoustic and audio applications.”
Like all Crowley and Tripp ribbon mics, the el Diablo is hand-built. It will begin shipping later this month through Crowley and Tripp distribution channels, including Mercenary Audio.
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