It just occured to me that there is so little about the budget Microphones from t.bone on this site. T.bone is the house brand of Thomann, one of the largst music stores in Europe, operating from Germany.
So most of you on the other side of the Atlantic might never have heard of them, but there are quite few Europeans here as well, so...
They sell a lot of microphones under this brand, but they are actually all sourced in the far east, and t.bone branded (nothing wrong with that, don't get me wrong). Some microphones have their origins in other brands (as happens more than you might think).
why this list?
- when I first started out recording things, I had a few lessons to learn. One is that you don't need all microphones to be expensive. Creativity can do more than expensive equipment.
- There are a few rules: sometimes buying too cheap is just too cheap... so that's why I never include cheap dynamic microphones with flimsy switches, so no on/off microphones for me.
- no fake LDC's for me (SDC's disguised in an LDC packaging)
- When tube microphones are concerned, only replaceable tubes are an option for me.
These are my recommendations in this range of products (just microphones, not accessories)
Handheld/drums
- t.Bone MB 85 Beta: good in voice, definitely useable for interviews
- t.Bone MB 75 beta: nice dynamic alternative, also obviously based on a particular American brand....
- t.Bone MB 56 beta: good for toms and even snare
- t.Bone BD-300: kick microphone. I'm no specialist, sounded OK for my purpose
SDC/Pencil
- t.Bone SC-140: SDC pencil microphone. Nice one, used it to mike a car once for video... ;-) (I did have a hidden lavalier as backup)
I hear some good things about the EM700/EM800 but I have never tried them, as the SC-140 is already cheap enough for me.
Ribbon
- t.Bone RB-100: ribbon microphone, definitely nice on electric guitars
- t.Bone RM-700: ribbon microphone, instrument microphone, Shuaiyin SYR-30 (= Alctron HRM-15, Cascade Fathead, Nady RSM-4)
- t.Bone RB-500: ribbon microphone same as Nady RSM-2, Alctron HRM-1 (different headbaskets SYR 10-11-12) (I love these for drum overheads) (this is a very large and heavy microphone)
- t.Bone RB-770: active ribbon microphone same casing as the SC-1200 (haven't tested this one yet, but curious about it)
LDC
- t.Bone SC-400: transformerless cardioid LDC, basic, but good (ShuaiYin SYC-400)
- t.Bone SC-600: transformerless cardioid/omni LDC, basic, but good (ShuaiYin SYC-400)
- t.Bone SC-450: transformer based cardioid LDC, I believe to be made by Feilo, and as far as I can find out: the original SE 2000 (definitely worth its money) (1" diaphragm)
- t.bone SC-1100: transformer based 3-pattern LDC, actually Feilo Z3300, which is the original SE Z3300 (1.07" diaphragm)
- t.Bone SC-1200: looks great,sounds mediocre. This same casing is used by many other brands
- t.Bone SCV-3000: actually a Feilo F1000, with a 1.22" capsule, makes things sound "grand". Love it, weighs a ton...
Tube LDC
- t.Bone SCT-800: obviously inspired by the greats, this tube microphone is the Feilo 5000 or 5500, and also a former sE model
- t.Bone SCT-2000: Feilo/original SE Z5600: multipattern tube microphone
- t.Bone Retro Bottle II: Actually the Alctron BV-300 (it says BV-300A on the PCB ;-). sounds good, less neutral than the SCT-2000, very useful if you need that extra character.
I DON'T want the SCT-700 tube microphone that is often (Alctron based), as the tube is soldered on the board, and to be honest: the stock tubes on these microphones are not that great. Replace them and your microphone breathes "class"... (I did use some 20-30 EUR tubes, JJw²
Broadcast
- t.Bone MB-20: put it here because I tested it, hate it. Doesn't sound good at all.
- t.Bone MB-7 Beta: sounds OK, not super, but OK
- t.Bone BC-500: even though it requires a LOT of gain, this microphone sounds very good. I prefer my sE Dynacaster (and to be honest: The Shure SM7B), but these are only slightly better IMHO.
My absolute favourites are: MB 85 Beta, SC-140, RB-500, SC-450, SC-1100, SCT-2000 and BC-500.
By no means is this a complete list, but if they'd just have these microphones, they'd already have a lot of versatility. They do have wireless handheld microphones and specialty microphones as well (like the Ovid system), but I normally don't use them for my purposes. And I left out the ones I deem too cheap to even try.
I put this here because this all are LOW priced microphones, and perhaps others would like to share their opinions about them...