[S&L]

I picked up a couple of Red5 RVD30 mics earlier in the week for a project on Tuesday. since they arrived within 48 hours of order I packed them with the rest of my gear for Saturday's gig - a new band I was working with. I figured I would give one a go with backing vocals. come sound check time I put up the fader for the male backing vocal and was really pleasantly surprised. a really nice response for a male voice - lots of detail there and plenty of headroom compared with an SM58. I had left one on a stand because I know this band like to get a guest up and since I don't whether the he is going to walkabout I leave the second mic on a spare stand for the guest.
then I check the lead female vocal mic - an SM58, it's a little toppy, and way too lively on this small stage. So I was thinking on my feet, frankly trying to buy myself some time (which we had plenty of) so I swapped the 58 for the red5 -
the results were startling - loads of detail, bags of it, a decent amount of headroom which shut down the feedback (speaker sound bouncing off the walls and monitors in close proximity). the sound was a little too rounded at the bottom end and I struggled to get the vocal sound spot on but I got it pretty damned near what I wanted - and when the female went walkabout the mic held up again.
so when the second half came around and the guest got u,p the singer introduced her uncle, an old school blues guy who was going to get up and sing a few...
...he sings a verse and a chorus then pulls a harmonica from his jacket....'this is gonna be interesting ..and not in a good way..' I thought.
I let him blow, grabbed the fader, eased off some top and the mic was fine again...lovely warm and detailed. all I had to do was ride the fader and the hi feq pot as he went back and forth between harmonica and vocal. (I had already patched the mic to another channel, the man's blues growl made him a one man 'gain' machine.
All this for 40 odd quid for 2 mics. ...and the castings make them feel like they were made in the 70's - a lovely weight and very sturdily made. I just thought I would pass it along.
..frankly I'm still a little flabbergasted! ... I'm also curious as to where these are made to such quality for the price!

[david.elsbury]

Quote

..frankly I'm still a little flabbergasted! ... I'm also curious as to where these are made to such quality for the price!

It appears they are a Scottish company, and I'd assume that the mics themselves are made in China. There's actually some good stuff to be had from China, if you can control the production process- I think Paulears imports mics from China also. The trouble is, the Chinese seem to be prone to changing components when they feel like it, often in the middle of a production run, or after you've ordered a few batches, they'll change something.

So if you can keep on top of the QC, and if you can afford to buy several hundred/thousand, then it's a great way to get decent products for cheap, IMO

http://homerecording...dio-rvd1-68940/ - another positive review

2c
David

This post has been edited by david.elsbury: 23 April 2012 - 06:17 AM

[S&L]

I had a look at the forum David mentions and found this posted from Red5 themselves, I thought it worth re-posting, dated 2002:

We choose our components from various sources, mainly well-known industry suppliers such as WIMA, to name one that I'm sure most will recognise. Up until now we haven't designed our own mic bodies but we do have a mic in progress at the moment that is ours from scratch.
We've always been happy to tell people our mics are made in China. We have a dedicated partner who listens to and works with us to produce the product we want. It's my word for it - but we don't use Tenlux (or any of the other big brand names offering popular catalog models). Outwardly the RV8 and the Tenlux model may look the same but internally it's different kit. I think you'll find that the Tenlux mic is a catalog model and to the best of my knowledge - it's not open to OEM spec to the extant that it's a completely different mic
I have every respect for Alan and the SP products. They have good reasons to promote the 797 brand and there are benefits in doing this. Red5 Audio is a different operation with a different approach to how we market our products. For example - we *only* sell directly to the end customer - we control price - we control customer service. Sure, it's slow building a brand name this way but we think it will be worth it in the long run.
I do hope this is helpful to some extent. There's no hidden agenda, there's no eye-wool. We're just a small dedicated team of Scotsmen with a passion for what we do (cue the violins . . . .)
Just one small point - it's Scotland, not England. Haven't you seen Braveheart?

Craig Dunsmore
Red5 Audio Ltd

This post has been edited by S&L: 23 April 2012 - 07:03 AM

[i_hate_fisicks]

S&L, on 23 April 2012 - 01:38 AM, said:

All this for 40 odd quid for 2 mics. ...and the castings make them feel like they were made in the 70's - a lovely weight and very sturdily made. I

Where did you get them?

[bruce]

i_hate_fisicks, on 23 April 2012 - 10:05 AM, said:

Where did you get them?

They only sell direct. 2 for £49 inc VAT.
http://www.red5audio...ial_Offers.html

I have heard good reports about the red5 products, although never actually tried them.

Has anyone tried their RV85 hanging/overhead condensers (£38)? For stage use, how do these compare with the CPC 45 pound products

http://www.red5audio...enser_Mics.html
http://cpc.farnell.c...d664-pulse.html

[Doug Siddons]

Have long been a fan of Red5, The drum mics are very good value for money have been using the RVD9's for toms etc for the last 5 years and never felt they needed to be upgraded to a "Brand" ( the drum clips however got junked after a week!) I have a couple RVD30's and quite happy to use them to make up numbers and a pair of their drop mics RV85 bought for a one off job but have since earned their money, well worth a try.

This post has been edited by Doug Siddons: 23 April 2012 - 10:41 AM

[Hilary Watts]

I've used a pair of the RV85 hanging condensers for a recording of a live band (keyboard, vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, trumpet, drums, percussion) in a good acoustic space. They were simply supposed to pick up the ambience to mix in with the direct feed from the desk but I made a lash up with the feed from the desk (duh!) so the recording from the pair of RV85 was all I had left - and the band were delighted with it. I can't comment on GBF but they produce a very faithful and pleasant sound.

[paulears]

The only issue with Chinese products is repeatability. Their infrastructure is very complex and it's difficult to track down anything we'd call a 'factory' here in the UK. Microphones are low cost, low volume (in real terms) items - and it's really common to find common components in microphones sourced from different companies. The actual electronics for condenser pre-amps are pretty simple, in terms of component count - and the parts are often very common. So the pcb design changes - but the actual element is the same one others use - the mounts may be a bit different, but frequently I've found when getting first samples that internally - I've seen them before, just a new body. The tube of the mic being talked about here visually looks the same as quite a few other designs but just has minor machining differences. Some of these have dynamic elements, some have condenser elements. In one of the links above, somebody identified the product as a certain brand - but this was hotly disputed. Rather pointless in a way. Red have a product sourced from a Chinese company. It's clearly a good one. Not to worry. The users of good Chinese products use them for what they are. It's just the culture that's different. A company I deal with quite often is quite small, but based in the much larger complex that makes very well known brands for an American manufacturer, and another, proud of the 'British" tag. From time to time, they offer me products in limited quantities, which they term overspill. As far as I can tell, these are B grade items that have been rejected by the quality control systems instigated by the big names. So they're not counterfeit - they're genuine, but unauthorised for sale. Then we have the proper counterfeits - simply visual copies of well known products. These are clearly an issue and it's a big problem. The quality of these can vary from very poor to excellent. If they sold some of them with an own brand and stopped the copying, they'd do pretty well.

If these mics sound good - that's enough really. Price wise they slot in well. The only real issue is the snobbery factor. Some people cannot judge on performance, they are biased against the entire Chinese output - which seems unfair.

[savage1]

I have a couple of RVD30s too and I've always been happy with them, kinda wish they sold their kick mic on it's own but I suppose having a drum mic set wouldn't hurt especially given how cheap they are.

[Tivoli Phil]

I love those RVD30s, some of my favorite all rounder mics, I've used them for a fair few things over the last year or so, from emergency grand piano mics to vocals to guitar cab, and they always produce a useable sound. I really like them for male vocalists as mentioned further up. Also I've not had personal experience of the hanging mics (yet) but a big band I was working with for a bit used them for the brass and woodwind section pickups, sounded really excellent, again a decent amount of detail and a nice warmth. Can't go wrong for the price really.

[MarkPAman]

savage1, on 23 April 2012 - 11:32 AM, said:

I have a couple of RVD30s too and I've always been happy with them, kinda wish they sold their kick mic on it's own but I suppose having a drum mic set wouldn't hurt especially given how cheap they are.

Ooops! Sorry, saw it on its own page, and thought it was on its own!

This post has been edited by MarkPAman: 23 April 2012 - 01:53 PM

[jiggles]

savage1, on 23 April 2012 - 11:32 AM, said:

I have a couple of RVD30s too and I've always been happy with them, kinda wish they sold their kick mic on it's own but I suppose having a drum mic set wouldn't hurt especially given how cheap they are.

http://www.red5audio...m_Kit_Mics.html

See bottom of page.

[brainwave-generator]

jiggles, on 23 April 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

savage1, on 23 April 2012 - 11:32 AM, said:

I have a couple of RVD30s too and I've always been happy with them, kinda wish they sold their kick mic on it's own but I suppose having a drum mic set wouldn't hurt especially given how cheap they are.

http://www.red5audio...m_Kit_Mics.html

See bottom of page.

If you do see the bottom of the page, it says it's only available in the sets.

[MarkPAman]

Jiggles, you've just done what I did. Seems you can't actually buy it from there!

[jiggles]

MarkPAman, on 23 April 2012 - 03:00 PM, said:

Jiggles, you've just done what I did. Seems you can't actually buy it from there!

Ah yes! I need to lean to read things properly! Whoops.