The Electro-Harmonix EH-R1 is a ribbon microphone that is to be used only in the recording studio. As is the deal with all ribbon microphones, the EH-R1 is pretty fragile and shouldn't be handled without care or brought outside of the studio unless necessary. It has an old school sort of look to it, which is definitley pretty cool. The mic has a frequency range of 50 Hz to 16 kHz and a figure eight pick up pattern. It comes with a clip and a hard shell case for the mic, but the shock mount is sold separately, which I have not used with the EH-R1.

OVERALL OPINION

The Electro-Harmonix EH-R1 definitely comes from an unlikely source, as Electro-Harmonix doesn't make too many microphones, let alone ribbon mics. I've used the EH-R1 at a studio where I've done some freelance work, so I don't own the microphone myself. I haven't used the EH-R1 as extensively as I would like, but I have used it for recording acoustic guitar and a vocal. It's a really warm sounding microphone for the most part, although it does lack the clarity that you'd get with a higher quality condenser microphone. I liked it better for the vocal, as it didn't cover enough of the high end sparkle that I like for acoustic instrument. In the last couple of years there have been a lot of inexpensive ribbon microphones to come out, and this is one of the better ones that I've tried. I'm not sure that I'd buy it for myself, but for the price there isn't much risk involved at all. Don't be fooled by EH making something that might be out of their element a bit, as the EH-R1 is a very nice ribbon microphone for the price and definitely worth looking into if you're shooting out inexpensive ribbon mics.