Before starting another benchmark, let’s say thanks to the wonderful backline of Studio de la Reine. For our bass amp test, we had nothing less than a mint all-tubes Ampeg B40 with its 4x10” cabinet... And the bass was a 1968 Fender Precision.

The extreme SPL handling capability of the El Diablo allowed us to make recordings at a very loud level, way over what is usually acceptable by any ribbon mic. Especially when it was so close to the speaker. We set up the El Diablo beside microphones usually used in such an application but using different technologies, such as an Electro-Voice RE20.

When we listened back to the tracks, it was obvious that the El Diablo put the bass frequencies forward: the Fender was sounding very “boomy”. It was an ideal sound for dub, reggae or trip hop, but definitely not for metal. You may not like it, but I do. Here is the same bass and amp, mic’ed with a RE20. Then a slap part with the El Diablo, and with RE20.

Guitar Amp

In order to record some guitar sounds, especially saturated sounds, we used a standard guitar and amp configuration: a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and a 92 Gibson Les Paul Classic. We turned the volume all the way up and let the amp roar and howl. Usually, a SM57 is the ideal tool for that kind of sound. Of course, its behavior has nothing to do with ribbon mic behavior, but it’s a reference, and as such we’ve also recorded some takes with it.

We must say that El Diablo does one hell of a job! The sound is big, fat and well-defined. You will have a lot of sonic textures to tailor, which could seems like too much when recording, but is perfect when mixing. Here is the recording done with the SM57.

The El Diablo also gives good results when recording clean sounds. We compared it with another ribbon mic, a Royer R-121, whose characteristics are relatively similar. The El Diablo delivers a balanced, natural bottom-end, very close to that of the R-121, but it gives a bit more high end, in the way a condenser mic would do.