I highly recommend the Royer 121. Recently they were honored with a Technical Grammy Award in 2013, for their amazing contributions to the recording industry over the past several decades. Royer’s first ribbon mic with active tube circuitry, the R-122V boasts Royer’s highest output signal strength and headroom. Active electronics provide 14dB more output than the R-121; Phantom power required for the active electronics; R-122V. I also sometimes use the royer 121 on vocals and acoustic instruments like guitar, viola, xylophone etc.. Attached Thumbnails 13th December 2011 Royer Labs R-121 Platinum by mherrane. Royer broke new ground when they produced the Royer Labs R-122, an active version of the Royer R-121 which also offered an improved transient response by virtue of the larger transformer housed in the body. with a permanently polarized 16-mm (0.63")diaphragm element and a preamp that requires 48V phantom power. I read this in the manual on the Royer site: "The R-121 requires no power supply and is safe to use on consoles with phantom microphone powering, provided that the cabling is wired properly. It should be noted that not all ribbon microphones are compatible with phantom-powering systems, so check the manufacturer’s recommendations before using other ribbon microphones. It is built using a chassis for a large-diaphragm mic, i.e. If there is one company in the world whose name is synonymous with high-end ribbon mics… It’s Royer Labs. the Royer 121 ribbon mic will tolerate phantom power. It should also be … Phantom-powered ribbon mic, more sensitive than any other ribbon The R-122 MKII is a compact, monaural, phantom powered ribbon microphone. This is the ribbon mic to buy. For best and safety reasons, turn on your preamp first - ensure that the phantom power is of - then plug the Royer 121 ribbon microphone. In their ENTIRE line, the Royer 121 is no doubt their flagship microphone. The Royer R-121 is a radically redesigned ribbon microphone and Royer's flagship product. Other ribbon microphones are not as tolerant on phantom power, for that the Royer design is great. Royer 121. The Royer Labs R- 121 mic is a weird looking device in my opinion but that doesn’t mean the sound isn’t good. Like most ribbons, the Royer R-121's pattern is figure 8, its sensitivity is roughly equal to a good dynamic mic, and it exhibits a warm, realistic tone and flat frequency response. Blending these Royer 121's into the rest of the close-mic drum tracks really give a nice polished sound.