Blue Microphones Ball

I have been playing guitar and bass for the past 7 years. I have been recording for the past 4, but started doing it myself only about a year ago. I've been in a few different pop punk/rock bands, as well jazz bands. Im recording now with a protools setup with a digidesign 002 rack.

Overall this is a very good mic. Although I have the Kickball (brother to the ball), so everything may not be exactly the same as the original. This mic, as well as its brother, is a phantom powered dynamic mic. However, this model was created for a better low end range. I am using it on a kick drum and also as a bass mic that I mix together with the basses direct track as well. It works great for kick drum. Originaly I was going to get the AKG D 112, but the guy at the store sugested that I try this one out. I am quite pleased with the results. It works much better for kick drum than the mic I was using previosly (Oktava MK 319)and it just seems much more durable as well. There is also a switch on the back for eather more high end or more low end, which is always nice. The only problem that I have seen with it is that it still gets overloaded sometimes by the kick (I helped this a little by puting a pop filter in front of it). Other than that, there are not any real problems with it. It seems to be pretty solid and I think its deff. a good mic for the price.

Live Sound Engineer for 12 Years. I've worked with every type of music you could think of.

It's a phantom powered dynamic with a cardioid pattern. This thing sounds absolutly WONDERFUL on Electric Guitar! If you observe the mic's unique proximity effect, then master it,... you will go to this mic every time you are ready to mic up the guitar amp. In my opinion it beats out the longtime standard SM57, and the Sennheiser e609. All for less than the price of a Quarter of good herb!

i've been recording overall, for about 15 years or so...very amateurly...
first with an old tascam four track, a few studio CDs, and then again stuff in my studio at home. no professional training, except a bit of reading, but just stuff i've picked up over the years...
these days i'm using a yamaha AW-16G 16-track digital non-compressed format. it's fairly simple, reliable, and very versatile. it's hooked up to some monitors, but usually i just listen through the sennheisers.

i've got a handful of dynamic mics, a large diaphragm condenser that i've always been partial to, but the BlueBall is a nice mic.
when i first got it i was comparing it to the condenser, and the crisp quality was fairly similar, but i didn't like it as much as the condenser mic and i actually returned it.
a few years later, after doing a lot more recording, and getting frustrated with the condenser for certain applications and not getting the desired results recording distorted guitar with any of the dynamics (even the famed sm57), i read a few reviews of the Ball and went back and bought one again.
i love it!
a phantom-powered dynamic mic? crazy but pretty nice.
it is now the only dynamic i use and has even taken the place of the condenser mic for a lot of things. the range and SPFs are awesome. it churns out impressively accurate distorted guitar sounds (i place it at the speaker rim, aimed at the center..usually on one of the lower speakers of my angled cab), and is great for clean guitar, vocals, and even bass...
pretty low noise level too.

I've been recording on cassette multitracks since '93 (Porta 03, X28-H, 488 mkII) and still mix relying on home stereos.

The Ball is a phantom-powered dynamic mic with a cardioid pattern.

My primary use for this is as a snare mic placed close with the middle of the mic at the top rim of the drum. It runs into an Apex mm-3 preamp and is mixed with two more mics (overhead and kick). The current mic setup replaced my longtime set of Radio Shack dynamic mics for drums.

I got the Ball for its novelty and the nod given from a Tape Op reviewer. BLUE also appears to put more trust in Latvia than China for build quality. I have never had a 57 on the snare and when I decided to upgrade my drum mics, I didn't want to commit to such a go-to mic with its own distinct flavor. So I got the Ball since I'd have phantom power available through the Apex pre.

The mic appears to do the job without having to make its own mark. The only problem I have is that its little power light never seems to be on when I'm using it with the Apex pre. I do know that it is working, though, because I botched a live recording - no time for a sound check resulted in a nasty crackle - when the drummer hit the snare too hard.

The Ball's price is a no-brainer for someone wanting a dynamic mic that does not appear to have its own sound. I will continue to use it for drums, and maybe try it on guitar when able to do extra tracks.

I won't give it a 10 due to its power light issue. It's also not all-around versatile - hence the Kickball for more low-end.

Playing guitar and bass , and recording for twenty years.
Bought the Ball to use as a guitar amp mic in a project/home studio.
Recording mainly into Cubase SX via either M-Audio Tampa or Joe Meek VC3 pre-amps.

Dynamic mic that requires phantom power , no point repeating the sales pitch , bought it because it received good reviews when it was 260 quid , must be worth a punt at ?99 ?
High SPL capability , emphasis on lower mids and bass end hence I chose it for a guitar mic.
Had been using either a Cad e100 , Sennheiser e845 or a Beyer SM58 clone with a Rode NT1 room mic previously , did an A-B test using a Fender Strat through my own amps , Cornford Harlequin , Vox AC50 , Marshall AVT50 and a Fender Champ 25W all-valve.
The Ball destroyed the other mics completely for all the amps mentioned , no mud , just exactly what was coming out of the amp , with that natural compression that you get with dynamic mics.
Didn't even need to use the Horrible Fizzy NT1 as a room mic with it , it sounded great on its own.
Placed it slightly off centre , about an inch from the cloth.
Because it was so good , I tried it on vocals with more success.
Placed close to the singer , it had a very warm bassy sound , however it is very sensitive to pops so you may need a screen.
Perfect for screechy voices I would guess.
Overall , I rate this as a very good mic for ?99 , will be using it for all guitar amps from now on , until Beyer reduce their ribbons to ?99 that is !