Cascade FAT HEAD

I have been playing guitar and performing for 40+ years and began learning recording techniques beginning around 1968. I have contributed to and been involved in sessions at the old Atlantic studios in NYC, Soundworks West in Hollywood, Bradley's Barn outside Nashville and many smaller private/demo studios. I no longer play full time but I help operate a private demo studio belonging to a close friend. We track using a Mackie analog 8 buss fitted with Mackie Ultramix automation into an Alesis HD24. At this time there is no DAW involved but we do have a good selection of dynamic and condensor mics, outboard gear and TC Finalizer Plus for mastering. We monitor through JBL 4311s and Yamaha NS10Ms.

You will see a very truncated review by myself on the Cascade Fathead on this forum. It was my first attempt to rate a product on Harmony Central reviewer's feedback forum and I thought it was a preliminary step, not the review itself. I felt a need to expand it somewhat so as to give a more thorough review of my experience with this microphone. Mea culpa. I became aware of Cascade Microphones through their website which contains a lot of good information about and sound clips of various mics they sell direct. I had been looking for an affordable ribbon mic for my studio, and the Fathead ribbon mic caught my attention/interest, so I took a chance and ordered one online. I was not disappointed. The mic is a figure 8 pattern and comes with a very nice shock mount that resembles one from Audio Technica. It also comes with a padded wooden storage box that nestles in a larger hard sided case with handle that also holds the shock mount. Also included is information on ribbon mic do's and dont's and polar pattern and frequency response plots/charts. I ordered mine with a stock transformer but available options for upgrades to Lundhal or Cinemag transformers are there for additional costs. It is a lollypop type design w/a very stiff wire mesh screen on the front and back sides of the ribbon motor assembly. Mine is the silver/black model and it looks very cool. The mic has a solid feel to it and it will fit in fine to the shock mount and is held very securely in any position up, down, sideways etc. Model and serial #s are etched into the body as opposed to spray paint or stencil decals. Frequency response is smooth and good through lows, lower and upper midrange and gently tapers off above 10-12K making it very suitable on a number of specific applications in my studio. My first session I used it on was to track a particularly "screechy" Chinese violin and it worked very well at smoothing the harsh upper registers produced by the fiddle without losing the bow sound or sticatto attacks made by the player. As a result, the fiddle sat a lot better in the mix with other accompanying acoustic instruments. I have since used it on saxophones, a Vox AC30 and as an ambient room mic for drum sets with pleasing results. Since it is a figure 8 pattern, it will pick up sounds, reflections and such behind it, so experimenting with placement and position will give you some interesting results. Ribbon mics are more fragile than workhorse dynamics or stage use condensers, so a reasonable amount of care has to be employed when using them. These caveats are covered well in the accompanying literature and other web sites about ribbon mics. All ribbon motors are low output, as compared to condensers, but I ran the Fathead into a Mackie analog 8 Buss console mic input and just opened up the gain without noticing any noise or RF hum. As far as the phantom power debate, I have always made it a practice to disable it entirely when using ribbons. One small flaw is the latch on the wooden presentation box is not the best and might become un-latched if you don't pick the box up carefully. On the whole though, I am very pleased with the Cascade Fathead. I think it represents a very good sound/value when a ribbon mic is called for and you don't have bags of money for AEA, Royer, Coles or vintage RCA products. The company offers a reasonable return/upgrade policy and I have spoken to the owner and others at Cascade and found them very helpful and supportive of their mics. I plan to order another one soon so as to have a crack at stereo/Blumelin, M/S techniques or to use on drum overheads.

Answering your questions in order.
40 + years
Almost as long
ADAT HD 24
JBL 4311s, Yamaha NS 10

Answering your questions in order.
Ribbon, figure 8
Horns, violins, guitar amps/cabinets, positioning varies according to sound/desired result
Yes, but not enough $$ for AEA, Royer, et.al. Sound, value and good support from vendor
It makes "screechy" instruments "smooth". You have to handle w/care (most all ribbons).
YES! Not for close breathy vocals, rough handling, the road or low energy sound pressure levels.

I've been a musician for 26 years and recording music for 15.
Primarily recording to a modified HD-24.
I'm currently monitoring on EVENT Precision 8s.

Ribbon (figure 8).
So far on guitar amps 6" from the speaker and as drum over heads, in a pinch it works as a vocal mic for some voices, although it benefits from some top shelving EQ and a good quiet mic pre with lots of quiet gain.
As for sound it competed veeery favorably against a Royer R121 and an AEA
R-84 on guitar cab, coming out somewhere between the 2 in the sonics department.It also takes EQ incredibly well and with a little boost or cut could be made to sound pretty much like the other 2.Like all ribbons don,t expose them to blasts of air or phantom power and all will be well. Now here's the kicker this thing costs 200.00 and pretty much stood toe to toe with 2 reaaaly heavy hitters but don't take my word for it , do the tests yourselves I think you'll be surprised!