What did you think of it?

It was, with out a doubt, the best of the microphones we tried and I was amazed at the over all "sound" of the microphone. I would buy it in a heart beat if I had the money. I think it is going to become a "classic" and once people start to use it they will find that it has the most beautiful sound imaginable. The lows are full without being boomy, the mids are sparking clear with out any hint of harshness and the highs are silky. I can imagine all kinds of uses for this microphone from voice over work to a pair of them using a conventional Blumlein microphone technique for recording choirs. It does have a figure 8 pickup pattern. It would also be my choice for acoustic guitars and any kinds of horns. A really nice, reasonably priced microphone.

See I own Blue Mics, and LOVE them. They are a quality product priced affordably. I use Kiwi's and a mouse, and probably will for a long time to come. The woodpecker has an actual wooden body and is a great looking mic, I will have to audition it as I am looking for a ribbon.
Thanks for the review.

Thomas, thanks for the report. Have you had a chance to try the Royer R122v, and if so how does the Woodpecker compare?

I love the 122v for acoustic guitar and horns as well. Just wondering if the Woodpecker is different enough to be worth the $.

WesFan wrote: Thomas, thanks for the report. Have you had a chance to try the Royer R122v, and if so how does the Woodpecker compare?

I love the 122v for acoustic guitar and horns as well. Just wondering if the Woodpecker is different enough to be worth the $.

I used a couple of Royers when I was given a pair to try. It was quite sometime ago and have not had the chance to A-B them with the Woodpecker. I remember the Royers as sounding GREAT on everything I tried them on. The Woodpecker is just more AMAZING!

I wonder how using wood instead of metal changes the sound of a mic.

Thanks for the tip, Tom! Never saw this one before, sure looks interesting.

I didn't see any price listed, though...any idea of what these are going for, list, retail, etc., in USDs?

$1299 list.

$999 street price.

When I went back to GC they had already sold the microphone to a Celtic sting player. I guess he was blown away by the sound as well. This could be a new "classic" microphone for acoustical instruments. Too bad the $999 was NOT in the budget for this year.

Tom- What kind of signal chain did you use to audition it at GC?

Microphone preamp and headphones.

Microphone preamp = Focusrite VoiceMaster Pro with everything bypassed. Not my first choice but it was the only thing they had to demo the 11 microphones we were A/B ing.

Headphones = Beyer DT-770 which are our normal headphones we use on remotes.

Hope this helps.....

I picked one of these up and really like it. While still having the ribbon vibe, it has an extended high end most ribbons don't have. Makes an excellent addition to my ribbon collection. :D

WesFan wrote: I picked one of these up and really like it. While still having the ribbon vibe, it has an extended high end most ribbons don't have. Makes an excellent addition to my ribbon collection. :D

Glad you liked it. I think it is an AMAZING microphone and the idea of having it Phantom Powered was a stroke of genius on Blue Microphone's part. One of the biggest killers of Ribbon Microphones is Phantom Power and with this microphone you don't have to worry and the pre amp gets the output level up to a "normal" level. As soon as I can save up I am going to purchase one for my collection.

Tom, you'll find a lot of uses for the Woodpecker. I already have in the short time I've used it.

Sometime you should also try the Royer R122V and the SF series, great mics as well with a lot of uses, much different than the Woodpecker!

The fact that the body is made of wood could
affect it's susceptability to picking up stray alternating magnetic fields, although I can't
say for better or worse.

Must be worse, and for RFI and cell phone signals as well. There's a good reason for mics to be completely enclosed in full metal jacket. I wonder if this wood thing is a gimmick.

I suspect (though I have NO way to back this up) that the wood is not solid all the way through. That perhaps there is in fact metal either at the inside of the casing or in a sandwich.

Otherwise, this thing would likely crack with heat and humidity changes.

I'm curious - does anyone know for sure?