Blue Microphones’ Bottle Mic Locker – 4 tube mics in one!
Yes, that's four top-of-the range microphones for the price of one...
Expanding your ‘mic locker’, or as we say in the UK ‘mic cupboard’, is a never-ending cycle powered by dreams and desires. It’s like having an angel sitting on your shoulder, advising you which mics you really need and asking, ‘will that mic add any value to my business’? On the other shoulder you have the devil crying out, ‘But it’s a thing of beauty and you simply must have one’. Well, the Blue Bottle Mic Locker might be something they can both agree on. The original Bottle mic has become one of those legendary mics found in many high-end facilities, but on a budget that could potentially buy 2 decent mics with varying performance. Blue are now offering, in the same way they did last year with the Bottle Rocket Mic Locker, a package with the flagship Bottle mic and a collection of 4 capsules.
Inside the Bottle Mic Locker
‘To cap it all off’, this package comes with 4 different capsules. Apparently these capsules offer a wide variety of different sounds, which should suit a variety of applications and different vocalists. Changing the capsules on a vocal session for example, would offer a very quick way of finding the ‘right mic for the track’. Interestingly, they’ve included all the large diaphragm cardioid capsules from their range, but I can see users quickly having a desire for the other 5 which include figure of 8’s and Omni’s.
The 4 ‘caps’ included with the Bottle Mic Locker are the same as those found in the Bottle Rocket Mic Locker. They are the poorly named ‘B0’, which supposedly has ‘silky, extended presence’, the B6 for ‘classic warmth and larger than life sound’, the B7 offering ‘vintage detailed mids with an airy presence’ and the B8 which you normally find with a Bottle mic delivering ‘crystal-clear sound with incredible detail’. I struggle with marketing terminology like this and would rather see something more scientific. Why not have all those qualities at once?! Marketing moans aside, I love this concept and would really like to try one of these kits out soon. Blue mics aren’t that common in the UK and I have only used one once, many moons ago.
Also included in the kit is a the power supply with another very American name; ‘Power Stream’. As well as supplying the mic with clean and consistent power, it also offers another way for users to alter the sound characteristics. By altering the polarisation voltage across 9 settings, the mic is said to deliver a range of tonal and sensitivity options.
Pricing and Info
For more information about the Bottle Mic Locker, visit their webpage. Prices in the UK haven’t been released yet as far as I can tell, but the recommended retail price in the US is 5,999 USD. This is obviously serious money, but excellent value when you consider the 4 capsules included. The regular Blue Bottle Mic with a single ‘cap’ was around the same price and as a result we can already see that dropping. So if you’re in the market for legendary valve mic, perhaps as your main vocal mic, then this might be your chance of getting four!
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