the t.bone Ovid System CC 100

I purchased the t.bone Ovid CC 100 mic for my nylon string guitar. I play as part of an acoustic duo and I wanted to use the CC 100 mic to supplement the sound from the under-saddle pick-up fitted to my guitar. I use the CC 100 mic with a tube amp DI box for phantom power and a warmer sound.

Overall I am very pleased with the sound from the mic. I can get a more natural tone from my guitar by blending the sound from the CC 100 mic with sound from the under saddle pick-up.

Pros:
(1) The mic is excellent value and costs 10% of the price of a top-of-the-range, high-end mic for similar purposes.
(2) The 13cm goose-neck fitted to the CC 100 mic makes it relatively easy to adjust the position of the mic, close to my guitar's 'sweet spot' (behind the saddle).
(3) The 2 meter cable is long enough to reach my DI box (on the floor) whilst allowing me plenty of room to play comfortably.
(4) The mini-XLR feels well made.
(5) Surprisingly, the box the item ships with contains a custom cut foam insert, which I found useful. I added the foam insert to a hard-case that I use for transporting my gear which protects the CC 100.

Cons:
(1) The mic is a little 'boom-ey' unless I add extra support to better secure the mic into the holder.
(2) The cable is very thin and doesn't feel strong. it could be better built; if you take care while handling the mic system, it should be okay.

I think the CC 100 is an excellent (affordable) choice for those who want to blend a mic sound with the sound from a pick-up or for those who wish to mic an acoustic instrument that currently has no pick-up. It's not as good as a top-of-the-range mic, but it's excellent quality for the price. In fact, I liked it on my nylon string so much, I bought a second one for my steel string acoustic!

I'd fully recommend the product to anyone on a tight budget.

I've been amazed at the versatility of this mic. I've tried it on guitar, violin, viola, cello, accordion (right hand), concertina, hammer dulcimer, and even as drum overheads. I have seen them being used to great effect on highland pipes with Peatbog Faeries at Sidmouth Folk Festival. I believe it to be a fantastic all round mic for close micing live or in the studio. It has good rear rejection and it doesn't feed back unexpectedly.

On violins and violas, so many other pickups and mics overdo the treble response, leaving the violin sounding harsh and cheap. This one has a much warmer tone and reproduces the violin's natural sound very well if the mic is placed directly above the bridge. I have found the best location for the clip is the lower left corner of the body. The best position for guitar was also as close to the bridge as possible.

The violin clip and guitar clip are able to be attached to practically anything they will fit around and, with a good squeeze, don't fall off even when playing vigorously. The rubber holder that supports the mic means that knocks on the bodywork are not picked up directly. This makes it ideal for micing the underside of a dulcimer.

Overall, I am very pleased with these mics, to the extent that I will be purchasing a third one soon!

the t.bone Ovid System CC 100 is a set of microphones for recording stringed instruments such as violin, cello or viola. Here are a few key features and benefits of this kit:

Superior sound quality: The Ovid System CC 100 microphones provide high quality recordings with clear and natural sounding instruments. They perfectly capture the subtle details and nuances of a performance, making them ideal for studio recording and live performances.

Easy to use: This kit includes everything you need for quick and easy installation on your instrument. The microphones are easily attached to the instrument deck using special mounts that ensure a secure fit and minimal interference from external noise.

Versatility: The Ovid System CC 100 is suitable for a wide range of stringed instruments and playing styles. They can be used for recording classical music as well as more contemporary genres such as jazz or folk.

Reliable and durable: The microphones are made of sturdy materials for durability and reliability. They are able to withstand heavy use and maintain high sound quality for a long time.

I would definitely recommend it and would buy another if I lost it.

The mic sounds really great at low volumes and far better than high quality undersaddle piezos or soundboard transducers (no surprises there, even though I am talking about acoustic guitar pickups that are in their own way great and cost many tens to hundreds of pounds). The mic is just much better sound quality at low volume. This is through a blending preamp and acoustic amp. For low volume jazz gigs or rehearsals with acoustic double bass I use the mic alone as above. The sound is like the acoustic guitar which is of course what we want, only a little louder.

For slightly louder duo jazz gigs (pub with 10-20 people chatting) I blend it with a soundboard transducer using a preamp (50/50 mic to transducer). I get no feed back problems as long as I reduce the highest eq slider and don't point the mic at the speaker. The blend is far better than the sound board transducer on its own.

For louder gigs don't bother with the mic. Just use the pick-up in the guitar. I have not been able to get the volume high enough on the mic to be worth using. No matter. This is to be expected and will happen even with much more expensive mics.

The mic, thin cable and ovid guitar clip are easily robust enough if you take care of them. Don't worry about that. It has survived about 50 pub gigs with me so far with no problems.

So for the price it is a bargain, and it makes my low volume playing much more enjoyable and fun for me.

This is a competitor to the DPA 4099 series of microphones, but at a fraction of the price. I wanted to mic up my acoustic guitar but avoid a cumbersome full size mic and stand arrangement, and couldn't justify the cost of a DPA. The Ovid works very well, with a suitable pre-amp, into my small PA system and it is certainly good enough for 'low key' live performance work at least. I cannot compare its sound quality to the more expensive option but for my needs that doesn't matter and I suspect that, for the average audience member, there would be no discernible difference! The mounting bracket grips the guitar well but can be dislodged, so care must be taken not to knock it accidentally when playing. If used regularly on a guitar of no great value I might be tempted to attempt some sort of screw-on fixing method, or maybe a miniature G-clamp to the metal body of a resonator, for added security. The cable is also very thin and will need to be looked after - or I may look into splicing it onto a more robust cable. Overall, incredibly good value and more than adequate performance for semi-pros like me.

The CC100 was attempted on several double basses, mainly using the dedicated double bass clip. Several trials were performed, trying to establish the optimal distance & location of the microphone.

The quality of sound is fair, but not quite at the level of an LDC mic. The main problem is the relatively low sensitivity & output level, resulting in relatively poor S/N. This is because the double bass is a relatively quiet instrument (compared to, for instance a trumpet or a snare drum).

Qualitatively the best results are obtained with the microphone placed close to the top, with the goose neck sticking through the bridge feet. However, in this close position it is quite a focussed point-measurement (though not as focussed as common DB PU's, as the Realist or contact mic's). Moving it farther out results in a more global perception of the instrument, yet at the cost of poorer S/N.

f-Holes need to be avoided: the sound will be strongly tainted by the Helmholtz blow resonance resulting in a dark grotty wash.

Sound quality can be further improved by setting judicious (sharp) notches on your pre-amp, after spectral analysis of the raw data.

These are great microphones!
We use them for acoustic philharmonic projects and folklore concerts on: violin, viola, cello and double bass.
The sound of the microphones is very good, easy to make an EQ, and some how surprisingly stable regarding the feed back in the monitors.
The clip is very easy to adjust and easy to work with. We used it a few times on festival-concerts where we had to mount /unmount the mic on about 15-20 contestants violins and we needed to do that fast. It worked fine, every time, on every instrument (in the contest we had some really small children who had some really small violins) the mic/clip never fell off the instrument.
The goose neck is great, you can place the mic exactly in the position where you want the mic to be. This is very useful especially for the double bass, because we encountered a lot of different sounding double basses, and with a little luck (if you can afford a sound check) you can find the best spot for the microphone.
We fear a little for the thin cable. They withstand about 30 concert until now. One of them had a double bass endpin on it for a few hours, but still works :)))
We recommend these microphones and we are preparing on buying some more to have a bigger set.