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Hi group Any of you having experience, using the Rycote baby ball gags, instead of a full modular system? I can see the modular system being more protective of the mic, but other then that I dont know the pros and cons. Im curious about the effectiveness of the grommet on the baby ball gag. Thanks alot.
Mikkel
My BBG grommet is nice and tight. But, of course, because the BBG rubber grommets/openings are specific sizes, it's less flexible than a modular system. However, having both is great. I use the BBG when I want to put a mic somewhere unusual where a larger Rycote windscreen just wouldn't make sense, like strapping it to vehicles. As long as the BBG you get matches the width of your mic body, I've found them to be every bit as effective.
I love the BBG! I use two of them for MKH 40's for ORTF recordings on a stereobar and tripod. Sometimes i also use one of them with a pistolgrip for mono recordings. Haven't tried them in really windy conditions, but for regular outdor use, i hear no difference from my other Rycote systems. Another + is the small size if you travel light...
I love the idea of Baby Ballgags (what a weird name), but myself I'm a little worried about friction-noises! I've had some problems, not much, but still, with foam windshieds on both my Sennheisers and Oktavas making tiny scraping noises sometimes. I don't really think that's as big a risk though as the gag is not as close to the membrane as the foam, so for me the main reason I remain with the full systems is frankly to keep the mic as light as possible as to not stress the lyre-suspensions too much. And also for protection, I rather risk smashing an about $700 blimp than a $2000 mic, especially as the blimp still works after a severe beating.
What microphone are you planning on using this with?
For me, mic tonality is senior to all other aspects of a windscreen. I don't want to sacrifice tonality if I don't need to.
I found the Schoeps W5D to have the best wind protection for the minimal amount of tonality loss. I placed it along with the BBG in front of a huge industrial fan and they both had fairly equal amounts of wind reduction.
And, the baby ball gag sounded to me like, frankly, a plastic ball placed around your mic.
The W5D sounded the best by far out of all the windscreens I tested (and I shot out quite a few of them, including all sorts of baskets, Rycotes and tribbles). Most production sound mixers I receive my production tracks from are using these more and more and they are extremely transparent sounding compared to one of those plastic cages. And I have personally used them in 25 mph gusts outside in the Cincinnati area and Twin Cities area, as well as those windy Los Angeles afternoons.
Give the W5D a chance. It costs about $100 from where I get my gear.
Let us know what you decide to go with.
Very pleased with mine, use it with my MKH 50 and Invision bracket.
