The Royer Labs R-122 MKII Active Ribbon Microphone (Nickel, Single) uses phantom power and founder David Royer's innovative microphone design to record natural and transparent electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric bass, acoustic bass, drum overheads, brass, percussion, piano strings, woodwinds, Foley, and many other sources.

The microphone is similar to the company's R-121 ribbon microphone but has a faster transient response and a larger audio transformer for more open highs and a tighter more focused low-end response.

The MKII version of the original (introduced in 2002), incorporates a -15 dB pad and a switchable bass-cut filter. The switches are completely out of the circuit when disengaged. They are also recessed to prevent accidental activation.

The microphone's -15 dB pad is positioned before the unit's electronics and when engaged eliminates the potential for headroom-related distortion on even the loudest sources without imparting a sonic imprint on the material.

The microphone's bass cut starts filtering at 100 Hz at a rate of 6 dB per octave to effectively reduce the unit's bass buildup due to the proximity effect. The smooth filter is useful for vocals, acoustic instruments, and closed-miked electric guitars when less bottom end is desired.

The active electronics of the device are hand-wired in Burbank, CA with a specially designed toroidal transformer that delivers faster transient response than traditional ribbons. This makes the microphone useful for drum overheads, percussion, and all acoustic instruments.

A fully balanced handwired discrete head amplifier system uses the specially wound toroidal transformer and ultralow-noise FETs to bring the microphone's sensitivity to 36 dB while still allowing high-SPL recording without the introduction of self-noise. The phantom-powered circuitry provides impedance conversion to handle a wide variety of preamplifiers.

The microphone's proprietary offset ribbon transducer positions the ribbon element closer to the front (logo) side of the microphone to allow more room to move within the prime magnetic field while maintaining a full frequency response during high-SPL recordings.