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.

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.

I've used a couple of these now for just over 2 years of gigging on an accordion. Whilst the mics provide great sound quality, I have unfortunately just had to replace one as the lead has finally given up. The leads require very careful packing away at the end of gigs to prevent kinks and splits and both of my mics have required some soldering work at some point to keep them going (albeit some of this was down to the guitarist kicking one of the preamps across the floor with the microphone still plugged in).

To sum up, great microphones for the price, but they need to be built a bit tougher to last through regular gigging.

This microphone gives a beautiful natural sound. The sound compares well to the Shure SM57 that I used to use for this purpose and it's much more convenient as you don't have to keep so still.
I've used it quite a bit now and although the plastic mounting doesn't look strong at first it has withstood everything I've put it through. If you're playing a small intimate gig where everyone is relatively quiet and listening this is ideal. I've also used this to add a little "woody" natural sound to augment the pickup. As it fits neatly into the pocket of my guitar case I bring it to every gig but use it at only about half of them.
The real problem comes with the feedback threshold. If you're playing a gig where a good deal of gain is required then you're better off to use a pickup and preamp because otherwise feedback becomes a nightmare. Also the attachment is not very stable and sometimes the mic falls out of position when you leave the guitar down on a stand. I haven't used other similar microphones (e.g. DPA etc) so I can't compare this t.bone to them and maybe I'm being a little unfair, so apologies to t.bone if that is the case.
Overall though, I'm very glad I purchased this.

I bought the t.bone Ovid system microphone at the same time as buying the Fiddle Pro mic to be compared by the fiddlers in our band.

We are a ceilidh band and do a lot of moving around and have been constrained by the static mics is the past, so we were looking forward to having the t.bone. All of the band said that the sound was good and, chances are that, if we hadn't had the Fiddle Pro to compare it to, we would have been delighted with it. However, the sound in comparison was a bit thinner.

That being said, the flexibility of the t.bone is great. We were having problems with hearing the Bassoon, so we connected the t.bone to it and wow! what a sound!

We were so impressed that we are now going to buy a second t.bone, this time to hook it up to the oboe but we will be buying more of the Fiddle Pros for the violins.