Violet Black Knight Sound On Sound Magazine August 2008
By Hugh Robjohns
Violet's suggestion that the Black Knight can be thought of as a general-purpose studio workhorse proved to be a fair one. I was able to capture a credible sound from everything I tried it on - both male and female vocals, spoken voice, cello, upright piano, acoustic guitar (six and 12 strings), hand percussion, as a single drum overhead, and as a snare-drum mic on a jazz kit. If I only had the Black Knight in my armoury, I have no doubt that I could very easily have made extremely satisfying recordings. I'm not sure I would use the mic on a rock snare because of its maximum SPL rating, but on the jazz snare (using brushes much of the time), it was excellent - not least because the swivelling head made it really easy to find the sweet spot on the batter head. The hypercardioid-esque side null worked well to control hi-hat spill, and it also handled the transients very nicely, as it did on the acoustic guitars.
Overall, I was very impressed with this mic. It deserves to do well, because it is a very accomplished and well-balanced design, offering real value for money, and would make an excellent first mic for anyone setting up a home studio on a reasonable budget, easily delivering quality results from any source.
Read more about this review at Sound On Sound.