- Warm Audio WA-47 JR ($299) - Cardioid
- Aston Spirit ($449) - Cardioid, minus ~8 dB
- sE 2200A II ($299?) - Cardioid, minus ~3 dB
- Royer R-101 (discontinued) - Figure-8 (duh), plus ~10 dB
Analysis-
The WA-47 JR is an excellent mic for male voices, in particular baritones and basses, and by extension all lower instruments such as cellos and trombones. It has a nice, round low end that is neither full nor muddy and the high end is very precise without letting sibilance ruin anything (so if you have a sibilant female voice, probably your best bet short of a full WA-47!). However, it is a rather low sensitivity mic and will function best with a good preamp/interface. Build quality is acceptable, but not all that much to write home about, with rather poor shockmounts you will quickly want to replace (mmm... Aston Swifts?) and it's uncomfortably easy to unscrew the bottom of the mic, for the endlessly curious. O.o
I should also note I experienced some pretty significant background noise (broad spectrum) issues with my aging Focusrite Scarlett and this mic (see here: https://instaud.io/2s8J ), but the exact cause of that noise is still being diagnosed. The issues did not appear with the Spirit at the exact same gain, but were also resolved when using my Orion Studio 2017 and Zoom H6, so I believe it is likely something to do with power delivery.
The Aston Spirit really shines for me with female voices, particularly altos. It has more high-end presence, but the high end is considerably more well-defined than cheap mics, even the venerable NT1-A. I also consider it an excellent mic for clean recording of just about any acoustic instrument, and its higher sensitivity makes it a good choice, especially for more under-powered interfaces. It's hard to make this mic overload on high frequencies, but it's noticeably brighter than the WA-47 Jr. That said, the Spirit is an undeniably good looking mic and for picky performers or first impressions, it's a real compliment winner. It's also built like a tank, so no fear bringing it around to gigs.
The sE 2200a II is a classic choice, but I find it to be even a bit more brighter than the Spirit. It would probably do very well on things like acoustic guitar.
The Royer R-101 (now unfortunately discontinued) was their 'entry level' mic before being phased out for the R-10, a much cheaper and I think lesser mic. The R-101 is a very warm mic with very little highs, as is often characteristic of many (but not all!) ribbons. It is a great panacea of bright instruments that should sound darker. Work creatively with its accentuated proximity effect, and you can make some really fantastic sounding recordings. Even though its official noise ratings don't appear all that impressive, when placed correctly and paired with a powerful enough preamp (or with the aid of a cloudlifter), it can be a consummately quiet mic.