EV RE20 or Sennheiser MD441?

If you could only have one mic, which one of these?

  • ElectroVoice RE20

    Votes: 7 38.9%
  • Sennheiser MD441

    Votes: 11 61.1%

  • Total voters
    18

dejacky

New member
If you had the following mics:

Shure SM48
Shure SM57
Shure SM58
Sennheiser e835 <--currently main vocal mic
Oktava MK012 (2) <--drum overheads
AT3035 <--currently used as kick drum mic

which mic is a better addition to this mic collection; EV RE20 or Sennheiser MD441? (also comments comparing the 2 mics would be much appreciated)

Type of music: all types of rock/alternative (not really light jazz) electric guitar, acoustic drums, vocals, etc. 8 channels would be recorded simlutaneously of these bands live in a home studio. The preamp currently being used is a SM ProAudio PR8 (only +40dB), but I might add an M-Audio DMP3 if it provides more useful gain headroom. thanks in advance :cool:

-dejacky
 
dejacky said:
If you had the following mics:

Shure SM48
Shure SM57
Shure SM58
Sennheiser e835 <--currently main vocal mic
Oktava MK012 (2) <--drum overheads
AT3035 <--currently used as kick drum mic

which mic is a better addition to this mic collection; EV RE20 or Sennheiser MD441? (also comments comparing the 2 mics would be much appreciated)

Type of music: all types of rock/alternative (not really light jazz) electric guitar, acoustic drums, vocals, etc. 8 channels would be recorded simlutaneously of these bands live in a home studio. The preamp currently being used is a SM ProAudio PR8 (only +40dB), but I might add an M-Audio DMP3 if it provides more useful gain headroom. thanks in advance :cool:

-dejacky

The 441 is one hell of a condensor mic! I am an expert at mics in general, and I know what is great, and what is not. The off-axis response in this omni mic is simply fantastick! It is creamy smooth, with "warmth" and a smooth anti-hyped top end. It is best used for bass since it has a limited freq range. But, if you use an outboard pre-amp, the freq range almost doubles. This means that you can use it on many other instruments (if there is much bass content, of coarse)

I think that your SM ProAudio PR* has +48V headroom (Not +40db!)

Slight correction!

Good Luck
 
Re 20
Only because the 3035 can move up to your vocals and guitar cabs (warren loves the 3035 on cabs) and the re 20 is one of the best bass drum mics and voice mics around. I don't know if that would be your best "next" mic though. You could really use some variety in your vocal selection and will definitely need a preamp
 
Call me crazy, but wouldn't the 48v refer to the phantom power? But I'm no 'expert'.
 
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The 441 is one hell of a condensor mic! I am an expert at mics in general

I thought the MD-441 is a dynamic mic? :confused: And If I'm not mistaken the 40dB is the gain of the SMPro Audio PR8 preamp.
 
I guess I am no expert either because I really want to know just exactly how an "outboard preamp" doubles the frequency response of the mic? SO I guess if I used it on my console I would only get half the frequency response of the mic than if I used my Chandler preamp? I will venture a guess that my console will be OK. Especially since, if I remember right, it's rated WAY past 200khz. Yes 200khz, not khz. Oh yeah, the sm pro premp from the first post is an outboard preamp. And one other thing, I believe the original poster was referring to 40db and not phantom power since the very next phrase refers to gain and headroom.

I certainly agree with big kenny in that maybe neither of these is the best purchase for your next mic. I would maybe look into a dedicated kick mic and another LD condensor, even a cheapy.
 
What would you recommend in the used price range of an RE20 and MD441 instead? Please try to stay on topic too... i.e. NO COMEDY, JOKES, or sarcasm IN THIS THREAD. why? I'm sick of sifting through useless posts to find useful information and I want this thread to contain useful info for others as well. thanks.
 
DJL said:
You can say that again... you should read some of his other post... but he is funnier than heck.
And you can see that some people are taking him seriously, which kinda throws the purpose of this forum into the dumpster. Misinformation seems to breed more misinformation.
 
dejacky said:
What would you recommend in the used price range of an RE20 and MD441 instead? Please try to stay on topic too... i.e. NO COMEDY, JOKES, or sarcasm IN THIS THREAD. why? I'm sick of sifting through useless posts to find useful information and I want this thread to contain useful info for others as well. thanks.

You are unlikely to find a better mic that these two. You have to try them out to know what will work for you. You don't have to look long on here to know that any mic is subject to your ears. You cannot go wrong with either. If you cannot afford either one, get a MD421 or an SM57.
 
They're both great mics.

The "safer" choice IMHO is to get a new RE20 from somewhere like Full Compass for under $400. The repair costs on a used 441 can be steep.

Then I would "flip" (sell) your SM48 and SM58, to be replaced with something like another SM57 (or Shure 545 series) and an EV 635a omni.

Chris

P.S. An excellent alternative to the RE20 would be the EV RE15 or RE16.
You'd save some $$ that way too.
 
micsales guy. Do you think I could get some more frequency out of my hypercardioid Behringer ECM8000s if I ran them through a nice tube amp like the M-Audio DMP3? I really need to get more highs out of them although I know that's asking a lot from a dynamic mic. I really need your help.
 
Yes ive also thought about using the 441 as a condensor mic in omni. Guess that means im also a mic expert.

Ive got an old RE20 that im currently repairing. Its the only RE20 that ive used, and obviously its damaged. But ive found it to not be a very colored microphone. Infact ive found it almost not flattering enough on most voices. But then, it is damaged so i dont know if thats what they all sound like. It did work rather well on the kick drum although i felt it really lacked bass. Infact it feels like it lacks bass on everything, kind of thin.

Maybe somebody could clear this up for me to reassure me that its just a damaged mic, because its not what i expected it to be.

Just my obversation.

Danny
 
StevenLindsey said:
micsales guy. Do you think I could get some more frequency out of my hypercardioid Behringer ECM8000s if I ran them through a nice tube amp like the M-Audio DMP3? I really need to get more highs out of them although I know that's asking a lot from a dynamic mic. I really need your help.

OK guys, just for newbies benefit, I'm going to follow joke posts around and say they're a joke.

Newbies: this post is a joke.
 
Micsales said:
The 441 is one hell of a condensor mic! I am an expert at mics in general, and I know what is great, and what is not. The off-axis response in this omni mic is simply fantastick! It is creamy smooth, with "warmth" and a smooth anti-hyped top end. It is best used for bass since it has a limited freq range. But, if you use an outboard pre-amp, the freq range almost doubles. This means that you can use it on many other instruments (if there is much bass content, of coarse)

I think that your SM ProAudio PR* has +48V headroom (Not +40db!)

Slight correction!

Good Luck

Shouldn't you point out that this post is also a joke? No "real" person could actually post something this misinformed. I think we have a renegade puppet on our hands! But quite frankly, I've been enjoying the humor.
 
Micsales said:
The 441 is one hell of a condensor mic! I am an expert at mics in general, and I know what is great, and what is not. The off-axis response in this omni mic is simply fantastick! It is creamy smooth, with "warmth" and a smooth anti-hyped top end. It is best used for bass since it has a limited freq range. But, if you use an outboard pre-amp, the freq range almost doubles. This means that you can use it on many other instruments (if there is much bass content, of coarse)

I think that your SM ProAudio PR* has +48V headroom (Not +40db!)

Slight correction!

Good Luck

Would you buy a used mic off this man? :D :rolleyes:
 
I would also just like to point out that the 441 requires A LOT of clean gain to really appreciate what it is capable of. I have no experience with an RE20, but the 441 requires a bit more gain than most of your usual dynamic mics, and because of this it really benefits from a decent pre-amp. If you plan on getting the 441, then I would want to run it through something the quality of a dmp3 at the very least. If all you have is an SM pro audio PR8, then I would much rather spend the money on a good preamp that would make all those 57s sound like new mics, than a very expensive dynamic mic that I wouldn't even be able to fully appreciate.
 
If you can afford it, look athe D&R preamps. I believe they are just under $400 for 2 channels. At that price they are a real bargain. In my opinion it would absolutely smoke something like the DMP3. Beautiful, ultra clean, really open sound. Getting your first quality preamp really will make it seem like you have a new mic locker. Of course thats only if you can afford it:)
 
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