MXL 550/551R Recording Pack?

[Justsomeguy]

Hey guys and gals. Has anybody here had any experience with the MXL 550/551R Recording Pack? if so, what are your thoughts? on paper the 550 looks like it may be really bright, is this the case? are there any mods for either of these mics?

 

[chrisghost]

Hey guys and gals. Has anybody here had any experience with the MXL 550/551R Recording Pack? if so, what are your thoughts? on paper the 550 looks like it may be really bright, is this the case? are there any mods for either of these mics?

Well, I haven't used them, but there's a lot of simular condensers in that price range which are all more or less the same mic (made in China). I'm betting these are no different.

Why would you spend $80 on a couple of mediocre mics and then invest a lot of time in them too? If you like to tinker with this sort of stuff, have fun of course. But I'd put the $80 to a good dynamic, or put it aside and save up for a better condenser.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Well, I haven't used them, but there's a lot of simular condensers in that price range which are all more or less the same mic (made in China). I'm betting these are no different.

Why would you spend $80 on a couple of mediocre mics and then invest a lot of time in them too? If you like to tinker with this sort of stuff, have fun of course. But I'd put the $80 to a good dynamic, or put it aside and save up for a better condenser.

it's purely for two reasons;

1) personal curiosity and just for tinkering. i have more than enough mics to fit my needs but it's aways fun to play. hell, you may just find something that is incredible, even if in only one application, but you wrote it off as a cheap chinese mic

2) i work with a lot of 16 to 19 year olds with little or no money who are constantly trying to find something usable for singer/songwriter recording stuff and it's quite nice to be able offer suggestions to them to fit their needs based on what's available at a very very tight budgets. my first suggestion is always to try and save up because between £100 and £200 there are some very usable mic's (things like the sE2200a, sEZ3300, NT1a, Avantone CK6 etc) or look for mic's in that range second hand. or if neither of those options seem feasible things like SM58's, SM57's, MXL 990, AT2020 can get ok results for under £100, but if a package like this can achieve similar results in terms of quality to some of the other mic's in the same price range whilst also having the benefit of being able to record vocals and acoustic guitars at once (or multi mic's acoustic guitars) it may be a great starter pack to suggest. The MXL 990/991 is certainly usable, if a little bright

 

[chrisghost]

Tinker by all means of course...

... but we had an interesting discussion here last week on condensers: If the best possible dynamic mic costs up to $400 and the best possible condenser costs up too $5000. What does that tell you about how a $100 dynamic compares to a $100 condenser?

A couple of people were coming to the conclusion that their dynamics often gave much better results then their condensers. We are of course talking about avarage home recordists who can spend $100 to $200 on a mic, like the 16 to 19 year olds you are talking about.

Packs like these might just be a flashy looking waste of time and energy.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Packs like these might just be a flashy looking waste of time and energy.

And that's what i want to find out. i expect they probably are but would like to get some peoples views before writing stuff like this off. The danger is that if i got a set to tinker i may hate them or find them ok on a very particular source but by no means an "all rounder". but, as i said, i have a lot to compare them with, but i know that are a lot of people out there recording at home with similar products and want their opinions as well. most of the guys i work with do save up, try a range of mics, and find stuff that works for them so that their first mic is an investment which will produce good results from the off for years to come, but at the same time there some of them who really can't afford more than £100 and really want to get recording straight away at home and i'd rather not have to discourage them completely if there are some packages like this that will work as the flashy marketing does seem to have an effects on the guys i work with (hell, it worked on me enough to think "hmm, i'm intrigued"). i can't imagine ever suggesting things like this as a first choice but if someone says "i've seen this package, it's £100, what du think?" i'd rather be able to say "well, IMO they're *insert my opinion after trying* however some people like them/hate them/find them ok, but maybe save up or look at something like this *insert alternative that may or may not cost more*"

on a personal note and for what i do, i agree that i seem to get more consistent results with dynamics as condensers can, at times, be hit and miss

 

[chrisghost]

And that's what i want to find out. i expect they probably are but would like to get some peoples views before writing stuff like this off. The danger is that if i got a set to tinker i may hate them or find them ok on a very particular source but by no means an "all rounder". but, as i said, i have a lot to compare them with, but i know that are a lot of people out there recording at home with similar products and want their opinions as well. most of the guys i work with do save up, try a range of mics, and find stuff that works for them so that their first mic is an investment which will produce good results from the off for years to come, but at the same time there some of them who really can't afford more than £100 and really want to get recording straight away at home and i'd rather not have to discourage them completely if there are some packages like this that will work as the flashy marketing does seem to have an effects on the guys i work with (hell, it worked on me enough to think "hmm, i'm intrigued"). i can't imagine ever suggesting things like this as a first choice but if someone says "i've seen this package, it's £100, what du think?" i'd rather be able to say "well, IMO they're *insert my opinion after trying* however some people like them/hate them/find them ok, but maybe save up or look at something like this *insert alternative that may or may not cost more*"

on a personal note and for what i do, i agree that i seem to get more consistent results with dynamics as condensers can, at times, be hit and miss

Fair enough. I hope a couple of people will pop up here to help you out.

If not, maybe you can give them a try at your local guitar centre, or what have you.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Fair enough. I hope a couple of people will pop up here to help you out.

If not, maybe you can give them a try at your local guitar centre, or what have you.

Alas, that is one of the reasons why i'm here asking. i'm stuck in the UK and the nearest shop with a mic collection of more than a SM57, SM58, and PG58 series is about 30 miles away, and even then it's only sontronics and more shure stuff. they can order stuff in but you either have to pay the full amount up front or at least a deposit of about 50% (which is fine for some mic's, sucks for things like U87's) I bought my first sE2200a 10 years ago in the only real music shop in town after being here only a couple of months for uni and thought "awesome, a shop i can finally try mics"..... and then they stopped stocking anything other than the three shure mic's above