MXL 603 Revisited

D

dmc777

New member
Alright after reading good reviews about these mics for over a year now I finally got a pair. I'm just not impressed. These still sound thin, lack any warmth, and have a brittle high end. Am I missing something here? What are you guys mainly using them for? I've just tried them on my acoustic gtrs, a Martin D15 and Seagull S6. Do you guys use them as overheads? My ADK Hamburg sound much better. I guess I've gotten to the point where I really don't won't to spend any more money on these cheaper budget mics. Oh yeah, I guess my pres suck to though, Maudio FW410 pres. I'm interested in hearing how you guys use these mics and your thoughts on them. Thanks for the help.
 
I have a pair and don't use them much. I prefer flatter response mikes. They did sound good on a fingerstyle player I recorded who used his bare right hand fingers - no nails or picks. His tone came across a bit dull with flat response mikes and the 603 picked up a little more sparkle that was just barely there in reality. But I think they sound too zingy on most players.
 
I have the 604s, that come with the omni capsules. I'm still fairly inexperienced in mic techniques, but they have done drum overheads okay-- but only when they got some space between them. XY with them over the drums was pretty weak.

I've only been using the cardios on them since my 703 is not all hung yet, and I want to minimize the room sound.

They're ok for relative newbies like me, I guess.
 
Is Harvey still around here? I pretty much bought these because of his knowledge and good reputation. When do you use these Harvey and do also hear the same thing I do? They pretty much just sound like every other MXL mic I have. Brittle top end with hardly any body.
 
Placement, placement, placement !!

Mic placement is often more important than mic selection.

Try using the 603's aimed slightly off axis, or put in a 7KHz notch of -4 to -6 dB.
 
My experience is that they are bright, but have never found them to sound "thin" or lack "body." I've used them on acoustic and overheads with good results. They can be downright boomy on acoustic if not placed well, and they get plenty of meat from the toms when used as OH. They certainly aren't the greatest mics, but they are decent budget condensers, imo. You might want to consider getting the omni caps for them, which would tame the high end bump. There are also some mods out there that supposedly improve the sound if you're into that.
 
We use them on a lot of things here but, of course, they're not the only mics we use. Over the last few years, we've used them on acoustic guitars, as drum overheads, on snares, tambourines, and various percussion, and banjos, mandolins, dobros, and fiddles.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Placement, placement, placement !!

Mic placement is often more important than mic selection.

Try using the 603's aimed slightly off axis, or put in a 7KHz notch of -4 to -6 dB.
Click to expand...

I don't have Harvey's vast experience, but I have learned that the importance of mic placement is ENORMOUS and the single best eq you have at your disposal--especially with an instrument like an acou guit that produces such varied, complex tones depending where you put your ear.

I use the MXL 603s and the Oktava MC012 with a DMP3 on solo acou guit.
 
scrubs said:
My experience is that they are bright, but have never found them to sound "thin" or lack "body." I've used them on acoustic and overheads with good results. They can be downright boomy on acoustic if not placed well...
Click to expand...


My experience exactly on acou guit.
 
They're a brighter-sounding mic, for sure.

And as such, they're great on sources that need a brighter mic.

I wouldn't look too much further in to it than that.

.
 
tdukex said:
My experience exactly on acou guit.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have a set of these MXLs and a set of studio project c4s.
Obviously the studio projects are more expensive, but compared to the MXLs they really sound like more expensive mics. Even miking the same guitar in the same way, I get vastly better results with the studio projects. Could just be the tone of the guitar is better suited to the SPs, but I really haven't found anything I like about the MXL 603s.

I only keep them because they aren't worth selling :D
 
i love my 603's on my martin D-15. yeah they're brighter sounding, but they're the perfect complement to the mellowness of the mahogany guitar. i've made great recordings of it using both Mackie SR24*4 pres and the pres in my Apogee Minime.

on a friend's HD28-V they were downright boomy. no doubt about it. NOT the right mics for that job.

i don't like em on overheads, but i like darker mics for that job. i DO like them on snare drum--in fact, i've got one right now underneath my snare. i've also got one under my ride cymbal for some "flavor".

i like them on mandolin and tambourine, and have even made a couple very good (considering the venue) live recordings using them as a stereo pair in the crowd.

your preamps should be fine. the m-audio ones are nothing to write home about, but they're not crap either.

placement and the room itself are crucial--the only mic i've got that's more finicky about placement is my BLUE Dragonfly (and that's one picky beeyatch, lemme tell ya). so i'll ask the difficult question--what's your room like?


cheers,
wade
 
I've used a pair of 991s (identical to 603) and never found them to be too bad. True, you have to be careful with your placement, but I was always able to get a usable sound.

However, I don't really use them anymore.....they are too sterile and hyped for me.

Now I only like things with tubes in them! :D
 
What's weird to me is that many of the complaints I'm hearing about the MXL 603's are the same complaints I have about the Neumann KM184's.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
What's weird to me is that many of the complaints I'm hearing about the MXL 603's are the same complaints I have about the Neumann KM184's.
Click to expand...
LOL, i can see that. ;)

harvey, would you say that the 603's and the km184's have similar traits/characteristics?


cheers,
wade
 
It's been discussed here before, but replacing the 1000pf capacitor by the capsule with a polystyrene cap tames the harshness quite a bit. I now love all 4 of mine.
 
Scrubs said:
My experience is that they are bright, but have never found them to sound "thin" or lack "body." I've used them on acoustic and overheads with good results. They can be downright boomy on acoustic if not placed well...
tdukex said:
My experience exactly on acou guit.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Mine too, I like them.

And I guess any mic can sound boomy on acoustic guitar if it's positioned poorly!? ('cept for maybe omnis).
 
scrubs said:
My experience is that they are bright, but have never found them to sound "thin" or lack "body." I've used them on acoustic and overheads with good results. They can be downright boomy on acoustic if not placed well...
Click to expand...

tdukex said:
My experience exactly on acou guit.
Click to expand...

same results here.
 
mrface2112 said:
LOL, i can see that. ;)

harvey, would you say that the 603's and the km184's have similar traits/characteristics?

cheers,
wade
Click to expand...
Not exactly; the MXL 603 has a single narrow 5dB peak at 7KHz, whereas the Neumann184 has a broad rise from around 3 KHz and up. (I don't believe their response chart, by the way.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top