MXL 990 - What do you think?

Harvey Gerst said:
Yup, I turn 67 in two days and my hearing ain't what it use to be. On the other hand, at the last AES show I attended, I could hear distortion in a mastering studio that everybody else there missed. The rest of the people there were high dollar engineers, ranging in age from their early 30s to mid 40s.

Listening to various monitoring systems at the show, I could easily pick out crossover phase problems and high end weirdness (that were later confirmed privately by the manufacturers).

As far as the C1/V67 issue, I said they were both good mics, with the C1 having a slight scoop in the mids (which is true). I basically said that either mic would be a fine vocal mic choice for a lot of voices (which I still believe to be true). To me, they're similar enough so that it wouldn't make sense to have both in my mic locker. I never said or implied they were identical.

I probably didn't spend enough time on the MC012/603S comparison, and yes, I did miss the high frequency bump in the 603, but on the sources I tried, it wasn't all that different from the MC012, so yes, that's my fault.


Perhaps the main differences between us is that in addition to hearing most of these older classic mics when they were new, I spent a good part of my life designing speakers and microphones for a living; you haven't. I understand their construction, and the tradeoffs. I've spent hours on the phone talking to people like Stephen Paul and Dick Rosmini about esoteric mic design and mic theory in general.

I guess the biggest differences between us is that I understand the why something sucks, so I don't just blast it from an uninformed opinion. The other problem I have with your opinions is that they are often influenced by your personal biases against some of the people in the company, or by the country of origin. You often make unsubstantiated statements as if they were fact. I've pointed that out to you a large number of times, far more than I've ever had to correct Alan Hyatt for example, when he made errors.

If you wanna take over the task of finding and reporting about mics here, that's fine with me. Just make sure of your facts and present the information without personal biases. If you don't know something for sure, don't speculate and try to present it as fact.

For example, I "suspected" a big part of the problems I had with the AKG C3000 was due to their trying to combine the large diaphragm with the small 1/4" electret omni. Did you know there were actually two capsules in the AKG C3000, and one of them was a small electret omni? I knew it because I took the damn thing apart and looked at the schematic as well.

In private discussions with Ty Ford (a well-respected microphone reviewer), he said that in talks with AKG, they privately confirmed my suspicions. Even though I didn't find the AKG C3000 valuable enough to keep in my locker, it worked perfectly on several projects I did during the 2 years I owned it.

I hope you can learn to maintain that kind of objectivity when you review products here. And I hope your reviews will have more to offer than "it sucks".
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Harvey, IMO your input on this bbs is like gold... I've learned tons of stuff from you... like I said your a walking book full of good info and for this I thank you. But I don't need to be a design engineer to know when a mic sucks... and IMO, the 990 sucks and that is a fact... I tried the 990 on many sources and IMO the Marshall Electronics MXL 990 is a cheap Chinese made budget mic that sucks eggs... so with all do respect, except my opinion about the 990 or not... at this point I don't give a rats ass either way... and those who also think the 990 sucks (and believe me, there are many) may want to think twice about the mics you like and don't like... and the same goes for me... those who love the 990 may want to think twice about the mics I like and don't like.

Have a good day sir.
 
Harvey, I wish you a happy birthday in advance too. May you have many years to come, in good health.

You are a real gentleman sir.
 
Han said:
Harvey, I wish you a happy birthday in advance too. May you have many years to come, in good health.

You are a real gentleman sir.
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Isn't it inspiring to see the grace and patience that emerge from a quality blend of age and experience.
 
DJL said:
I don't need to be a design engineer to know when a mic sucks... and IMO, the 990 sucks and that is a fact... I tried the 990 on many sources and IMO the Marshall Electronics MXL 990 is a cheap Chinese made budget mic that sucks eggs... so with all do respect, accept my opinion about the 990 or not... at this point I don't give a rats ass either way... and those who also think the 990 sucks (and believe me, there are many) may want to think twice about the mics you like and don't like... and the same goes for me... those who love the 990 may want to think twice about the mics I like and don't like.
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Putting aside the "cheap Chinese made budget mic" for a minute, this shouldn't be about "my opinions" versus "your opinions". At least, not if we're both trying to help people make intelligent decisions about mic choices. So let's see if we can't get a little more specific than "it sucks" and "it doesn't suck".

In our studio, the MXL 990 miking a Marshall Super Lead 100, or a Marshall DSL 100, into a Marshall 1960 with four Celestion Greenbacks, is a great combination, far better than a Shure SM57 (roughly the same price), or a Beyer 201 or Sennheiser 421 (a lot more money). It's also great for Mesa Boogie heads and cabinets. We run the output of the mic direct into our MCI 556D console, and use very little eq.

The MXL 990, into a Millinia Media SST-1 Origin, then into the board, worked very well for an Oklahoma band's lead singer - so much so, that he bought one of our four MXL 990. We did some mono tracks, with just him and an acoustic guitar, and we got a really nice "Bob Dylan-ish" sound, with just a single MXL 990, about forehead high, maybe 18" out, and aimed down, towards his guitar.

It also was one of the top 3 choices for a female singer, when it was plugged in directly to our Soundtracs 32x8 board, with no eq or processing. The other mics we tried on her included the Neumann TLM103, the AEA R84, and the Earthworks SR-71 - all very high dollar mics. For her voice, into that board, it was a serious choice.

So the question remains; does it "suck"? For those male and female voices, and on Marshall and Mesa Boogie amps (plugged into our MCI 556D board), my answer would be "No, at $60, it's a good mic to have around (and it may be the "best" mic for certain things").

Will it work well for everybody? No, not if the rest of the chain is only fair, or you try using it on an inappropriate source. It's not the "best" mic for every recording task, but in my opinion, it does some tasks very well, and often better than some high priced alternative mics. I suspect that with a little experimenting, it may also be a great harmonica mic.

So, for anybody thinking about buying an MXL 990 microphone, consider what I've said, consider DJL's "It sucks eggs" statement, and decide whether it's a worthwhile investment for your application.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Putting aside the "cheap Chinese made budget mic" for a minute, this shouldn't be about "my opinions" versus "your opinions". At least, not if we're both trying to help people make intelligent decisions about mic choices. So let's see if we can't get a little more specific than "it sucks" and "it doesn't suck".

In our studio, the MXL 990 miking a Marshall Super Lead 100, or a Marshall DSL 100, into a Marshall 1960 with four Celestion Greenbacks, is a great combination, far better than a Shure SM57 (roughly the same price), or a Beyer 201 or Sennheiser 421 (a lot more money). It's also great for Mesa Boogie heads and cabinets. We run the output of the mic direct into our MCI 556D console, and use very little eq.

The MXL 990, into a Millinia Media SST-1 Origin, then into the board, worked very well for an Oklahoma band's lead singer - so much so, that he bought one of our four MXL 990. We did some mono tracks, with just him and an acoustic guitar, and we got a really nice "Bob Dylan-ish" sound, with just a single MXL 990, about forehead high, maybe 18" out, and aimed down, towards his guitar.

It also was one of the top 3 choices for a female singer, when it was plugged in directly to our Soundtracs 32x8 board, with no eq or processing. The other mics we tried on her included the Neumann TLM103, the AEA R84, and the Earthworks SR-71 - all very high dollar mics. For her voice, into that board, it was a serious choice.

So the question remains; does it "suck"? For those male and female voices, and on Marshall and Mesa Boogie amps (plugged into our MCI 556D board), my answer would be "No, at $60, it's a good mic to have around (and it may be the "best" mic for certain things").

Will it work well for everybody? No, not if the rest of the chain is only fair, or you try using it on an inappropriate source. It's not the "best" mic for every recording task, but in my opinion, it does some tasks very well, and often better than some high priced alternative mics. I suspect that with a little experimenting, it may also be a great harmonica mic.

So, for anybody thinking about buying an MXL 990 microphone, consider what I've said, consider DJL's "It sucks eggs" statement, and decide whether it's a worthwhile investment for your application.
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We used the Marshall Electronics MXL990 with the MP-2NV and Ghost... we tried the MXL990 on a Martin D35 acoustic guitar, and Gibson F9 mandolin and the MXL990 sucked... even the Marshall Electronics MXL603S sounded better than MXL990 on both the D35 and F9. We also tried the MXL990 on vocals (both male and female) and the MXL sucked eggs on all the vocalist. We also tried the MXL990 as drum overheads and they were kind of ok I guess but the AGK C451’s and Josephson C42’s sounded so much better... and the MC-012’s sounded better than the MXL990’s. The MLX990 may be a runner up with the SP B1 on the Fender Twin... but, IMO the MD421 smoked the MXL990 on the Marshall and Mesa Boogie Mark One amps.

I don’t recommend the Marshall Electronic MXL990... even if you already own a good preamp the MXL990 is still a cheap $70.00 Chinese made budget mic that sucks eggs and I don’t recommend it.

EDIT: Here’s a suggestion… if your thinking about get getting a Marshall MXL990 and don’t already own a Marshall MXL603S… get a MXL603S instead, or at least first.

PS... happy B-day Harvey. :)
 
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All this negative critique from DJL about the MXL990 makes me very curious, I think about buying one! :D
 
Han said:
All this negative critique from DJL about the MXL990 makes me very curious, I think about buying one! :D
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Hi Han, sorry if I sound negative but the thread is "MXL 990 - What do you think?" so I gave my opinion... which is negative... lol. Do you own any MXL603S's?
 
DJL said:
Hi Han, sorry if I sound negative but the thread is "MXL 990 - What do you think?" so I gave my opinion... which is negative... lol. Do you own any MXL603S's?
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No I haven't yet, but I've ordered for a pair of them!
 
I think this discussion could take on Lord of the Rings in length!

Can we stop now? There are other brands of mic out there apart from MXL.........................
 
I have had the MXL990 for about a year. I have not been completely happy with it. It sounds great when I record a softer vocal but when I record a vocal that is powerfull, it is hard to get a good result because I tend to overpower it if I am too close to it but then it gets kinda muddy when I back away from it. In my opinion, it doesn't have a great sound.
 
Really sorry for bumping a 7 year old thread, but I thoroughly enjoyed it - Harvey especially. Hope he still posts here. I was given one of these mics today completely unexpectedly. I'm sure DJL would probably have an opinion or ten on why that is, but aw, they're banned. What a surprise! I'm looking forward to trying it and was Googling reviews about it, which is how I found this particular thread so.

Craigtube on YouTube posted some vids regarding the MXL 990 that impressed me. First he just rigged it up and spoke through it a bit, and well - to me it sounded pretty darn nice. Not the greatest mic I've ever heard, but with a little tweaking? Durn right I'd use it. And will. He demonstrated an important point, and I have a feeling a lot of home recording noobs probably don't realize themselves which lead to comments like it "sounding like a couple of tin cans strung together" and other things - which is that he observed some people reviewing the mic speaking into the top of the thing rather than the front - and who knows, maybe some inadvertently speak into the back. So you get comments like it being really sharp, or alternatively, muddy.

Next I clicked a link of him singing Michael W Smith's "Place In This World": Cover - Place In This World - Micheal W Smith - YouTube and well, tastes vary but don't try to tell me this sounds like crap.

Waiting to get a proper XLR cable so I can test mine out... will my opinion change? Who knows... But I am experienced enough not to freak out if the worst happens and it doesn't suit my voice and call it a sucky Chinese mic - and I happened to have another, dynamic mic on its way in the mail when I got this one so at least I'll have (even more) choices than I already do now.
 
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Its great when 7 year old threads get bumped instead of new threads made to address the same questions!

The 990 is one of the most-sold mics ever. At the risk of being redundant, it is a small diaphragm mic (same capsule as the MXL 603 and about a dozen other mics) in a side-address cylindrical headbasket driving a flat response, "Schoeps-style" transformerless circuit. It is bright (excessive 8kHz relative to 4 kHz and 16 kHz) and edgy.

I've got a very popular mod for this mic - one of my two best sellers btw, along with the Rode NT1a mod. Why? Because its the least expensive way to get into a K47 capsule mic. Anywhere. best, M
 
It's interesting to hear what's being done with them, but right now I have no issue with the vanilla version of this mic. Actually, I did at first and that was because of the unbearable hum. I thought it might have been my XLR cables, ground loop hum but it was none of that. With a simple trick I managed to eliminate it completely and now mine sounds excellent.

This is my first 48v powered mic, and I feel like an idiot somehow for having never tried this before. This is the first time I have had a mic that I don't have to run some sort of noise reduction on afterward, and not only that it sounds great on my voice. For something I got free, I'm pretty much blown away.
 
Interesting that so many are modding it. Is noone else satisfied with its default sound? Is it because of the whole perceived "trick" with the capsule? I'm just going by my ears. I admit I don't have such a large frame of reference, but to me as long as you have a clean signal and an even/full frequency response, which this definitely has... it can be made to sound a whole lot of different ways just on its own...
 
Mistral said:
Interesting that so many are modding it. Is noone else satisfied with its default sound? Is it because of the whole perceived "trick" with the capsule? I'm just going by my ears. I admit I don't have such a large frame of reference, but to me as long as you have a clean signal and an even/full frequency response, which this definitely has... it can be made to sound a whole lot of different ways just on its own...
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Well, its a mod platform for the same reasons the MXL 603 and the dozen other 22mm SDC pencil mics that use the same capsule and circuit are - it has a rising HF response (current trends don't favor this and lean toward flat response mics), substantial diaphragm setback coloration, an implementation of the Schoeps transformerless circuit that rolls off the bass because of undersized electrolytic capacitors and it has a harsh top end due to the cheap ceramic cap used in the critical capsule-to-FET location.

Lots of people are using it stock - its one of the most-sold and lowest cost mics ever. And if someone is coming from using a dynamic stage mic for most chores, yeah, a stock 990 will offer more detail.

But for only a $60 stock price? Why not mod it?
 
Because it implies paying more than 60 bucks when you don't have to :)

Not saying you shouldn't - I am a bit of an experimenter myself, I guess in our own individual ways we are making the most of the least.
 
Well as I said, there are plenty of 990 mics in use in there stock form. And if one doesn't mind the drawbacks I describe then it will be just fine.

If you're an experimenter...then convert the headbasket to a single layer of mesh, modify the capsule to eliminate the front grille and diaphragm setback, replace the ceramic input coupling cap and replace the interstage coupling caps with polypros and raise the value to 1 uF. You'll have a fine small diaphragm mic. Or consider installing a K47 type capsule to get a flatter response and higher S/N ratio. DIY and just pay for parts and consider the value of your time.
 
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