Wow, that's easy, and tough at the same time, because:
1- You're talking about enough money to actually do something, and-
2- There's a bunch of different ways to spend that money that would work just fine.
I'll take my best shot at it. There are some things that are obvious that you need, and some things that are not that obvious. For sure, you need a matched pair of good small diaphragm mics, first for overheads, and then for acoustic guitar. Second, you need a dedicated kick drum mic. Third, you are talking about a condenser for vocals. And I frankly believe that you need a nice dynamic, as a snare alternative, for toms, some vocalists, and as a guitar cab mic. I'll start by admitting that I am not in the SM57 is the hottest mic on earth for cabs and snare camp. However, I do believe the 57 is useful enough, and is worth so little used, that you are better off hanging on to it than selling it.
What I don't want to do is spend so much money on those overheads that you don't have enough left to do the rest. So- I'll approach it this way- let's do the rest first, and then see what we can do with the remaining money. I'll do it the hard way, which means new mic prices. Of course, you can do better in used mics, but you can also get screwed.
OK, kick- I like AKG D112- Good on kick, bass cabs, standup bass. Everyone has their preferences, and that's just mine.-$200
Dynamic mic- Sennheiser MD421- In my opinion, the mic SM57 wishes it was. Great on snare, great on cabs, great on voiceovers, very good on certain vocalists-$380 In this role, I would recommend Shure SM7b, but the damn thing is so big, it's hard to use on snare, because it tends to get smacked.
Condenser- this is tough, because you could spend a ton of money and not be anywhere near top of the line. For a mid-priced mic, I like Rode NTK. It's a good vocal mic for many vocalists, and is also good on acoustic guitar. It makes a good room mic for drums. There are many other alternatives- Shure, Audio-Technica, etc., but what the hell, it's my best shot- $525
That leaves us about $400 for a pair of overheads. For $400 or under for a matched pair, I like Studio Projects C-4 - $400 for the matched pair. Other options include Marshall MXL 604's, which are only $200 a pair. For slightly over $400, Rode NT5 is an option- $430
For new, that's what I would do.
That said, this is what I would really do-
I'd buy the MD421 and the D112 used, which would drop the prices to more like $250-300 and $150 respectively. I'd buy the NTK new, and I'd get a matched pair of Oktava MK012A's from The Sound Room for $489. The Oktavas are great overheads, and pretty good on acoustic guitar, but The Sound Room is the only outfit I would trust to sell me a matched pair that aren't defective or Chinese fakes. Best of luck with your final decision-Richie
