Well, I now have what works for me, and I have no plans to buy anything else. I really mean it...
For my project studio, for field recording, I feel I spent the money, got the final units I wanted, and now the rest has to come from me.
4 other mics were sold over a year to help raise funds, two more were retired, and one given away to a young musician.
Maybe it's an age thing, but much as with photography, I got tired of all the gear madness, of reading and obsessing endlessly about gear, gear, gear...so I splurged on some "standard tools", tested them and found them to work beautifully within my new project studio basement (with proper acoustic treatment). That's how the U87, the 121s and the Schoeps mics joined the fun.
The Schoepses are, bar none, the most flat-off-axis mics I have ever heard, the volume drops when you go "off-pattern", but you don't get the coloration of frequency changes, just beautifully rendered space, good or bad. They replaced a pair of Neumann 184s which I found to be quite shrill in general, at least for my purposes.
The Royers are like magic on acoustic guitar, just lift the top end a bit in post as their design only reaches so far "up the range."
I had read up on the 'other' ribbons being offered, thinking of price and "whether I really need..." until finally I got tired of pondering and just went for the 121s. No regrets.
The 87 is...the 87 and it just does what it does, very well, on narration and voice in general. A mint one-year-used one with all accessories helped soften the cost a bit.
If you want a mellower vibe, I highly recommend the tube Vanguard V13; it is a beautiful-sounding vocal mic at a great price.
The line-up:
(1) Neumann U87AI
(1) Vanguard V13 tube LDC
(2) Factory-matched Royer 121s
(2) Schoeps CMC-6 Mic bodies with one pair MK41 super-cardioid and one pair Mk22 wide-cardioid capsules.
(2) AKG 414XLRs
(1) Shure 57
(1) Shure 58
(2) Audio-Technica 875 short shotguns.
(1) Shure 55 mic, with "Dukane" name badge on it.
These feed my Tascam 24SD through outboard pres, and my Sound Devices MixPre 6 MKII. For scratch work, a Scarlett 2I2 is parked permanently on my desk by my PC.
C.