All-round condenser - which of these?

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Which of these mics?

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I wouldn't pick the same mic for guitar and voice, period, so none of the above.

Naiant MSH pair for acoustic guitar... or possibly a Shure SM-81 pair.

LDC or ribbon for vocals. Which mic I'd pick depends on the voice, but CAD M9 is a good general-purpose choice, IMHO.
 
I have both the AT 3035 and the Studio Projects B3, and for less money, the B3 wins hands down for both vocals and acoustic guitar. Chalk one up for China over Japan. The B3 for only $150 is a good little mic.
 
I'm with Decipha- AKG C2000B. It is an extremely versatile mic, and is generally more useful than C3000B, IMHO. I am unimpressed by C3000B, but C2000B is a whole different animal.-Richie
 
I wouldnt choose anything on the list at the type of mic Id have if I could only have one and only had $100.

I have been impressed with the AT3035 for a mic that is normally listed on ebay for under $100...it has a smooth clear not too bright sound that works on alot of things.
 
I've got three of those mics listed :-

Oktava MK-319
Studio Projects B1
MXL v67g

When I first bought these I was running them through an M-Audio Tampa. Whilst doing this I found the Studio Projects B1 to be a little too harsh and brittle sounding. I found I was using the Oktava MK-319 the most out of these.

However, I have recently bought a Focusrite ISA One and noticed my Oktava MK-319 sounds smoother and thicker than it did with the Tampa. I'm now going to re-evaluate my other mics with this new pre over the next few weeks as I did like the B1 and V67g.

It's amazing how good these mics are for the money!
I had a Shure SM7b, AT4040 and Blue Bluebird here to try out (pre ISA One days) and whilst the SM7b definately offered a smoother tone to the B1 and , there would be a few applications where I would pick the B1 first. I much preferred the B1 to the Blue Bluebird.
 
The BlueBird was a dissapointment...blue makes some good stuff...but I didnt like that one for the money.
 
I'm not sure that any of my mics. were not made in China and that includes my AKG Perception 100 which AKG proudly brags was assembled in China with parts which were manufactured in Austria or Germany.
Behringer does the same and don't feel the need to hide it.
I own a collection of ribbon microphones all built in China.
China has made "Manufacturing for export" their number one priority for more than half a century and they are darn good at it.

Take a look at the Golden Age R1, Active ribbon mic. Close to home and fairly transparent.
It's basically a souped up Nady RSM 2. Great microphones.
 
Jim Lad said:
I'm not sure that any of my mics. were not made in China and that includes my AKG Perception 100 which AKG proudly brags was assembled in China with parts which were manufactured in Austria or Germany.
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I have to wonder if the AT20 series and the Shure PG stuff is outsourced the same way.

I hate to see it because stuff like Marshall amps no longer hold thier value since they make so much cheap stuff nowdays...and I make that one of the
reasons Ill pick a piece of gear...I have a Jackson guitar from the Charvel days built by hand that isnt even worth the $1800 it was new because they started making cheap shit.:rolleyes:
 
darrin_h2000 said:
I have to wonder if the AT20 series and the Shure PG stuff is outsourced the same way.
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AFAIK, Shure gear is made in Mexico. And yes, a lot of folks do think that the sound quality dropped when they moved manufacturing out of the U.S.
 
I dont think that all the stuff is made there...just some of it...Id kindof rather see it made in Japan...that is a culture that really knows how to manufacture stuff right.
 
I have several of the LDCs that have been polled or discussed here. They are all worthwhile having, but I wind up using some more than others.

Here is how I rank them for vocals and acoustic guitar (most use to least use):

vocals:
NT-1a
SPB3
MK319
M179
AT3035

guitar:
MK319
NT-1a
AT3035
M179
SPB3

Based on this, I would say NT-1a or MK319 for all round condenser. MK319 goes for $100 used all the time.
 
soundchaser59 said:
If you avoid buying any mic made in China, you'll do just fine.

If you buy a China made mic, you'll always be looking for something better....

If you look for Austrian (AKG), American (Shure), or Japanese (AT) made mics, you'll do fine.

Some Australian (Rode) made mics are ok, some German (Sennheiser) made mics are ok, but your odds are best with Austrian, Japanese and American made, me thinks.
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it seems some of Shure mics,A-T mics, AKG mics are made in China? at least on some of the package of the mics, "made in China" is there.
seems all of the mic capsule in Rode mics are made in China?
 
John_7408 said:



it seems some of Shure mics,A-T mics, AKG mics are made in China? at least on some of the package of the mics, "made in China" is there.
seems all of the mic capsule in Rode mics are made in China?
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Some of this is true, partially at least. The AKG Perception series is made in China. The C-series- C1000S, C2000, C3000, C4000, C214 and C414 are still made in Austria. Of the lot, I find C2000B and C414 most versatile. The AT mics are made in Japan, except the AT20XX series, I'm not so sure about, and they probably outsource the bottom-feeder Digital Reference mics to China. Rode's capsules *used* to be made in China, but they moved their production facilities to Australia several years ago. I don't know of any Shure mics that are made in China, although their cheap dynamics are built in Mexico.

There are a few Chinese mics that aren't too bad, particularly MXL V67G, and I've heard good things about the current crop of Chinese ribbons, marketed as Fat Head, Cascade, etc. All of these, however, are entry-level mics. I have not yet heard a Chinese mic that was actually in the pro category, although the second generation Studio Projects mics seem to have reached the middle prosumer level. There just isn't a Chinese Neumann, Brauner, DPA, Shoeps, Microtech Gefell, etc. real deal studio mic that I know of.-Richie
 
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Richard Monroe said:
There are a few Chinese mics that aren't too bad, particularly MXL V67G, and I've heard good things about the current crop of Chinese ribbons, marketed as Fat Head, Cascade, etc. All of these, however, are entry-level mics. I have not yet heard a Chinese mic that was actually in the pro category, although the second generation Studio Projects mics seem to have reached the middle prosumer level. There just isn't a Chinese Neumann, Brauner, DPA, Shoeps, Microtech Gefell, etc. real deal studio mic that I know of.-Richie
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As always Richard, spot on with this.
The only thing you could do is have your microphone moddified to enulate a much world class type microphone so in the end why not just get the real thing.



:cool:
 
That dose it. I'm all for a Chinese Neumman...As soon as they come out.



:cool:
 
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