Any decent budget CAD-mic's?

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Speeddemon

Speeddemon

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Do you know any decent budget ($200-325 max) CAD mics for vocals and guitars?

thanx
cheerz
 
I use the E200 and love it. Very uncolored, works great on everything. You do have to tweak it a little for vocals. It has a very flat freq responce so it does not have the normal mid boost of other vocal mics.
 
The M179 is an EXCELLENT value. 5 polar patterns, quiet, neutral and an all around wonderful little mic. $299 at Bayview Pro Audio.

The CAD95 is a hand held electret condensor that also sounds really good and would serve you well in a PA rig.

The E100 is good on electric guitar amps and in my experience one of my favourite kick drum mics -- it also looks kinda cool ... flat and rectangular, not round. It can take a lot of SPL.

I've never tired an E200 but others have given it the thumbs up, too.

CAD mics are generally underrated and underappreciated in my opinion.

Stay away from their cheap dynamic drums mics, though.
 
I have the M37 LD condensor (same mic as the M137 but in a different housing). It's a great deal. I got mine from a Musician's Friend closeout for $100; I think they're up to like $130 now. OTOH, it's the only LD condensor I've ever owned, so take what I say with the proverbial grain of salt.
 
Speed,

If you have the money, you may want to look into CAD's 350 mic. Nice unit! I have an E-100, very flat, good self-noise, but terrible with my voice. I could see where it would sound pretty good when micing drums.
 
Why are you limiting yourself to CAD mics??? Just curious.
 
well, because

my SAE teacher can get these mics at factory price, not retail price. Thus, they are a lot cheaper to me.
My other choices for a LD (or MD) condenser are:
-AT 4033SE
-Røde NT1000
-Behringer B-2
-Studio Projects C1

above that (4060, C3, NT-2) I cannot afford. Prices are a bit higher here in Holland.
 
Anybody compared the M37 or other new CAD mics (M39, M177, M179) with a Marshall MXL-V67?

I just picked up an M37 but I'm tempted to get a V67 to compare and keep the better mic...
 
Dolemite said:
Anybody compared the M37 or other new CAD mics (M39, M177, M179) with a Marshall MXL-V67?

I just picked up an M37 but I'm tempted to get a V67 to compare and keep the better mic...
Click to expand...



Keep the M37 (trust me). I have an M179 and a V67 and the M179 is in a slightly different league. Quieter. More neutral. The M179 is really targeting the TLM 103, in my opinion. Of course as everyone here knows, the V67 is a really good mic for the price but it's a little "scooped" compared to my CAD. Therefore I find the M179 more flexible (even before considering it's multi-pattern)

The M37 is the Musician's Friend version of the M177, which is the cardioid-only version of the M179.

As I've posted before, I really can't understand why this CAD line of mics (the M-series) doesn't get more attention on the various recording boards.
 
Interesting comparison, Kelly. TLM103, eh? I wish I had some frame of reference with which to compare the M37, but this is my first LD condenser. I honestly haven't put it through its paces yet (just got it and my schedule/reality is interfering ;) ), but I hooked it up for a couple minutes and I was impressed by the low noise. I did know that the M37 and M177 are basically identical, so the M179 should be roughly the same in cardiod mode, right?

One thing that put me off slightly was the frequency response (I thought it was a nice touch to see this mic's actual response, BTW, all manufacturers should do this) which has a gradual rise from about 1.5K -> 7K, a dip at 9K, and then a peak around 12.5K rolling off to 20K. Maybe I'll scan the sheet and post it if anybody wants to see it. I hope these high end variances aren't representative of the crisp/harsh chinese condensers. Meanwhile, the V67's frequency plot provided on the MXL website is almost ruler-flat. Just from that, it seems to me that the M37 would sound more scooped...but I guess I should use my ears for once! The problem, once again, is that I don't have anything to compare, so I hope I can recognize quality when I hear it. ;)
 
I've heard somebody else say that the CAD M-37 and related mics aim for the league of the TLM103. I agree that the included response chart is a nice touch.
 
Dolemite said:
Interesting comparison, Kelly. TLM103, eh? I wish I had some frame of reference with which to compare the M37, but this is my first LD condenser.
Click to expand...


I didn't mean to imply the CAD "M" mics sound "as good as" a TLM 103 by saying the M179 seems to be aimed at TLM103 territory. Rather, compared to most other manufacturers of low-cost condensers (except Rode and their NT1000) CAD has made a deliberate effort to make a relatively quiet mic with a big, warm, yet natural sound. The M179 isn't quite as quiet as the TLM103 (If the "official" published specs can be believed) but it's much quieter than anything in the MXL line, for example.

As for the V67 sounding scooped, that was probably a poor choice of words -- to my ear, it sounds brighter than the M179 in cardioid mode and therefore doesn't sound as neutral. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my V67 and reach for it regularly. I'm just thrilled to have two great but different sounding LD condensers available for relative chicken feed. I don't want all of my mics to sound the same -- it would be like a painter having nothing but blobs of white paint on his pallette.
 
Whoopysnorp said:
I've heard somebody else say that the CAD M-37 and related mics aim for the league of the TLM103. I agree that the included response chart is a nice touch.
Click to expand...

It sure sounded nice to me on your tracks...


Kelly Dueck said:
I didn't mean to imply the CAD "M" mics sound "as good as" a TLM 103 by saying the M179 seems to be aimed at TLM103 territory. Rather, compared to most other manufacturers of low-cost condensers (except Rode and their NT1000) CAD has made a deliberate effort to make a relatively quiet mic with a big, warm, yet natural sound. The M179 isn't quite as quiet as the TLM103 (If the "official" published specs can be believed) but it's much quieter than anything in the MXL line, for example.
Click to expand...

No, I didn't think you implied a direct comparison with the Neumann.

As for the V67 sounding scooped, that was probably a poor choice of words -- to my ear, it sounds brighter than the M179 in cardioid mode and therefore doesn't sound as neutral. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my V67 and reach for it regularly. I'm just thrilled to have two great but different sounding LD condensers available for relative chicken feed. I don't want all of my mics to sound the same -- it would be like a painter having nothing but blobs of white paint on his pallette.
Click to expand...

Interesting...V67 is brighter, hmmm. Would you recall offhand (don't want to make you dig it out ;) ) if your M179 had any high frequency peaks/rises on its response chart? I'd be especially interested if they happened to test the cardioid mode. That's the only thing that surprised me with this mic - the high frequency variances are much greater than those shown in the M37 brochure. Again, I don't want to rely solely on specs but at least these specs represent this specific mic.
 
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