The stereo bar that comes with the c-2's is worth about as much as the mics themselves. lol. I bought a pair to use for extra tom mics. I did a bunch of tests comparing them to a 57 on different sized toms. The drummer I'm recording has a rediculous sized 13 piece kit! I got these with the 6" and 8" concert toms in mind. They work well for that application, and didn't hurt my wallet. Micing inside the single headed toms (pad engaged on the c-2's) they picked up more of the lower overtones from these tiny toms than a 57 (likely more proximity effect) I would say they have a much slower response than the 57. The 57 and the c2's were very different on the small toms. I tried them on a 10" and 12" rack tom (micing about 1" above and 1" inside the top head pointing to the middle) The tone between the c-2 and a 57 was very similar, listening blind it was sometimes hard to tell which was which. The 57 captured the attack a little better and seemed more open, it was very close though. The 57 was much better at rejecting the other parts of the kit. The bleed on the c-2's from the cymbals wasen't pretty. Stuck inside of a single headed tom shell, this isn't as much of a problem. The c-2's are pretty noisey, not a big deal in close micing applications. I also tried one on hi-hat - absolulty horrible! Haven't tried them on other instruments. I also have a pair of 603's and Oktava MC-012's. If I get around to it, I'll do a shootout, but dunno if I'll have time.
