detune6,
Look, it's pretty simple. I run a small studio here (well, not so small anymore) and my son is a drummer as well as an engineer. We have 4 different drum sets, about 6 or so different snares, and we often have two drum sets miked up and ready to go.
Each set is different: a Tama set (w/double kick, 4 rack toms and a floor tom), a Premier set (w/kick, 4 rack toms and a floor tom), a Mapex set (w/double kick, 4 rack toms and a floor tom), and a Pearl set (kick, 3 rack toms and 2 floor toms).
That means we hafta have a lot of mics on hand, so I'm always looking around for mics that'll work well, and if they're cheap, even better.
Right now, the "best" (if such a thing exists) mics I've found for high toms are:
Sennheiser D504/E604 (same mic)
Audio Technica Kick/Tom
Radio Shack 30-3032 Kick/Tom
Shure SM-57
For the floor toms, we'll usually use:
Sennheiser MD421
Audio Technica ATM25
Audio Technica AT Pro 25
Audio Technica Kick/Tom
We keep a pretty good supply of each mic around here, and usually one of the above mic types will work just fine on any drum set we own, or any set of drums that someone brings in.
That's the whole point; if you're on a tight budget, the R/S or the AT kick/tom will do a good job (and sometimes a great job) on miking toms. The important thing is that at least they won't ever suck, and they won't drain your bank account.
For the record, this is the rest of our usual mic setup for drums:
Kick:
Either the D112, the ATM25, or the AT Pro 25. We also have an old
AKG D12e, an EV RE-20, and the Sennheiser MD41 available.
Snare:
Either the Shure SM-57 or the Beyer M201. When Alex does mic the underside, he usually uses
a Shure SM-7. I don't like to mic the underside of a snare
HiHat:
When we do mic the high hats, my son Alex likes a Shure SM-7, coming in from underneath, pointed up. I use a Beyer 260DX Sank-modified ribbon mic, coming in from outside the set, pointed at the back of the high hats, about 3" above the hats.
O/H: This one is all over the map. On any given set, we may use a pair of the:
Audix TR-40
Behringer ECM8000
Oktava MC012
MXL 603S
EV C15P
Shure SM-81
Sony C-38 for the ride side, Neumann TLM103 on the crash side.
Anything else we have laying around.
Room mic:
We rarely use a room mic, but when we do, we both like the MXL V77, the V67G, or the Studio Projects C1, or an old Dan Kennedy modified Fairchild F-22.