Cheap Mics

Who Cheap Mics Do You Trust?

  • Nady

    Votes: 20 10.1%

  • Apex

    Votes: 17 8.6%

  • Superlux

    Votes: 10 5.1%

  • Cad

    Votes: 59 29.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 92 46.5%
  • Total voters
    198
hi
i dont know shit about mics- but i saw apex on the poll so i thought id say this- i bought an apex 615 some 6 months ago, solid mic, and in fact the only condensor mic i could locate in my city(seems odd but ah well)
the reason i post is this
mine was brand new, in a sealed box, yet
it would cease functioning periodically in 2 of the pattern settings(there are 3)
i opened it up and there was some shoddy wiring lol- i had to clean up the soldering and put some shrink tube on 2 connections- works fine now, but seems crazy lol
soundwise i dunno- seems fine but i never even read what it said on any mic in front of me until 6 or so months ago- so im useless there.
 
i think the best cheap mics, (for me anyway) are oktava. i have a MK319 and a MK219, i like them both alot, especially for the money (less than $100 each)
 
The only mics I've owned are inexpensive ones and I've managed to get good results.
 
for cheap mics (which is pretty much all I own) I'd go for the oktava's also.

got a 219, and 2 012's and they are really nice....again, this is in a good room (damn I need to build a good room in my new place).
 
I'm going to say "select models of several of the above". For example, take Nady.

The Nady handheld dynamics I've tried: very thin sound with no real met. Verdict: turds.
DM-90: kick mic. Very dull sound. Took massive EQ to make the sound usable. Verdict: turd.
CM-90: SDC: brittle, not very directional. I thought they were okay for overheads until I stuck a pair of MK-012s up there and suddenly my drum recordings sounded good. Verdict: turd.
RSM-2: ribbon: nice mic, and even better if you replace the transformer. Verdict: keeper.

All of the manufacturers in that list have some mics that are good and some that are crap. In theory, for almost any mic, there exists some source that it won't suck on, but I'm not convinced that theory holds up in practice for many of these mics. However, all of those manufacturers also have at least one or two mics that are good on a variety of sources.

Thus, for all of those manufacturers, it's all about carefully choosing which mics to buy and which ones to avoid. As you can tell, my choices haven't been exactly careful, but at least I can rant about the sucky ones so other folks won't make the same mistakes. :D
 
hoursend said:
In refrence to cheap mics (which is pretty much all I can afford :p ), I'm a fan of MXL, Sure and Sennheiser mics.
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I'm not a big fan of either MXL or SP mics and I will gladly take a Shure or Sennheiser over them.
 
"Who's cheap mikes do you trust?"

IME generally you can't go just by brand.

I record mostly ac gtr, some elec, some vocals. Judging from the mikes I've used... manufacturers who seem to be able to make cheap mikes, all of which are able to do what they say they do and do it well (they don't over-hype and over-promise in their promo)...

MSH
KEL

I'm sure there are others, but I think the complete-product-line quality consistency is rare except for some makes of high end mikes. I certainly haven't tried all the cheap mikes around. MXL has some good and some bad. Same with Shure low end models that I've used.
 
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Studio Projects B1
SP C1
SP TB1 = love it. Even on cheap monitors my vocals sound like me. Nice sound with very little color. IMO

Alan is great to work with. The company has been very responsive to questions.
 
I dont trust anyone of those brands listed...I do like the SP mics and MXL...the SP1 I have is one of the first and it is better built than my AKG C414 ...and I also like my MXL 603s...but these are not "Cheap" mics...they were inexpensive.

Now Shure mics for the most part were less expensive than most and I use them on every project.
 
I'm also a fan of Oktava (some of the time) Their quality control sucked, and their parts came from a variety of sources, up to and including obsolete Soviet military equipment. But the ones that work work very well. I've got a pair of MC012's and an MK319 that are keepers for sure. You left out Samson and Behringer. The Samson CO2 demands some honorable mention in the $50 SD mic class.-Richie
 
these days there seem to be some real values in the entry level price range - the avantone CK1's are outstanding for the money. the M-Audio Pulsars are also a very good deal. SP C4s still seem to have some supporters. used akg c391b's and AT4041s can be had for very cheap.

several ribbon mics do very well in the near $100 range - the apex 205 and 210, similar models by nady and others, with easy mods to upgrade them, or boutique dealers, like shinybox who hand tweak each mic for you and still manage to sell for dirt cheap. most amateurs do not often have preamps sufficient to drive ribbons properly, bit tritonaudio makes a gizzie called the fethead that plugs inline to allow you to use low output ribbons and dynamics with cheap preamps and phantom power with excellent results.
 
one more SDC to take a look at - super cheap @ $100 pair - is the karma K10. made in china, of course, but made to specs developed by the guys at karma here in US. they are the same guys who came up with the first of the miniature omnis built into XLR cases, which (i think) naiant later copied. naiant now offers some pretty cool little omnis for mucho inexpense.
 
jnorman said:
one more SDC to take a look at - super cheap @ $100 pair - is the karma K10. made in china, of course, but made to specs developed by the guys at karma here in US. they are the same guys who came up with the first of the miniature omnis built into XLR cases, which (i think) naiant later copied. naiant now offers some pretty cool little omnis for mucho inexpense.
Click to expand...

No, the MSH-1 was on the market two months before the first K-Micro was shipped. Development of the two microphones was totally independent.
 
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