I am looking for a good mic to do acoustic guitar and vocals through. I am also looking to spend around 200 bucks on it... a little more or a little less.. no biggie. Any suggestions?
Here are a few mics I've owned that may fit the bill:
Marshall MXL 2003 (or V93 - same thing): widely available for $150, sometimes less. It's a large diaphram condenser that's pretty bright, which works well for acoustic guitar and some voices.
Studio Projects B1 - a steal at $79 each. Works passably well for some voices and guitar. It's also a large diaphram condenser. You could buy two, so you could do stereo recording.
Marshall MXL 603. About $75. This is a winner for acoustic guitar. But it's a small diaphram and not that great for lead vocal, IMHO.
If it were me, I'd get a B1 and a 603 (come to think of it - I did!). You can always spend more on a better vocal mic later, plus you can add a second 603 to record guitar in stereo.
I picked up a Oktava ML 52 for the heck of it a while ago - I really like it! It's a little more than you mention ($300 I believe), but I'd be interested to hear what you think, if you ever get the chance to test one out.
I'm just getting down songs - playing and singing - and it's my favorite so far (MXL603s, KSM 27, sm 57 - I use each of them from time to time) - But I figure, what can a cheap ribbon hurt?
Another viable idea would be to get a multi-pattern microphone that has "omni" as one of the polar response choices.
The Studio Projects B3, for example, can do that.
Then you can use one microphone for BOTH vocal/guitar.
That's the way they did it for decades in the music industry,
and made zillions of classic hits that way.
The trick is knowing where to place the microphone in that case,
and finding a good sounding and/or acoustically controlled room.