Im thinking about buying the MXL 990, is it any good?

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camclegg123

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is the MXL 990 any good for vocals (rap, hip hop, pop)?
 
Not sure how great your expectations are ("is it any good)"...but it's not a mic to get very excited about IMO.
It passes signal, that much can be said. :D ;)

I had one awhile back that I got just to fill out my Musician Friend minimum for free shipping (the mic was like $50)...and I tried it out and found it to be grainy/gritty sounding and not much use on anything. Your source and signal chain will also be factors. Who knows...you might like it, I just didn't really bother to try and "make it work", but I'm probably not the best person to give an opinion on it, because I have, and had at the time, much better mics, so the 990 wasn't going to win out over any of them, but I know a lot of folks around here use them...though I still say it sounds grainy/gritty.
 
I've got one.
In general, it sounds better than my SM58 and S12s for vocals and other such applications, but it started pooping out on me after just a few months. (The volume level would fluctuate wildly throughout a track.)
I've still got it, but it's just been in its box for a while.
 
if you're gonna get a cheap LDC from MXL .... one that gets almost universal positive comments is the V67g.
I have two of them and they're my favorite mic outta all the mics I have.
Fairly smooth ........a pretty pleasant sounding mic.
 
I use to also have a V77 tube besides the 990...that was a nice MXL mic, especially with a decent tube in it, but ended up selling it as it wasn't seeing a lot of use next to my other mics. It's now somewhere down under in Australia of all places!!! :D
Sold it to a girl on eBay who had me ship it to a friend of hers in Canada and then he shipped it to her in Australia, as I didn't want to screw around with shipping all the way there.

She wrote me that she really liked the mic...I even gave her a few extra tubes for it...she was very happy.
 
Medical ! That's what I meant. It comes over medical !
 
Come to think of it, MXL 990 sounds like an energy drink or a heavy duty laxative.
My apologies. It's been that kind of day.
 
miroslav said:
I use to also have a V77 tube besides the 990...that was a nice MXL mic, especially with a decent tube in it, but ended up selling it as it wasn't seeing a lot of use next to my other mics. It's now somewhere down under in Australia of all places!!! :D
Sold it to a girl on eBay who had me ship it to a friend of hers in Canada and then he shipped it to her in Australia, as I didn't want to screw around with shipping all the way there.

She wrote me that she really liked the mic...I even gave her a few extra tubes for it...she was very happy.
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Long distant love affair :D referring to the microphone of course miro.
 
I was just doing a small shot out last night on some MXL's the V67, 2001 and the 2003. I have to say that I was happiest with the 2003.
 
HELP MEEEE PLEASEEEEE!!! lol anybody?:(

i am goin to buy a 2channel Behringer Xenyx 1002 mixer and a microphone to start recording at home, but im not sure if the mixer will plug into my laptop? will it connect? lol:)
 
I bought an MXL 990 years ago cuz it was really cheap. I found it to be pretty useless but it did come with a "free" MXL 991, same thing as MXL 603s, and that mic is actually really usable for vocals. It doesn't take high sound pressure levels very well, so you can't really use it for much else than vocals or acoustic guitar, but it will get you some pretty decent material. Ironically I think the 990 and 991 actually use the same diaphragm, but for whatever reason the 991 sounds waaaayyyy better.
 
I have one and I think it's ok for what it does. I think MXL has nicer things for close to the same price that would be better.
 
The 990 is actually the same mic as the MXL 603, but housed in a different body. But the capsule and circuit are the same. So it's not a true large diaphragm condenser. That being said, the 603 generally gets good reviews for what it is, and there's a simple capacitor mod that can be done to both mics (990 or 603) that makes them better.

If you can afford a little more money, the MXL 2003A generally gets really good reviews. It's one of the few made-in-China LDC's that doesn't have a really exaggerated top end, which keeps in from being overly sibilant like a lot of mics in this price range.
 
The MXL isn't great. Think you'd be better of buying a beta57 for the money. Used those on vocals before and sound pretty good. Also check out the SE range (maybe the SE X1) for price comparison). Always pretty good mics for the prices.
 
has anyone had their 990 or 603s modded by Michael Joly at oktavamods.com? i have both but i didnt like the way they recorded the acoustic guitar. it sounded harsh. Wondering if the mods fix that problem.
 
jonesey said:
has anyone had their 990 or 603s modded by Michael Joly at oktavamods.com? i have both but i didnt like the way they recorded the acoustic guitar. it sounded harsh. Wondering if the mods fix that problem.
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why not just EQ it?
If you pull out a little around 2k that'll go a long way towards smoothinbg out that harshness.
 
For rap vocals I'd probably steer towards a dynamic mic. Something along the lines of an RE20, MD421, SM7B etc. But there's no hard and fast rule based just on the info "rap vocals". It depends totally on what works with your voice and the song. Having more than one option to try may be more useful than having one super-fantastic expensive studio condenser (of which the 990 is a cheap imitation). On one recording we used an old EV 664 on some tracks for a contrasting tone to the "good" mic.
 
yeah, for rap I'm thinking dynamic is gonna be the way too go although I can't say that rap is my area of expertise.


I'm a pretty big fan of EV dynamics for live use .... they'd probably do the rap thing well for minimal money
 
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