Yo billabob! See? This is exactly what I said would happen. If you ask 10 engineers, "What's the best mic to record an Indian Vina?", you'll get ten answers, and nine of them will work just fine. You'll hate 5 of them, the other four will be "OK", and you'll probably end up using something none of them even suggested, with excellent results (or not).
That's why I use the system I use. It's conservative, but it works. I look at what the major studios use. If I can't afford that, I look at what they use in their "B" rooms or "C" rooms. The one thing it does for me is guarantee that I can resell the mic for a significant percentage of what I laid out for it, if it doesn't work out for me.
Miroslav's suggestion is a good example. He likes Cascade Fathead, because it works for him. He has plenty of available mics, including some high end models, but he uses that one, because he prefers it. Does it make him "right"? No. Does it make him "wrong"? No. Now I've never used any Chinese ribbon mic for anything, and if I were to come along and say it sucks, I would be making it up out of whole cloth, smoke and mirrors. I'll bet it works, because he says it does. Mostly, for cabs, I use AKG C2000B, Shure SM7b, and AKG D112 (only for the back of an open cab). Is my choice better than his in some way? Only two. First, it works for *me*. Second, those are the mics *I have*.
In the end, you are not going to get any agreement or consensus. The majority winner will most likely be Shure SM57, because it's a cheap mic that works for lots of people. I am pretty much unimpressed by it, but that's just me. Lots of perfectly good recordings have been made with it.
In the end, the only one who can tell you whether your cab mic works is *you*, and there is *no way* that anyone can tell you what that mic will be, in the end. Maybe if we all had the same feet, we could agree on shoes. If we had the same ears, we could agree on mics- don't hold your breath.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not the least concerned about whether you end up taking my advice, someone else's, or nobody's at all. I've seen what you are going through a million times. You are looking everywhere for *an answer*, and when you get one, you are fine until you get *another* answer. There are an unlimited number of answers, and they are all wrong and all right. It's like asking, "what is the best jam for toast?" The technical people will want to know if you mean whole wheat or white. Somebody will say gooseberry rocks.
You could take my advice (or anyone else's) and be disappointed with the results. We don't agree on what sounds good, and we aren't going to, either. It's not mathematics, it's art. And as far as ribbons go, they're not that fragile. Just don't blow into it, drop it, or turn on the phantom power.-Richie
