Mic for Cab

  • Thread starter Thread starter billabob
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billabob

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Hey im looking for people opinions on microphones, ive posted on the new forum a thread about getting a decent mic for cabs and it was suggested a sennheiser 421.

What do you think about that mic for the price range, i may be able to stretch another £100.
 
The MD-421 is a great dynamic mic, capable of handling extreme SPLs. It's also a large diaphragm dynamic cardiod with several low-end rolloff settings. You could use it for more than your guitar cab... you could use it for percussion (even kick drum), bass cab, vocals, and just about any other source that you'd use a dynamic mic on.

You'll never regret having one (or more) in your mic locker! ;)
 
ok i guess that really is the mic for me then :) thannks.
xxx
 
second that,

great for cabs, but good for bass/vocals/drums/etc etc etc....

very useful all round mic.
 
ok so thats three people who know there shizzle tell me to buy a mic, so ima buy the mic :P
xxx
 
Now I know what it's like to be a doctor and have the patient go for a second opinion (:
That's all right, I would too. When I started building my mic cabinet, I spooked around on a lot of major studio sites, and studied their mic collections. While many of them were out of my price range, some of them weren't, especially the dynamics. The MD421 is found somewhere on the list of just about every major studio in the world. When you find that, you can be pretty sure that mic's good for recording *something*. There are many people that will tell you they prefer some other mic for this or that (I'm one of them), but there are damn few people who will tell you an MD421 sucks. And they are probably clueless.-Richie
 
haha, sorry mate its nothing personal, i trust your judgement, i was just curious to see what other mic 's within that price range people might suggest before i commit to buying. I mean cause there so many different types of mic, i wouldn't wanna buy a mic just for the matter of asking the same question twice. However since no one seems to be able to find a bad word about the MD421 im gonna go for it :)
xxx
 
richie's right..

your question was,
'is a 421 good and should i buy one'



if your question read
'which big dynamic should i buy' or
'is a 421 your favourite mic for x,y or z',,,

this would have been a much longer thread :P


great all round mic tho,,,,health to enjoy :)
 
Hell, billabob, I am humbled indeed, for there are folks on this board who have forgotten more about mics than I will ever know. I'm an old folkie/neopsychedelic recorder of sounds, not just music. No worries, mate, as they say. You want alternative suggestions? Sure- Shure SM7b, Sennheiser MD441, Electrovoice RE20, and some Beyerdynamic mics I'm not as familiar with. Of all of the above, I have to say Shure SM7b is a badass, but it is weak, and craves gain, which I think your initial interface preamps may not have the balls for, and will be noisy. That's why I recommended MD421 to you, because I think it will allow you to crank those preamps a little less. If you go for the SM7, I think you'll need that DMP-3 or whatever. Vol must be fed.-Richie
 
Well there may be people who have forgotten more than you know, but from what ive gathered you still know about 784x what i do at the minute. Im very new to recording but hopefully will be able to improve with the gear youve suggested for me. ive looked up the other mics you've pointed out and i think im just gonna stick to the md421
 
Richard Monroe said:
Hell, billabob, I am humbled indeed, for there are folks on this board who have forgotten more about mics than I will ever know. I'm an old folkie/neopsychedelic recorder of sounds, not just music. No worries, mate, as they say. You want alternative suggestions? Sure- Shure SM7b, Sennheiser MD441, Electrovoice RE20, and some Beyerdynamic mics I'm not as familiar with. Of all of the above, I have to say Shure SM7b is a badass, but it is weak, and craves gain, which I think your initial interface preamps may not have the balls for, and will be noisy. That's why I recommended MD421 to you, because I think it will allow you to crank those preamps a little less. If you go for the SM7, I think you'll need that DMP-3 or whatever. Vol must be fed.-Richie
Click to expand...



.Richard besides the DMP-3 what other pres do you suggest to be used with the SM7b?



:cool:
 
moresound said:
.Richard besides the DMP-3 what other pres do you suggest to be used with the SM7b?



:cool:
Click to expand...

Everything else I can think of that can produce that much clean gain is more money. Grace 101 comes to mind, maybe FMR Audio RNP. Lots of pres can make enough gain, but usually the signal to noise ratio goes to hell in a handbasket. I can say the SM7 rocks with my Joemeek twinQ. As much as I love the mic, I don't think it's where billabob ought to go right now.
 
What I mean, billabob, is that the SM7b is a mic with a very weak output. That doesn't mean it's a bad mic. It means that it needs tons of gain from the preamp. Usually, the preamp, whatever it is, will be turned pretty much all the way up. Most inexpensive preamps (like the ones in that fast track) make exponentially increasing noise when they are cranked up that far. You will hear it as hiss. This isn't as much of a problem with guitar cabs, one, because they are loud, and two, because a lot of guitar amps already make a bunch of noise all by themselves. I think an SM7 is a mic that becomes more usable when you have a kickass preamp. With the Fast Track, IMHO, you'll get better overall sound, especially on vocals, when you don't have to turn those preamps up as far. For practical purposes, I prefer the SM7 on vocals and the MD421 on cabs, but I also have a $2500 squeaky clean preamp with a ton of gain.-Richie
 
Richard Monroe said:
Everything else I can think of that can produce that much clean gain is more money. Grace 101 comes to mind, maybe FMR Audio RNP. Lots of pres can make enough gain, but usually the signal to noise ratio goes to hell in a handbasket. I can say the SM7 rocks with my Joemeek twinQ. As much as I love the mic, I don't think it's where billabob ought to go right now.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to side track for my own info, thanks Richard, now back to the issue at hand.



:cool:
 
I think the SM7 is one of those rare cases where stacking preamps isn't that bad. The twinQ works especially well because I can get a little extra gain from the makeup gain on the compressor, and back off the main input and output gain a little. Net result- acceptable noise floor. Of course, with the Avalon, it's no problem. Just turn it all the way up and forget it.-Richie
 
ive been looking online alot and prices of the md421 seem to vary alot. is there a cheap version i should stear clear from?? can u recommend a site thats got the for a reasonable price? xxx
 
billabob said:
ive been looking online alot and prices of the md421 seem to vary alot. is there a cheap version i should stear clear from?? can u recommend a site thats got the for a reasonable price? xxx
Click to expand...

Are you looking at new or used?



:cool:
 
You might consider a ribbon mic...IF...you are focused on a mic for guitar cab use.

421 is not a bad choice...but certianly not the only choice.

I prefer the ribbon over dynamic on guitar cab...it just makes the high-end sound creamier, and the lows, well...they smoke.
 
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