RRRS said:
Hello,
I am not trying to raise your budget, but i would recommend holding out for a used CAD VX2. You should be able to find one on ebay for 800-900 dollars. I love mine. If you do some research on it you will become enlightened. I have a Rode NTK, 2 SP C1's, and others not mentioned on the post, but i can say that hands down the CAD is my go-to mic. Just providing options from the norm.
Derek
Looks interesting. For something more in-budget, you might consider the CAD M9. It's a pretty nice sounding mic, IMHO. I'm also impressed with the ADK Generis GT-2. Both mics have their own unique character---very different from the FET LDCs I've tried (ADK Hamburg, SP B3, Apex 435), which all sound pretty siimilar.
Here's a short opinion of several mics:
ADK Hamburg: brittle with a harsh upper midrange, giving the impression of heavily scooped mids. It might be flattering on some voices, but I certainly haven't found that to be the case with mine.
SP B3: fairly even tone. Not wonderful for voice, but not bad. A little on the bright side.
Apex 435: very similar to the B3, but somewhat brighter. It isn't bright to the point of being harsh (at least on tenor voices---it would proabbly break glass if used on a soprano), but if you tame the highs quite a bit, it would be usable. I think it's an excellent mic for what I paid for it ($35), and frankly, I'd use it for vocals before I'd use the Hamburg....
Karma K58: I'm still evaluating this one. It's very bright for a tube mic. I'm guessing that the capsule is a cheap Chinese capsule. With the stock 12AX7 tube, it sounded pretty brittle to my ears. After switching to a GE JAN NOS tube, it's still pretty bright, but usable. It is, however, relatively clean sounding, IIRC, and it has a large body, so it's a modder's dream. It would probably sound a lot better with a capsule replacement. Either that or maybe there's a HF disc in front of the capsule that should be yanked or something. Dunno. I haven't dug into that part of the mic yet.
Cad M9: This is a very nice sounding mic---not too bright, not too dark. It makes an excellent vocal mic for male vocals. Make sure you let it warm up enough because it is exceptionally harsh for the first fifteen minutes or so.
ADK Generis GT-2: Thiis is a relatively dark tube mic. I love the way it helps give my voice have that sort of smoky, husky color without actually having to wreck my body.
I'm using the stock tube, so take that with a grain of salt.