Shittiest mic over $1000?

[hungovermorning]

Fortunately, I can say that I have absolutely no knowledge of any mic. over $1000. I don't think I've ever been within 50 feet of one.

I understand that. "Sir, please step away from teh nice microphones. We can smell the broke musician on you."

 

[GigaBoy]

Don't be misled by the comments in this thread about the U87. It's a very versatile mic.

 

[Richard Monroe]

The people's comittee for the defense of perfectly good mics is watching you all. The Solid Tube is a perfectly good mic if you understand it. It used to be an overated $1000 mic. Then it became an underated $500 mic. Now it's an overated $1000 mic- again. Just rip out the silly internal foam screen, put it in front of a real belter or screamer, a cab, anything loud- and listen to it shine.
Neumann U87 is an excellent mic, a studio standard for many years. Oh yeah, it really sucks- like the dozens of Grammy winners who used it as a main vocal mic. True, the real purists usually do not like the newer U87ai version as much as older models. Is it a shitty mic? No. Is it overpriced? I think so. You always have to pay for the Neumann name. I think for that amount of money, I'd be looking at Microtech Gefell, Brauner, Lawson, Soundelux, etc. But if I walk into a session and they say, " Jeez, all we've got to put up is a U87, will that be OK?", they're going to get no complaints from me.-Richie

 

[cusebassman]

Wow... I guess sarcasm doesn't shine through as well as I would expect sometimes - I was kidding about the Neumann U87 for God's sake... lol

 

[slidey]

Wow... I guess sarcasm doesn't shine through as well as I would expect sometimes - I was kidding about the Neumann U87 for God's sake... lol

serious people, serious people, serious people

the mic over a grand that is shitty is the M/Geffel at approx £4880 in the UK. Shitty because I can't afford 2 of them

I think I'll stock up on U87s for weaponry when the revolution comes

 

[MCI2424]

the people saying the u87 have probably never used one and are listening to forum hype.

Yep. I have the U87 and TLM103 and they are both great for whatever they are great on, like any other mic.

And, no, a TLM103 is definately not like any of the $200 mics I have ever used or heard.

 

[bubbagump]

Close to 1k. The TLM 103. Pretty much can be beat by most 200.00 chinese condensors, IMO.

Yup. (must get to 10 characters)

 

[XLR]

Beyond a particular mike suiting a particular source, judging a mike is not necessarily very accurate unless it's paired with the right pre. Three parts to the equation.

So to fill in my prev post to be more accurate, I liked the U87 at 4' from a flamenco guitar through an Avalon 737 pre. I might have hated it through a Mackie pre. Or on my steel string.

 

[MCI2424]

Beyond a particular mike suiting a particular source, judging a mike is not necessarily very accurate unless it's paired with the right pre. Three parts to the equation.

So to fill in my prev post to be more accurate, I liked the U87 at 4' from a flamenco guitar through an Avalon 737 pre. I might have hated it through a Mackie pre. Or on my steel string.

Spot on. All the Neumans I have used sound pretty boring with cheap pre-amps. If you put them to a nice pre-amp, they will beat the shit out of the cheap mics everytime. Now, I know many will lambast my statement, but, if you use great pre-amps and great mics all the time, and plug in a one of today's cheap condensor mics, you pretty much can hear the difference in a second. BUT, if I was stuck with Mackie board pre-amps or equiv. I would say that there are plenty of good condensor mics in the sub $300 catagory. BTW, I don't mean "cheap" as in shitty. I am referring to low cost mics here. I understand that people like Harvey Gerst have, and use these mics, but these guys know what they can get away with and where these mics will shine. Without extensive experience recording with great equipment, it is hard to differentiate a single component in any recording system and come up with any judgement that is considered true across the board. AN SM57 has been used in recordings that were released and worked that time, but I would be really surprised if the reason was any other than they got a great performance and could not re-create it later OR they were in a hurry AND got a great performance at the same time.

 

[Caotico]

Fortunately, I can say that I have absolutely no knowledge of any mic. over $1000. I don't think I've ever been within 50 feet of one.

So maybe for those of us who don't have the experience, this could be about which is the the ugliest mic that costs over a grand.