small diaphram pair

  • Thread starter Thread starter rick woodall
  • Start date Start date
R

rick woodall

New member
hi folks

i'm looking to buy a pair of small diaphram condensers mainly for acoustic guitar. my budget is about £150 (aprox $180 US) max. i would prefer to buy second hand so that i get more for my money and the resale value is closer to what i pay.

immerse me in your audio wisdom!
 
total, i plan on buying second hand, so its about £100 ($130) per mic at retail price.
 
That's barely enough for two SM57's (NEW). Most pairs worth having are closer to $500 for the pair. Lots of $1,000+ options too.

Behringer C-2's are about the only "pair" at that price point NEW. MK-012's and a few others, most of which are generally more money, baring some sort of deal you can't pass on. Some of the church audio stuff is a good value for stealthy pairs. CA-11? CA-14? I've never used a lot of this stuff myself. Avenson STO-2's for me $550 NEW. Busman BSC1's $500-ish with swappable caps of varying polar patterns. And of course DPA stuff at 10x's what you're looking to shell out. Lots of options, not many at your price point.
 
just had a google scan and these are some of my options. SE1A, shure pg81, AKG Perception 170, AKG C-1000S, Rode M3, Behringer B-5, JoeMeek JM27, Superlux CM-H8K
 
What end result are you looking for?


Just practicing and want to give yourself lessons?

Need an audition tape for some group?

Need a demo for paid gigs?

Need something for live performances?

Need a product (CD) to sell for profit?

Something more high end?


I've heard of a few of those mics. I haven't heard of anyone who got those and never upgraded leaving those as their workhorse goto mics for a decade or more. (and still managed to pay rent and eat). But you don't hear that about a lot of gear.

There's a few sites with samples to check some of those out. Studio Auditions, gearwire, and a number of others. You don't want to buy based on price / specs alone.
 
im just looking to get the best recording i can with my current budget. listening to recordings of the mics would be helpfull, i just checked out them 2 web sites but i couldnt find any audio samples
 
There's a jam session portion to studio auditions with samples. gearwire is more dependent on whether any of those mics are featured. They'll do some shootouts, but the low end mics don't get much love.

Baring samples you can just look at specs. SPL limits shouldn't be too problematic for acoustic guitar. Noise floor, frequency response, polar pattern, and other hints to what might or might not be part of the product.

SM81's are a common mention for your task. Not cheap, even less so across the pond. Sometimes you can get them used for a 2 fer, i.e. 2 used for the price of 1 new. And not specifically sold as matched pairs. Most mics on your budget will likely pale in comparison. But that really depends on your backend. Are you looking for a stereo mic for your iPod? Or something less cheap?

On that cheap side, you might consider a field recorder like device with mics. Zoom H2 comes to mind. Not two individual mics to be placed where ever, but it has 4 mics and other features. Zoom H4 / H4n too. Lots of stereo options, most on a budget still kind of suck though. So again, what end result? How good is good enough? Best possible for a one off, that money might be better spent on studio time at a studio with better gear.
 
I recently got a pair of C-2s. Only $55 and i love them. Would definitely recommend them.
 
i just had a listen to some of the mic samples on studio auditions. one option that intrested me was the mxl 2003, its not a small diaphram but sounds nice on the acoustic, nicly afordable aswell. maybe i could combine it with another mic to get something similar to the traditional sterio pair acoustic mc set up.

im not looking to record into an ipod, i have quite a good computer with an emu 0404 sound card, ive orderd and should soon be recieving an nt-1a which i bought with vocals in mind. my preamps arent great but do the job they are an m audio dmp3 and an m audio duo. i expect that there is a good chance i will be up grading this equipmet n the futer but i dont want to get ahead of my self.

im not itrested in studio time. my aim is to teach my self as much about recording as i can because it interests me and i enjoy it, hence my joining the "home recording" forum.
 
I had some C-2's that I got as my first condensers, not really knowing what to look for. Put them in front of something and they'll capture sound... though not in a very pleasing way. I found mine to be thin and harsh.

I now have a pair of MXL 603s. Still a low cost pair, but they've worked decently for what I've needed (mostly practice... doing EPs and a couple albums for local bands). I do like them on acoustic guitar and as overheads, and whatever other odd instruments I need a somewhat accurate representation of. They have decently smooth highs (compared to the C-2's at least... :/) and decent toppest end response. For the $, they're good.
 
Buy a pair of B5's. True condensors, omni and cardiod capsules, bottom end roll off and pad switches. Best buy in that price range IMO. I've got a pair & have used them a lot (as well as a pair of SM81's). Can't see myself ever getting rid of them.

:)
 
cheers for the recomendations. i've just found what looks to be a good deal on ebay. an mxl 2003 and 603 dor about£140 inluding p&p. not exactly what i was looking for as it isnt a twin pair and ones a large diaphram but the price seams amazing. from what i can see on the web 603's are about £200 for a new pair, the 2003 doesnt seem to be in production any more but i've read some reviews from a few years ago and they used to cost about £300 apparently, i listened to one on an acoustic guitar sample earlier and it sounded sweet.
 
Back
Top