Stereo guitar: Paired Set, or one single mic plus my existing workhorse condenser?

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brand0nized

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I have one single condenser mic that I use for everything. I'm going to be working on a little EP that's very acoustic. I want to get a pair of pencil mics to record stereo acoustic. I'm on a low budget, so I considered getting just a single mic plus my existing mic to do stereo, since I only have 2 inputs on my interface anyways.

What do you guys think? Would getting a paired mic be better in the future if I decide to record other things like piano or for drum overheads. Practicality is also a factor.
 
First off what's your budget.. I was recently In a similar situation.. What kind of condenser mic do you have and what kind of sound are you going for? I personally prefer to stereo record with two pencil mics.. I have a set of nt5s but if you are truly on a budget sm57s will work wonderfully..IMHO more full sound when you record stereo
 
Tell us what you already have and what your budget is.

"Stereo acoustic" sounds nice as a concept, but I'm not sure you're completely familiar with what that means, and that it's what you actually want....

I do a lot of acoustic guitar recording and never, these days, bother with matched pairs, but some do. Depends what you're doing....
 
If you are keen on matched pairs for a good stereo try Naiant mics. They make & match really good mics at excellent prices. They are SDCs but very, very good. I don't have a matched pair but do have 2 diff ones for diff purposes & really enjoy working with them.
 
AKG Perception 170 True Condenser Cardioid Microphone | DV247

I have two of those ^ (well, mine are the earlier P150 but same mic). They are not a matched pair, one is a smell under 2dB more sensitive, easy fix, but they seem to work extremely well.

I use a very cheap Maplins stereo mount (bit of a faff to setup but works ok) and run them as a 90dgr co-i pair.

Dave.
 
I just got in a stereo pair of MXL 993s, I paid about $150 for the pair (On sale right now for $179.99, and RMN12 is a guitar center online coupon code to give you 12% ($21) off plus free shipping. I also had a $20 gift card from someone so I don't know the exact amount I paid out of pocket but they do have a pretty nice sound and I'm happy with them so far. I'm sure there are MUCH better sets out there but for a budget set I was pretty pleased.
 
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