Looking for a new microphone

[Arjen W.]

Hi everybody.

I'm in need of a new condenser microphone to record mainly acoustic guitars and some vocals. I would like some advice on what microphone is the one I want. It's just for homerecording but I do want decent quality. The price range I'm thinking of is about €100-€400 ($150-$500).

I don't have great knowledge about condenser mics, I've heard good things about Rode mics though. A store near hear has the NT2000, NT1000, NT1A and NT2A, among others. Anyone familiar with these mics? Do you prefer other mics?

Of course I'll also need a pre-amp that isn't too expensive, about €50-€100 ($60-$140) max. I was thinking about a cheap small mixer, but I heard the cheap pre-amps defeat the purpose of a quality mic. So, any advice on this, or tips on good, cheap pre-amps?

Big thanks in advance!

 

[SPLASTiK]

RODE NTK is a pretty sweet tube mic, I think it's $500. I've used the NT1000 once and didn't really like it personally.

Maybe a Studio projects VTB-1 for the mic pre-amp, $100. They usually get decent reviews.

 

[Arjen W.]

Ah, thanks! I also posted this on the Sneap forums to get some more replies. Anyway, why didn't you like the NT1000, and why did you think the NTK sounded better? I've heard about the VTB-1, it gets quite some recommendation, as does M-Audio's DMP3.

 

[Keith!]

I've been using a stereo pair of Neumann KLM's with omni capsules on acoustic guitars recently, beautiful!

Might a bit outta the price range however

 

[SPLASTiK]

Anyway, why didn't you like the NT1000, and why did you think the NTK sounded better?

Cleaner, tube, overall better sound. A lot bigger sounding too, just leagues above the NT1000 in my experience with them.

 

[rrjii2000]

I would recommend the Electro-Harmonix C5. It makes my Martin really come to life. It has a good dynamic responce while maintaining a low noise floor. I use it boom mounted about 8 inches out from the 12th ftet pointing toward the sound hole. This seems to produce a nice tone there, without alot of pick noise.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ElectroHarmonix-EHC5-FET-Condenser-Studio-Microphone?sku=271043


Rob