Sennheiser MD421, help me!

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

I tried miking my amp with a Sennheiser MD421 today and it totally knocked me off my feet and I've spent some time searching the net for used ones.
I came across two Sennheiser MD421-U-5's and I was wondering if someone here could tell me more about them, they seemed pretty old. Are they different from the "modern" MD421 in any way and what's the difference?

Help the newbie out please =)

 

[Andy Sneap]

Are they grey or black?

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

They are black, here's a picture: http://195.149.144.113/images/33/33-33981708533.jpg

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Kreator was using Sennheiser 609s live on guitars and they sounded hella badass. I guess they're good with isolation. Anyone tried using them for studio recording?

 

[mxlinus]

we used MD412 with guitars on our first album, it has a good tone, if you are missing a nice middle tone for the guitars, this is the microphone to do that. very nice. at one time it was the guitar mic of my choice. nowdays it's just plain MS-57 again.

 

[Ermz]

I used a pair of MD412's for toms yesterday, they gave a pretty nice sound.

 

[unsilpauly]

Kreator was using Sennheiser 609s live on guitars and they sounded hella badass. I guess they're good with isolation. Anyone tried using them for studio recording?

hey man, i have both a e609 and an e609silver. they are both really cool for guitars. id say the regular e609(more expensive than the silver) is alittle fuller sounding and the silver is a tad brighter. but i think they are both awesome for guitars. ive also been really digging the audix i5 for guitar, alittle different kinda like a hyped 57 with more bottom. but yeaj definetley check out the sennheisers.

 

[blackcom]

To me, a 421 sounds a bit too boxy on guitars....I prefer SM57 or a beta57...in some cases a TLM103 can give a bit moore smooth sound if it fits the player

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Personally i think that the SM57 sounds totally dreadful on guitars... Maybe im not miking it correctly?
I really liked the crunchy sound you got with the MD421, im still wondering if someone could help me out with info on the old ones i wrote of in my first post though

 

[Canis]

i haven't got any experience with either MD421 or e609. heard good things about them though. i've found a couple of samples where some guy made direct comparison (no eq, same placement, yadda) and out of the three i actually preferred the e609 - it had a nice balanced sound and a smooth bottom end. the sm 57 wasn't very good (strong mids, somewhat "closed" sound, hard to describe) and the md421, though somewhat similar to the e609, was a bit too "boomy" for my liking.

however, the comparison, although fair because of the same placement, also isn't exactly valid if you ask me - for that very same reason... all the mics were pointed at the middle of the cone, on-axis. i hear sm57 is very picky when it comes to placement (i can attest to that, heh), while the e609 will do the trick mostly anywhere (or so they say).

while we're at it... does anyone have some helpful tips on the placement of the sm57? i like to put it on-axis somewhere between the edge and the center of the cone and i dig the sound, but it's still not quite there... of course it might be my amp which i've adjusted based on what i hear when i'm sitting on the chair, not what the mic hears. still, if anyone has experience, well, uhm... please..

also, does anyone know where could i get some samples of a distorted guitar recorded with a condenser mic? i searched but found nothing. i wonder if anyone does it...

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Well if you check out our website you can hear some samples recorded with either an AKG condenser (need) and a TSM 87 condenser (the two other ones) the amp's an ENGL Powerball and so is the cab

 

[Canis]

well, that sounds cool (is it your band?) although honestly i must say that the guitar is a bit too low in the mix for my liking and it's consequently also somewhat hard to hear all the nuances. now if only i could find some "dry" samples, you know, no eq, nothing, only the amp and the mic.

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Unfortunately that's what you get when the drummer mixes the songs

well, that sounds cool (is it your band?) although honestly i must say that the guitar is a bit too low in the mix for my liking and it's consequently also somewhat hard to hear all the nuances. now if only i could find some "dry" samples, you know, no eq, nothing, only the amp and the mic.

 

[Canis]

oh... well.. heh

on a different note, it's my firm belief that with a single sm57 you can get a whole range of usable sounds. you just need to mess with it more. come to think of it, wasn't dead heart in a dead world recorded with a 57 on a cab? and the gathering from testament with 57 beta? both have stellar guitar sound...

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Kreator was using Sennheiser 609s live on guitars and they sounded hella badass. I guess they're good with isolation. Anyone tried using them for studio recording?

An e609 silver on a rectifier is a wonderful thing. The same mic on a mark2 5150 with a sheffield cab sounds like total shit. YMMV.

-0z-

 

[~BURNY~]

Well maybe because shefield sounds like shit. (imho)
Celestion V30, Celestion Century Vintage, Celestion G12h30, Eminence V12 legend rules.
Crappy speakers means crappy sound in the mic.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Well maybe because shefield sounds like shit. (imho)
Celestion V30, Celestion Century Vintage, Celestion G12h30, Eminence V12 legend rules.
Crappy speakers means crappy sound in the mic.

You're probably right about the sheffields. Then again, I did get a decent tone once with a recto & a 57 on a Sheffield cab.

But as for the 'crappy speakers' comment, you're absolutely 100% right on the money. I've got a Marshall cab loaded with v30's on order, and the wait is driving me nuts.... I really want to hear this thing miced up.

-0z-