What's the cheapest mic that really wowed you?

[Marwood Williams]

I really love my Apex 460 Tube Mic. It's a great deal for under $200!

[kayagum]

After I got the MXL, I hadn't used my NT1a for years, but use the 2001 every chance I get. I've recently resurrected my Rode and am liking it as a distant room mic (it's pretty sensitive and quiet) with hyped treble that just seems to work for me.

I've had great success with this- and also as a front of kit mic (see recent thread with the over-the-shoulder mic).

[imdrecordings]

The Michael Joly Mod on my APex 460 WOW'd the piss out of me!

[getreel]

I have a few inexpensive mics I like a lot.

AT Pro37R

Believe it or not my original stock NT1 makes me very happy on acoustic guitar and vocals

Electro Voice Raven

MXL V69ME

I got the Raven on close out for $49 and it's unbelievable for the money. Love it on acoustic guitar between the neck and soundhole paired with the NT1 over the shoulder. Love it on certain guitar amps. Has that large diaphragm dynamic sound like a 421, RE20 or SM7b. Not quite in their league but awesome for $49!

MXL V69ME with a Mullard tube swap sounds purty durn good although a little too bright on some things. Great on acoustic guitar. Very open and natural. I don't use it much else though I have been wanting to try it as a room mic for drums

[mrc]

I love my pro 37r's, Peluso CEK-12 capsule and 6072A tube on a fully modded 460 witrh cinemag 2480, and 4 modded long ribbon mics with Lundhals... 2 with 2913 and 2 with 2914 xformers. Also a DM500 AKG, circa early 70's...it blows the sm57 I bought the same day away, as well as a 58 from a year later (73)...good pres make a world of difference with any mic.

[Jim Williams]

Jim, I'm really curious about the MCAs. Why buy them over the MXL 990 or the other mics with the same capsule? If you're modding the electronics, should it really matter that much which electronics "base" you start with?

The circuits are similar but the parts are different, there are 1/8 watt resistors in the pencil mics and 1/4 watt on the side address. There is also a difference in the capsule mounting that seems to favor the MCA approach.

The MIT film caps I use are large and would not fit in the pencil mics. It's a tight fit in the MCA. I can use 1/2 watt Dale CMF55 and 1 watt CMF60 resistors on the outputs. The fet is a tiny SOT23 pin head sized radio frequency part with super low noise, I wire it in with Kimber silver wire. This is one quiet mic with very low self noise along with a higher output than stock.

[Jim Williams]

I have a few inexpensive mics I like a lot.
Believe it or not my original stock NT1 makes me very happy on acoustic guitar and vocals

I believe you. If you open it up you will see a nice Siliconix J305 fet and a pair of Hitachi 2sa1083 output transistors. Then there are those green Wima polypropylene caps, Roederstein resistors, etc.

They don't use that stuff anymore.

[jaguarsg]

Haven't yet gotten the RSM-4 modded by Joly. As is, it's great on electric guitar, drum overheads, acoustic guitar, room mics, bright acoustic instruments (ie, mandolin, dulcimer, banjo, etc). Pretty much anywhere you'd use a ribbon. I'm sure Joly's mod makes this mic even better, his work speaks for itself.

+1 on the RSM-4.

it is the poor man's Coles 4038.

p.s. you forgot distant kick and retro bass sounds, JWL.

[lionaudio]

Apex 210 ribbon for $80 new. Loooove it. Need to get the Joly Mod soon so I can loooooooove it even more

[kingmetal]

I wish I had started out on an MXL 67G -- I bought one to have Joly mod it and played with it for about a week before I sent it off. Blew my AKG Perception 200 out of the water. Easy first-buy mic. Came back from Joly so good I almost couldn't believe it and my artists are totally stoked.

That MCA looks suspiciously like a 67G, so I'm wondering if they're the same mic. If they are, then that's awesome.

All of my mics are under $300 including mods except for my NT1A + mod that was generously donated to me and my DPA 4061s, which are on permanent loan from my old man. I think I've got a lot to learn about mic technique and mixing, and I need to get my main artist a new guitar since his acoustics are literally the worst sounding guitars I've ever heard in my life, however the quality of my mics at this point is not something I question.

[Producer/Engineer]

I need to get my main artist a new guitar since his acoustics are literally the worst sounding guitars I've ever heard in my life,

Hey King, take a look at Seagull's S6. It's an outstanding acoustic and not expensive. It is also available in a "slim neck" version which is very comfortable. One of our artists went out to purchase a Breedlove and the S6 won the shootout! The cedar top sounds amazing, warm, woody, and it has a nice pronounced high end as well that is similar to a cross between maple and engleman spruce. A very solid build too.

[kingmetal]

I need to get my main artist a new guitar since his acoustics are literally the worst sounding guitars I've ever heard in my life,

Hey King, take a look at Seagull's S6. It's an outstanding acoustic and not expensive. It is also available in a "slim neck" version which is very comfortable. One of our artists went out to purchase a Breedlove and the S6 won the shootout! The cedar top sounds amazing, warm, woody, and it has a nice pronounced high end as well that is similar to a cross between maple and engleman spruce. A very solid build too.

I will check that out for sure, thanks so much for the recommendation! I've heard many good things about the Breedloves so my interest is piqued for sure.

[joninc]

ev 635. cheeeeep and smoooooth.

[percussion boy]

Not a "mic product you can rush out and buy," but:

The built-in mics on some of the little consumer digital voice recorders are surprisingly good for stuff like voice-and-piano song demos. Good noise floor and the recordings respond well to an EQ plug-in for getting out the room resonances and such. They tend to need a lot of level boosting but they're quiet enough for it.

Presumably these mics are based on the kind of little bitty condenser elements used in the TAPE OP mics and their descendants. Pretty damn true for something the size of a vitamin C tablet.

[joel hamilton]

The built in mics on a zoom H4n, and a cascade LDC that I dont know the name of. the absolute least expensive LDC that cascade makes. I think it came free with a fill-up at a mobil or something. That thing completely, and utterly kicked total ass under incredibly horrible circumstances in Africa using only the pre built into my first generation Mbox and worked perfectly with a variety of voices.
For real.
Just fucking get a mic you can afford and record. I just recorded an albums worth of amazing vocals with 7 different people, some male, some female, all different ranges and voices, with a single cascade LDC thingy and an mbox and the record is going to be awesome.
Record a lot, and dont record too hot with cheap stuff.