MXL 990 $50 at MF.

[KennyLusk]

I've enjoyed my 990 over the years after some simple physical mods but have to say I don't trust anything from musician's friend any more. Seems like everything I get shipped from them is from the bottom of the stock barrel and has been mis-handled somewhere along the way. Not to mention noticing that much of the items I've gotten from MF in recent years has been factory restored or is a "second".

Anyone else have the same opinion or experience?

[T-rex]

I stopped buying from MF years ago. They sent me a 990 with the capsule loose inside the mic and then hassled me about returning it. About the same time I had a really positive experience with another retailer so I never looked back.

[calaverasgrandes]

MF is another tentacle of the guitar center behemoth.
If you go into any situation knowing you are dealing with a monster then you arent surprised. I only buy things from them when they are pants-dropping good deals, and usually only when its such a small sum I wont flip out if (when) I get screwed.
My friend got a scratch-n-dent Ludwig set from them a year or so ago. She is quite happy with it for the price.

for most of my gear purchases I go to Leos Pro Audio in Oakland, Markertek, or front end audio.

[chovie d]

I've enjoyed my 990 over the years after some simple physical mods but have to say I don't trust anything from musician's friend any more. Seems like everything I get shipped from them is from the bottom of the stock barrel and has been mis-handled somewhere along the way. Not to mention noticing that much of the items I've gotten from MF in recent years has been factory restored or is a "second".

Anyone else have the same opinion or experience?

I had a good experience with their returns department.
They took back a pedal steel guitar that I had had for longer than their return policy allows for AND that had been worked on by the manufacturer.
No hassles, they were totally cool about it. That said, the manufacturer asked me NOT to return the broken guitar to MF because he said they would simply repackage it and sell it again and then he would again have to deal with it. At that point I didnt reallly care about his concerns, I just wanted out of that guitar and my money back so I returned it (he wanted to attempt to repair it for me again). But given his concerns about them restocking broken stuff, I think your issues with MF are quite valid. I feel bad for whomever got that pedal steel next.

edit: and I forgot to add, I bought a cheap mxl ribbon mic from them. I didnt get to try it out for a month or so and when I finally did it did not sound right. sent it to shinybox who found a tear in the ribbon and repplaced it for me. ribbon mics are fragile granted, but another example of getting some MF broken gear. that said I buy pedals from them when I cant find them cheaper elsewhere. no more guitars or mics tho. my next mic wil be a shinybox

[Crocoduck5000]

Being a budget engineer / musician and all, I fell into the whole MXL 990 trap. There have been a few cases where I got really, really good results out of it. At the time I didn't know the freakin' difference (this is 2003, I was 16 I think) but for some reason it works best over any mic on this one really folksy low-end female vocalist I know, coupled with an ART Pro Channel / Compressor. I hear it's a good kick drum mic, though I have yet to try it.

[calaverasgrandes]

My MXL1006 works very well with my 2BA221 on certain vocals.
On guitar or drums it is nails on chalkboard.

[jgimbel]

I hear it's a good kick drum mic, though I have yet to try it.

I've heard that too. I tried it a while ago, not bad, but only in conjunction with another mic to get some oomph from the drum. There was a thread on here a while ago about using SDCs on kick drums, that got into this whole "why do we use any certain mic on anything" near existential tangent, it was nice. I think that was when I tried my 990 on the kick. I often find opposites attract - mics that cut some low on boomy sources like kicks, mics that pick up biggish low-mids for higher sounds like dulcimer, often pairs nicely. But practically, I've never used an SDC on kick without also using something else, like my D112. I'll cut the high end of the D112 and use the SDC for that. It's nice be able to control how much body and how much click you have separately.