You know what mic is the biggest piece of shit?

[Rick Hunter]

The Rode NT-1A. They should call it the Rode Piece of Crap, because thats what it is. I got one when I bought my focusrite voice master pro (which also sucks major ass...but thats another story) and I used it a few times and it sounded really bright and super tinny but I am on a budget and it was my first condensor so whatever. I used it pretty much out of neccesity. But I went to grab it yesterday and I plugged it into my mixer and started playing guitar and then all of a sudden...nothing. Was it the cable...no...the channel on the mixer...no...FUCK. 3 Months old and it dies of crib death. Now I need to buy another mic, this time I will spend a little more cash and not buy a Rode.

Ahhh I feel better now.

[cgarges]

Here it is, guys! You wanted a review that wasn't positive...

Chris

[assfortress]

ill add this to the mic reviews.

[Velcrocore]

I love mine (nt1.) I have a couple condensers that are more than twice the price, that sit on the shelf more often than not.

Granted,, my nt1 did die on me,, but I sent it to rode, and they sent it right back. Good as new. That was a couple years ago.. and it's still tick'n

[Gebo]

A friend of mine had a pair of these. He would use them on everything, and sounded terrible pretty much every time... But he was convinced it was great. Go Figure, thin is in I guess...

[Rick Hunter]

I love mine (nt1.) I have a couple condensers that are more than twice the price, that sit on the shelf more often than not.

Granted,, my nt1 did die on me,, but I sent it to rode, and they sent it right back. Good as new. That was a couple years ago.. and it's still tick'n

I heard the NT-1 was ok, but the 1A is turd. A big silver turd with a shitty shock mount...

[bplr]

you should check out the studio projects C1 for a bargain large diaphragm. i picked one up for $200 new.

though they can be a little hot on the top and bottom, they seem to flatten out a bit when you back off of them. and they work great on voice, kick/drum knee high, acoustic guitar etc. etc...

[marcusb]

I used an NT1A under a snare on a session last week, worked nicely. Sounds like ass on pretty much everything else.

Also everyone rabbits on about how great the NTK is, for the money its not a bad mic (works nice on kick drum and bass) but every Rode mic i've ever used always seems to have this ringy, kinda capsule resonance or something in the 8-10k range that just sounds crap, especially on vocals.

Anyhoo .. there's my 2 cents and believe it or not first post! Long time lurker first time poster .. hi!

Cheers,
Marcus

[CabreeToe]

For those that do not favor the NT1A , What LDC under $200 do you prefer?
Aside from the Studio Projects C or B range. For Vocals, Acoustic Guitar.

[psychicoctopus]

under $200, the MXL 2001 with the Royer mod. Actually I spent $220 total building it w/o buying the kit. Sounds far more alive and interesting than my other $200 condenser, the AKG C-2000.

[Moon Unit]

For those that do not favor the NT1A , What LDC under $200 do you prefer?
Aside from the Studio Projects C or B range. For Vocals, Acoustic Guitar.

The only thing in that range that's worth a shit -- at least to me -- is the CAD M-177 and/or 179.

Audiot Technica 3035 isn't bad, but not as good as the rest of their mics. A used 4033 might be your best bet, though.

[joelpatterson]

Here here! The 179 is astonishing for the cost.

Of course, one of them started spitting out this weird sci-fi squealing, but I sent it back Monday and had a new one by Friday. Those CAD guys know how to treat you right, I say.

[fuzz1964]

i second the studio projects c1.....definately in my opinion the best large capsule condenser one can buy for $200.......funny story about Rode, i was in audio school out at the Conservatory of Recording Arts in Tempe, AZ...and Rode reps gave us some new Rode mics to try out, i can't remember what model numbers they were, but i'm pretty sure they were "high end" Rode mics, and as a class we did a blind mic test...i think we had about 12 mics up in a circle approximately 2 feet back from a powered hafler monitor....among them were a U87 (which will obviously sound better, we just wanted to see if we could pick it out the others), AKG 414, AT 4033, and several other lcc's around the same price range...the u87 and 414 came out on top, and the Rode mics we used (I think there were three) came out on the bottom of the list...the reps showed up later in the afternoon, and were not very pleased with the results, they just couldn't understand why their mics did so poorly!! I think because of the sales reps attitude alone, i will never purchase a rode mic!

[monkeyboy]

The under or around 200 range?
Any number of the Marshall's are nice. I own a couple of V93M's that I've
had really good luck with. A friend of mine has a non-modded 2001 it's sounds good for the acoustic stuff he does.
The Oktava mk219 and mk319 have a good sound.
Definitely the AT 3035 is pretty nice.
Musician's Enemy is running 200 dollars for the Groove Tubes Md1b FET version LDC. I have the tube version and it's pretty tasty.
Although Used at this price, Sennheiser 421 would be preferable for a lot of stuff.

I've used an Rode NT2 for some stuff (Room mic for group vocals). It's was pretty bright but not in a bad way. I have never tried an NT1(or 1A). I'm not a fan of bright mics, though. I've always heard that the NT1 is a pretty bright sounding mic. So the description of this mic is a pretty big turn off for me. Any of the mics I listed are in the 200 or less category, and were a preferable purchase to me.

The only thing I will say is I think Rode might have better quality control than Marshall or Oktava. I don't really know. though. Rode at least seems to have a better reputation in this area. Regardless, if you don't like the sound it doesn't really matter what the quality control is like.

Just get a AKG C2000B to complement your bright NT1 with some really cardboard sounding mids. Smoove.

[supafuzz]

the nady 1050 multipattern tube mic is awesome for $200 it's a no brainer