condenser under $200

[waylon]

wanting to get something that would work well on vocals, acoustic instruments, and drums...

thanks

[MrBanjo]

Audio Technica AT2035

[MSS]

The drum part may be pushing it but that little mic built into the Apogee ONE sounds awesome especially on voice and guitars. I think you can get a used one for under $200.........have to have a mac though! Barring that, I recently picked up a Blue Spark for under $100 and it really sounds good as well..........RODE NT1a can be found for $150 used these days. Great sounding mics.

[lespaulreedsmith]

Audio Technica AT2035
bingo:aok

(or a used AT3035)

[alsongs]

You may want to look at the MCA SP1. You can get four or five for $200.00 and they will fool you into thinking you have a much more expensive mic. Plus, then you will have enough mics to do a drum kit.

[scredly]

I have a pair of Karma K-35's I'm pretty happy with. Multi-pattern, pad, hi-pass. @$199 each. I Dremeled out the metal bars across the windscreen and stuffed the body with speaker insulation to kill some resonance.

http://www.karmamics.com/shop/K-35-AFET-Multi-Pattern-Condenser-Microphone.html

[JunkGear]

The AKG Perception 220 is a nice mic for the money.

[llamaiguana]

Maybe look used? I got a Shure KSM27 for about $90.

[rokpunk]

the mic is the most important part of your signal chain. why skimp out on it? and why do i have to ask that question so often on this forum? quite often you would be better off using an SM57 rather than a cheapo condenser. just my 2 cents.

[Strangeland]

I think for those three applications (vox, acoustic instruments and drums) that a ribbon mic will be your best bet. The Cascade Fathead was $175 last time I checked and it's a pretty nice mic. I own one and have used it for all of those applications. It's good to have a preamp with high gain (around 70db or more) to drive it. You also need to be extremely careful with air bursts as they will shred the transduction element (a super thin aluminum ribbon). Use a good pop filter when signing for sure and you should be OK.

[scredly]

Oh, I forgot to mention the CAD M-179. I have a pair. Nice mic for $199.

[Bix]

The MXL 2003a gets a lot of love on gearslutz. Chekc it out, it's been very favorably compared to a U87. I have a MXL V67g with Joly mods and it is a good mic as well, but when I spoke to Joly about the 2003a, he said unmodded it was in the same territory as my V67g.

Good luck
Bix

[ontariomaximus]

I have done some research in the low price condenser mic area. I have both the M179 and the 2003A.
M179 - overall good, uptilted freq response
2003A - better, overall quite excellent, a little richer, less wispy

[Fran Guidry]

I have done some research in the low price condenser mic area. I have both the M179 and the 2003A.
M179 - overall good, uptilted freq response
2003A - better, overall quite excellent, a little richer, less wispy

Have you by any chance done any "same performance, level matched" comparisons? Do you have any same performance level matched clips to share?

Fran

[chillybilly]

the mic is the most important part of your signal chain. why skimp out on it? and why do i have to ask that question so often on this forum? quite often you would be better off using an SM57 rather than a cheapo condenser. just my 2 cents.

I agree with the sentiment but the A2035 still leaves a SM57 in the dust, especially with a tube preamp.

[ontariomaximus]

Have you by any chance done any "same performance, level matched" comparisons? Do you have any same performance level matched clips to share?

Fran


I sang a certain Eagles song 4 times with each mic, and listened to the tracks by themselves, and in the context of the song. No I ain't sharing. Performance issues aside, both were fine. But the 2003A was a little richer, a little more rounded sounding.