Show us your microphones

why not, we have a show us everything else.

But please tell us what you like/dislike about them, for bass (or for other things if you use them).

A side question - Shure 57 or 58 for bass? Which one, does it matter?

I have yet to use a mic to record from my amp.
I guess one day I will but so far no interest.
I have two mics for sax ATM though…

The Rode is the first one I got, does a good job, but I really don’t know what I am doing with recording sax yet…

Then I got this suprisingly inexpensive ribbon mic for sax, which is also great, and allows me to pump my sax through my pedalboard with an adaptor. The Rode uses phantom power so i cannot use it through the pedalboard.

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the 57 is more suitable for recording instruments, whereas the 58 is more made for singing. those two mics are quite similar but not the same thing. I would recommend a 57 over a 58 for recording. that said that’s not my favorite for recording a speaker, but I find that it works quite well to record the “air” of a room.

anyway I’m far from a mic expert, it’s just my experience when doing recording sessions in studio.

I’ll make a pictures of my mics tomorrow, with the day light.

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I like BLUE so on the stage type handheld I have all of the encore 100, 100i, 200, and 300.

I setup the older daughter with ember and bluebird. The younger one gets the spark and one of the yeti.

I like to try everything out. We got the baby bottle, reactor, the mouse, and Kiwi running through the Blue Robbie tube mic preamp.







My thoughts on each is coming. I’m at my daughter’s Judo class now, lol.

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I also have a PreSonus V2 Tube Preamp but I’ve never really taken the time to sort out recording on sax with these things.

I guess this is the next frontier for me, or is it rabbit hole. ?

Blue handheld mic
Encore 100(vocal) and instrument 100i(instruments)
They are almost identical, the vocal handles mid really well. The instrument is more highs and lows.

Encore 200 pretty much best dynamic mic I use. It’s just as bombproof as Shute SM. It can handle just about anything on stage.

Encore 300 definitely best handheld mic. It’s a condenser mic that requires phantom power but this mic just kick ass. I think it’s the mic they use on “The Voice”.

On to the condenser mic

I’m going to skip the Spark and Yeti they have now become a minimum standard for entry level digital recording. Great bang for the buck but not a whole lot of sparkles anymore.

Ember
very task specific mic, great for podcast stuff. Though many are using for vocal(singing) and instruments mic with great result.

BlueBird
another great vocal mic that can excel with instrument recording. It’s been my favorite mic for years. I got my first one since it came out when it was still made in USA. Great for modern type vocal recording. You’d need a decent preamp to bring out its full potential.

Baby Bottle
great classic/Vintage tone super cool mic for vocal. Great for female voice. Great mid.

Reactor
Unique look, multiple pattern very versatile. I believe this is the heaviest mic Blue ever made. Not boom mic stand friendly unless you have a very high end one. Best package under $500(retail)

Mouse
It was the best Blue mic I own. It handles sound pressure level very well very easy to mic and dialing the sweet spot. Great for just about anything but definitely love anything with lowend, bass drum, bass cab. It seems to bring richness out of your voice. My friend borrow this for a commercial voice over project and it was awesome.

Kiwi
Best mic I own. It seems to love everything male, female@r. X , acoustic guitar, amp. I don’t have another $2000 mic to compare to, though I have done many projects with the 3 most popular Neumann’s models the TLM 102&103 and the U87, my bias towards Blue would not allow me to favor Neumann over Blue, lol.

Robbie mic Pre
Well it’s the only mic preamp I’ve use so I have nothing to compare with. It, being tube amp the operative word has to be warmth, lol. It has plenty of power, very clean and quiet and most importantly, it looks very cool.

My personal thoughts, most of us mere mortals can’t tell much of a difference between any 2 mic unless it’s side by side and unprocessed. It makes even less difference when running them through interface and $200 monitor. The biggest difference is during the recording process. Unique and/or attractive looking mics like Blue seems to bring out the extra effort from the performers.

A Shure KSMxxx sounds great but doesn’t look very good and who can tell the difference between Neumann M49 to the TLM 102 or U67 to U87, only 3 people cares, the producer, the engineer and the bloke who paid for it, lol.

My best advice for any one who’s interested is to get the BlueBird or BlueBird SL with a decent mic pre best bang for the buck, and for $250-$300 used Reactor is just excellent.

Sorry I hope it’s informative.

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I have the Boya BY-MM1 mic hooked up to my tablet.

Picks up the bass really well. No need to enhance the sound 3 or more times.

Downsides
Needs a stand.
Short aux cables (but even 6 or so feet from the amp it works great).

https://www.boya-mic.com/smartphonemicrophones/BY-MM1.html

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left to right :

  • Sennheiser e906 : my favorite mic for recording an amplifier, it works great directly hanging in front of the speaker. it can handle insane pressure levels and it’s great too for recording a drum.
  • Shure SM58 : a true classic.
  • an old (70’s I think) AKG that sounds vintage as f*ck.

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Actually that preamp is a great way to boost your mic signal which is usually very low. I use fetheads that go straight into my DAI.

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Shure SM58 for vocals goes a hell of a long way, and there’s no point in anything cheaper - none will be as good, and some of its clones truly suck. Especially the XM8500, which might make a good karaoke mic :rofl:

SM57 is better for instruments. The primary (but not only) difference is the shape of the area the mic is sensitive in. Otherwise they are similar.

There’s also the SM57beta, which some prefer.

I am far, far from being a good enough vocalist to want anything more than the SM58. The SM7 does look great though

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Saxes tend to utilize vocal mics, and why I have what I have so far.

I’m looking at the Electrovoice RE20 as people are saying it works great in crappy rooms (which I have) and I’ve not been satisfied with the two I have so far (that said I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing so it could be me).

I am also awaiting this cool little guy that’s gotten rave reviews for sax and hopefully kick starts me into playing live somewhere. Apparently Nux hit it out of the park with this one.

Al your current mic choices are super impressive- that’s some serious cheddar too :rofl:

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yeah and the “grill dome” (which contains the anti pop filter) of the 58 can unscrew, and then it’s kinda closer to a 57. useful if you have only a 58 and want to record instruments with it. I’ve already done that.

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Check this out

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Really interesting. The beta variants sounded “better”, but I think that’s because the normal SM57/58 sounded a lot more clear and detailed - more raw, while the betas sounded “cooked” a little - definitely something like more compressed, a bit less dynamic anyway.

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My first microphone I ever bought was this CAD KBM412 bass drum mic. I used it to record my drums for covers and it worked out pretty well. I haven’t used it to record my bass yet, but I should give it a try.

I bought the Shure MV88+ specifically to record my bass directly to my phone. It does a good job for what it is. I now use it mostly to record jam sessions with my drummer buddy.

This MXL V250 I bought from Guitar Center. It was a “daily deal” and I thought I’d try it out. For my experience level it works fine. After reading through this thread I’m curious about mic pre amps now.

I also have these Sterling Audio SL230MP mics that I use for overhead drum mics. I’m now interested to see what it would sound like to record some bass covers with one or both of them.

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The only mic I need:

SM58 all the way. $100, sounds great, will outlive us all.

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Haven’t used her yet but, after doing my “homework”, I got the Sennheiser e945.

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Nice! Sennheiser makes fantastic mics. I am not sure they would make much difference for me at double the cost of the SM58, but still, very good mic for sure.

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After circling the rabbit hole and reading lots about great sax mics and bad rooms to record in and best fit for both, I ordered this today…

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RE20Bun--electro-voice-re20-broadcast-microphone-with-shockmount-and-windscreen

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Man, I love it when people are good to themselves; And, not in terms of dollars (be it one dollar or a million). Just living their bass (best) lives. Through the forum topics, just seeing people building, buying, sharing, filling dents with silver, re-wiring, drilling, or qualifying for an episode of Hoarders, with their basses. You guys (and gals) are good for the soul.

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