In that price range, the Rode NT-2A is more versatile and has a clean sound with lower noise.

You might also want to look at the RODE NT-4 http://www.rodemic.com/?pagename=Products&product=NT4

studio projects lsd2...I love blumlein for guitar!

I also love stereo mics. 8-)

I've heard they're retooling the LSD2 or something.... I always wanted to try that one out, but it's big size put me off, and the build quality looked a little shakey at the time. It's not a very sexy looking beast at all. But you obviously like it, Teddy, so, that's a good reference indeed.

I've got an NT-4 and I have to say it's a great little stereo mic for all kinds of stuff. I've stuck it in the middle of reeds/winds for a little extra detail, and I've stuck it on a table mic stand in the middle of a few Irish pub "sessions" and gotten great results with it. It's not nec. the quiestest mic you'll come across, but for point and shoot stuff in a pinch, it's fantastic. One of these days I'll try it out on solo acoustic guitar as well.

Bruce Swedien mentioned the NT4 for acoustic guitar too...so it must be decent!

JoeH wrote: I've heard they're retooling the LSD2 or something.... I always wanted to try that one out, but it's big size put me off, and the build quality looked a little shakey at the time. It's not a very sexy looking beast at all. But you obviously like it, Teddy, so, that's a good reference indeed.

I've got an NT-4 and I have to say it's a great little stereo mic for all kinds of stuff. I've stuck it in the middle of reeds/winds for a little extra detail, and I've stuck it on a table mic stand in the middle of a few Irish pub "sessions" and gotten great results with it. It's not nec. the quiestest mic you'll come across, but for point and shoot stuff in a pinch, it's fantastic. One of these days I'll try it out on solo acoustic guitar as well.

JoeH wrote: I've heard they're retooling the LSD2 or something.... I always wanted to try that one out, but it's big size put me off, and the build quality looked a little shakey at the time. It's not a very sexy looking beast at all. But you obviously like it, Teddy, so, that's a good reference indeed.

I've got an NT-4 and I have to say it's a great little stereo mic for all kinds of stuff. I've stuck it in the middle of reeds/winds for a little extra detail, and I've stuck it on a table mic stand in the middle of a few Irish pub "sessions" and gotten great results with it. It's not nec. the quiestest mic you'll come across, but for point and shoot stuff in a pinch, it's fantastic. One of these days I'll try it out on solo acoustic guitar as well.

We must have gotten a good one then since our NT-4 is very quiet and we have used it,on all kinds of acoustical material with very good results. JoeH, how new or old is your NT-4?

"Thomas W. Bethel wrote:
We must have gotten a good one then since our NT-4 is very quiet and we have used it,on all kinds of acoustical material with very good results. JoeH, how new or old is your NT-4?

You could be on to something there, Tom. I dont' have it front of me to check the serial #, but it's not terribly new, and I suspect there's been a few upgrades in the circuitry since it came on the market. I still like it, though, I can usually work around the less-than-stellar noise floor 90% of the time.

Ok guys I appreciated the suggestion about the rode NT2-A the most and at first I was very impressed. Still I wanted to take my time to read and evaluate before posting again or deciding to buy it.
First of all let me say that the price range is basilar. So it is perfectly useless to mention about mics that costs 950 dollars ok?
I don't have the money to buy an AKG solid tube. If I had that was the mic I probably bought.
So let's turn back to a comparative discussion in the range of my intrest please. Sontronics stc-2 costs about 250 Euro.
Rode NT2-A is about 100 Euro over. Ok lets say that in this case the range is respected.... even if not too strictly.
But there are a couple of facts:
1 the stc-2 comes with a solid flightcase
2 the stc-2 comes with the shockmount included
also notice that the Rode shockmount costs a ridiculous amount of money (82,00 euro!) So this seem to push even the NT2-A a bit out of the price range. Hey I'm gonna build my SM with the toothpicks! LOL

You could say that anyway what counts for more is the mic quality. Ok and I would agree. For example I'm very interested in getting a silent mic.
But I'm also interested in a well balanced mic which behaves fine on bass frequencies of a nylon string guitar. Now a review I read develop some critic both on the strumming guitar parts, bass frequencies and also mentions "a bit too much color" in this mic. So I'm again undecided about the two mics. Because for example the sontronics was reviewed as very
clean (not colored mic) and rated with 9 while the rode is rated with 8.

I looked around and saw that in the range of the rode NT2-a there could be also the Shure KSM-27 (with shockmount included) and the SMProaudio MC03 which I consider very good. But has a thing I don't like too mouch: it is not a phantom mic (but comes with a dedicated alim.). Bho.

Not too mention that the review I read about the Rode NT2-A ends asking the provocative question why not buying a Rode NT2000 (considering also the cost of the shockmoun). Uhm they might be even right. But at this point I too would have a question for them: why not buying directly RODE Electronics? ;D
After all I think I'll buy the NT2-a if somebody can convince me thet it is not too colored and sound good on both strumming & bass nylon string frequencies. Can you?

electricstar - I don't know which country you are in, but you can get perfectly adequate shockmounts from Ebay shopsellers for around €20. NT-2A microphones are about £190 (€320) in the UK.

When I suggested the Rode NT-2A, I mentioned flexibility compared with the Sontronics ST-2. The Rode has a pattern switch that allows you to switch between cardioid, figure-8 and omni polar patterns. For a single microphone recording a classical guitar, you would use the cardioid (or possibly omni). If you at a later time were to get a second NT-2A, you could switch one to figure-8 and record two tracks in mid-side (MS) configuration. This really brings a guitar recording to life, and it's surprising what the extra width information gives to the recorded sound.

I think the Avenson's are very nice. I use them on piano all the time and love them, though have never used them on classical guitar. They are a bit on the noisy side, but the sound is outstanding. I sold my NT5s.

For a bit more money, you might look at Beyerdynamics MC930 stereo pair (cardioid only). They aren't talked about all over the place but are very well respected by those who have heard them.