ive searched the wholllee forum, i have.
i was considering purchasing a AKG c1000, and i was almost ready to do it, but than i came here and was totally turned down! i read over and over, "DONT BUY A C1000, THEY'RE OVERRATTED!"
so now i dont know what to do!
i use a Tascam 424MKII, and as many may know, it is too old to have phantom power, so, i was wondering, instead of just bashing the C1000, can someone make another suggestion?
many have recommended the Oktava MC012, but i cant find many reviews about it, and cant find it at the stores that i usually go to for this.
hm. what should i do?
in short:
condenser mic, small applications (i.e. acoustic guitar/amped guitars, stringed instruments, minor percussion, etc), no phantom power, less that 300/250$.
thanks.
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The C1000 isn't anything special, but it's not bad either. I act
The C1000 isn't anything special, but it's not bad either. I actually like them on a snare bottom. The more important factor here is that it's going to perform better than your Tascam unit will be able to record, so you might as well go for it.
I have no experience with the MC012, but I have heard from quite a few people that quality control on Oktava products is extremely hit or miss, so take that into account.
There aren't a whole lot of battery powered condensers out there (that I can think of) so your only other real option is like the canuck said, get either an outboard pre or phantom source.
If it was me, I'd grab the C1000, it's a solid mic.
Hey guys - A couple points here. 1 is a nit pick - the 424 isn
Hey guys -
A couple points here.
1 is a nit pick - the 424 isn't too old for phantom power. It just doesn't have it.
2, I've been one of the negative nancies about the C1000 and I stand by that. I think for the quality, size and sheer ugliness, it should be far cheaper. However, it will run on 9v battery though (at a sacrifice though...) In truth, I haven't tried it on snare bottom, but I've never found the need to use it over any of the other mics in my studio, so it hasn't gone there. I tried it on overheads and acoustic guitar - both of which had less than stellar results. I got far better results with my AT3528s (SDCs from AT that were replaced a few years ago - they're cheap and overall pretty good for the $$)
3. The Oktava won't run on battery. If you get a good one, you'll probably be very pleased. If you get a bad one, you'll want to use it as a door stop.
4. You won't necessarily spend more by getting a phantom power supply and a condenser mic - in fact, you'll find out really quickly that you're severly limiting yourself by not having access to phantom power. Another option would be to pick up an Aphex 107 on Ebay. They're cheap and they actually sound pretty darned good for the money. Then you can pair that pre with say a AT3035, AT2020, KEL, Studio Projects C1 or any of 50 other dirt cheap condensers that actually sound halfway decent.
In short - my answer to your question is, there really aren't that many battery powered condensers out there and those that exist really aren't great. In fact, you would probably get better results with a $300 dynamic than a poorly designed condenser (You can pick up a MD421 for around $300 on ebay sometimes, or of course the SM57 and Audix i5 sound great too and you could get 3 of those for $300).
Those are my thoughts for the moment...
J.
Why not just buy a cheap phantom power outlet and use any mic yo
Why not just buy a cheap phantom power outlet and use any mic you want. You could just get the phantom power module alone for $40:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTPHANIII
Or for an extra $10 add a tube preamp:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ART127
FWIW the Tube MPs sound not bad if you retube them, I have one that I use whenever I need an extra pre and it's better than the channel pres in consumer boards.
8-)