All:

The Oktava MK012 is a favored SDC mic, especially for acoustic guitar and drum overheads. It also is a multi-capsule mic. The capsule (and pad) screws on/off the body to change it from cardoid to omni, hypercardoid, etc. It even has an expensive, boutique capsule available to convert it into a LDC vocal mic. It's generally considered a good investment and, maybe, THE bargain in SDC mics. I know these are currently very hard to get in the U.S. at a decent price, so I'm posting this info for the interested.

I know they were once as low as $50 each, but I just picked up two more new Oktava MK012 mics at a local Guitar Center for $100 each. They're not advertising them and they don't have them out on display. I just happened to ask: "Will you ever have the Oktava franchise again?" The saleperson said that they received a "mysterious shipment" of five a few days ago.

They have three left. Plastic "alligator mouth" case, cardoid capsule, -10dB pad, mic, clip, and Russian manual with hand-serialized frequency response curve.

Contact:

Philip Rowland (live sound)
Guitar Center,
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
610.832.0800

They do take phone orders and ship. From another recent posting, other local Guitar Centers may have also received similar shipments of MK012 and MK319 mics. Call and ask.

Good luck,
Paj
8^)

P.S.: I already have a pair of these. Why did I buy two more? About eight weeks ago I lent out my other pair of 12's to a friend and ever since then it's been: ". . .how about another week . . .I'm dying to try them on . . .Come on, sell 'em to me . . .**** is not home right right now---at the sound of the beep, please leave a message . . ."

8^)