What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?

Subject: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 10:18 AM

My long-loved Audio Technica ATM11 condenser mic, which was not a terribly expensive one ($150 or so in 1991 as I recall), may have finally crapped out.

What do you like for live gigs?

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: mandotim
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 10:31 AM

Depends on the gig and the volume required. Rode NT5 or AKG C1000s for me, if it's a quiet gig. If loud, a pickup.
Tim

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Will Fly
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 10:33 AM

I usually use the old, old faithful - a Shure SM58 or 57.

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Hamish
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 10:42 AM

Whilst a mic does give a better sound, I'm afraid for ease of set-up and performance I use a pick-up. Very happy with my Headway under-the-saddle one.

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 02:40 PM

Now't wrong with the SM57 but I prefer the 1000S (assuming you have phantom power or are prepared to use batteries). I find you can get further from it.

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 03:42 PM

The C1000S is a bit splashy in the extended treble response that is typical of that type of condenser. The SM57 does not go there so does not splash and therefore sounds a little more solid. But if it's going loud, Headway, B-Band or Fishman undersaddle is good.

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Fortunato
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 04:00 PM

57 is fine, workhorse. But I like Shure_SM94 for the guitar/banjo/autoharp
a bit more.

http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_SM94-LC_content

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: treewind
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 04:07 PM

Behringer C2

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: mandotim
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 05:52 PM

Nobody should be sniffy about the Behringer C2. Great little mike, I use them as drum overheads and as a crossed stereo pair. Nothing comes close for the money. Richard; I'm not sure what you mean by 'splashy'. Is it something you can eq out, or something more fundamental to the tone?
With all instrument mikes, placement is often as important as the type of mike, and this precludes movement by the performer to some extent.
Pickups; I like the Fishman blender systems or the active version of the Headway Snake for guitar. For banjo I really like the Headway that fixes on the control rods inside the pot and has a pressure pad that sits against the head. Mandolin; McIntyre Feather is good, as are the Fishman bridges (the posh one of these now has a piezo and an electret microphone), but if you want the best and money is no object, go for Schertler. All of this IMHO, of course!

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 06:33 PM

I'm not wholly sure how to explain "splashy". Here goes.

On the very best large diaphragm condenser vocal mics (that I can not afford so I go on what I hear when others use them) like Rodes there is a sort of even but almost glassy clarity to sibilants and higher frequencies.

In comparison to that the small diaphragm condensers like the C1000 (and let's face it they have been around a few years now) have a slight splatter on the edge of sibilants, and to my ears it makes guitar sound a little brittle, or tizzy.

If you have a separate "brilliance" or "enhance" control (often on the guitar's box-in-the-side) backing that off helps, but I am still convinced I can hear that raggedness. Just cutting treble also palliates but does not cure - to my ears.

It isn't there with an SM57 (or SM58 or direct competitor vocal mics) and for some reason I feel that those dynamic mics capture the flavour of a guitar's character in a way that sounds to me more like the unamplified guitar. Which would measure better is another question, but it's a bit like the comparison between a good HiFi transistor system - like Quad 33/303 (which is rounder than many others) and a good valve system - say Radford SC22/STA25 (or bigger - I had an STA100 at university and I wish I had never sold it even if the price of a new set of KT88s for it was - er - about a bottle of whisky each then and now up to four times that and you cannot get Mullard or MOV valves any more and the Chinese and Russian ones are more like firework displays and thinner sounding) - but the dynamics do not get the very very high frequencies at all.

If I can still hear them at the age of 60+ after a lifetime of saying "if it's too loud you're too old" it must be horrid to a youngster who can still hear up to 25 kHz (and more in difference tones) and actually has "ears".

The only undersaddles I have actually used that have people saying "Wow! what is that?" are the Headway snake and a Schaller powerbridge (the saddle comes all in one piece, not a strip to put under your existing saddle) the serial number of which I have forgotten. I have not been able to afford Schertler nor PUTW, nor have I tried Highlander. B-Band are fairly natural but a little nasal and maybe a smidgeon "B-ish" and my reliability experience has not been good, and the Headways are difficult to fit if you do not have plenty of space to get the bridgeplate routed deeper with a rounded bottom - but are very even across the strings.

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 01:14 AM

pick up. mini flex..now GHS strings carries these, and may go under a different name...this is actually a small internal battery operated good neck mic

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 01:32 AM

Hi Dave,

If I am doing a fully acoustic gig I like a couple of old Crown PZM Mics. One on the floor about 10' away and one on a stand about chest high 10' away. But that is almost never possible.

Vocally a Shure SM 58 Beta and instrumentally an SM 57 in tandem with my pick ups. Pick up The World on the longneck five and Baggs I beams on everything else.

Don

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: mandotim
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 03:36 AM

Thanks Richard; I know exactly what you mean now, and agree. I'm not sure it's a problem for all small diaphragm condensers though; to my ear, the Rode doesn't suffer from this. On the AKG, it can be a benefit, especially if you have an acoustically muddy-sounding guitar.
The GHS goose neck mike is ok, but very prone to feedback if you are playing in highh volume environments. Haven't tried the ibeams, but I've heard very good things about the higher end active ones.
Tim

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 04:31 AM

I-Beams are pretty feedback prone but can be made to sound very nice. A little scoop reduces nasality. Better for feedback than an Ashworth or Bottle-top stick-on but not by a lot, and nowhere as near feedback-resistant as an undersaddle (or, even more feedback resistant but sound nothing like an acoustic guitar, the magnetic pickups you put in the soundhole eg Woody)

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: treewind
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 05:30 AM

"the small diaphragm condensers like the C1000 ... have a slight splatter on the edge of sibilants"

To the sensitive ears of the pro audio world they are regarded as excruciatingly shrieky, while the SM57 is a respectable mic (if not always the absolute best) for almost any purpose.
It has nothing to do with diaphragm size - if anything small diaphragm condensers are likely to have a smoother off-axis response than large, and on-axis there is no generic difference caused by diaphragm size.

All the C1000 ever had going for it was that it used to be the only affordable condenser mic, (and you could use it battery powered if your PA didn't have phantom power) but the Behringer beats it hands down on price and, and while it's obviously not going to have the smoothness or consistency of a mic at 5 times the price it's got no obvious vices and a far flatter response than the SM58 you'll often find thrown up in front of any instrument on an average PA rig.

Better still, you can lose or break one on stage and not make a net loss on the entire gig...

Anahata

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 04:30 PM

I would think a lot depends on how you use it. I employ a mic and amp for my acoustic when playing with a small trad jazz band but I play heavily with a large Tortis pick. My Martin 0021 seems to cut through well. I have a little Unidyne EV which does somewhat well. I'm still experimenting for the sound I use. My model for playing is Eddie Lang.

Frank

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 04:45 PM

Frank - the Unidyne mic range is a very useful range. My model for some of my playing is also Eddie Lang - only another 1,000 years to go before I get there!

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: deadfrett
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 06:51 PM

I use a SM 57 or 58 for instruments and play thru the board. I use a SM 58 for vocals and Harp. In a all acoustic gig, I like to use an Audio Technica AT 2020. I use McIntyre Feather pickups in the insruments if the room is really noisy. Dave

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: bruceCMR
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 07:48 PM

The C1000. So rough, you could grate cheese on it...

Subject: RE: What mic do you like for gtr/banjo/mand?
From: alex s
Date: 24 Jan 10 - 12:57 PM

SM57 - can't be beat for a reliable workhorse