Quote:
Originally Posted by rodreb  Of all the MXL mics, which are good and which ones suck? |
To the original poster's question here's what I like and what I don't...
The Good -
MXL 603 - pretty good stock,
sounds like the KM 184's twin once modified.
MXL 2001 - Decent enough capsule for Dave Royer to use this mic for his
"Barstow / Berlin" article. Cheap Chinese transformer degrades performance (assorted spitty distortion) but does provide an after-market upgrade path.
MXL V63 - Has a 6 micron capsule and is not as zingy as most Chinese LDCs. Transformerless. Headbasket and signal path mods clean this up. Remains a bit bright and lightweight even when mod'd.
MXL 2003 - Very flat response capsule, quite unusual for a Chinese LDC. Transformerless so it needs the usual capsule-to-FET capacitor upgrade and a few other signal path tweaks. A very clean and balanced FET / transformerless sound is possible with this mic.
MXL V67g - The real winner - nearly flat response capsule, transformer output. Combined with some signal path tweaks this a very nice mic with good body and transformer-coupled "heft".
The Bad -
MXL V69 - spitty, spike-in-the-head HF peak with stock capsule and electronics. Just not cost effective to solve all its problems.
For other LDC cheapies I like the Nady SCM 900 because its only $60. Has a poor capsule and transformer, but makes a cheap platform for a complete capsule / circuit / transformer overall.