Help me spend some money!

[madrigal]

OK, here's the scenario: I have a small home studio that I mainly use for recording acoustic stuff, male and female singers, and also some solo classical instrumentals. After much gear pimping, I've finally got a couple of pres I'm happy with - a brent averill 1272 and a manley mic/eq unit. Now I need to start expanding my pitiful collection of mics (I won't embarrass myself by saying what's in it, but put it this way, a blue baby bottle is the best at the moment…)
The baby bottle actually sounds pretty good with the 1272 (what doesn't!) especially for beefing up singers with thin voices, but when used with the manley (which is pretty neutral sounding itself) it's just dull - too much low mid, no sparkle. And since I use the Manley for most classical stuff, that's a problem.
I'll be travelling to the US next month to rectify this, with a budget of about $1500. So here, finally, is my question: for that I can get a 2nd hand u99, OR a u195 and a km184 (I need a small-diaphragm condenser for guitars). What's the best option? Having read the soundelux thread here, the u99 sounds good, with the highs I need, especially on girl voices, but will I miss the bottom for male voices and weak singers? The u195 sounds like a good multi-purpose mic, but is too dark for my purposes? As the man says, so much gear, so little time…

I can try the mics out in the US, but I'd have to use my own voice for that, and there's no way I can get them shipped over here on spec to try them with the people I'd actually be using them on. So, to finally get to the point, can anyone recommend one of the other for my applications?

[atticus]

You could easily get a Blue Dragonfly and a pair of KM 184's in that budget, probably even new if you went to a GC and haggled. Good luck!!

[NathanEldred]

The U99 can be made to be a lot darker by using the reverse side of the capsule in figure of 8 or you can always take advantage of the low end boost from proximity effect. The U195 is not dark at all, it's just very natural sounding...definitely more top than something like a ribbon mic. The U195 also sounds phenomenal on acoustic guitars, so that may help your situation. Personally I would rather have a couple of really great quality utility mics at first (U195, KM184) than one more costly microphone...especially if the mic locker only had one piece currently in it. YMMV.

[madrigal]

Thanks for the advice Nathan (and for all the other great posts form you round here - very infomative for a former lurker like myself!)
Yeah, you're probably right and it's best to get a couple of good mics rather than one expensive one. That's the problem with gear lust tho, you always want more...