I did a quick shoot out between a New MD-421 and a Vintage MD-421 U5, Both are in great condition both sound good. In my opinion one sounds better than the other. You can decide which you like better.

Also I noticed the Vintage U5 is longer and the Mic clip is metal not cheap plastic like the newer 421. which can easily be stripped from the mic stand threads if you are not really careful, where the older mic clip is metal and will last a lot longer, Also I noticed that the end of the mics where you can switch positions is again metal on the older 421 and plastic on the newer 421.

There is no processing on these tracks its just Guitar amp > vintage api-312> MD-421> apogee converters> recorded at 44.1 into logic pro and burnt to mp3.

I noticed the older 421 was louder so i turned down the api-312 preamp a little to make up for the volume difference. I believe this does affect the sound due to the transformer not being hit as hard. But im sure you will still get the idea of the sound differences. one more thing I had both mics set all the way on the -M- position

They sound like completely different microphones... Was the placement the same? I prefer the second sample, it's little scooped but in a nice way, the first one is much more in your face. Both are good anyway.

Wow both sound great , I think I may prefer the Vintage one for gtrs . It would be interesting to hear them on drums . Where abouts did you position the mic ? I find that using my 421 it gets a bit rizzy sounding on the hi end . I think the vintage one sounds great while the new is a bit sterile .

You can get rid of that rizzy sound by angling the mic at a 50 degree angle and moving the mic further from the center of the speaker.

The only reason the new one sounds more in your face is because I turned down the preamp on the vintage 421 to try and match the lower volume of the newer 421, I think I lowered it a little too much. Taking away a lot of the punch.

Yes the mic placement was very very close to the same I marked the position and angle with tape on the cab.

I should also mention that I played through my marshall JCM 900 and a 4x12 avatar cab, that has 2 vintage 30's and 2 anniversary 75's in an X pattern. I'm not positive which speaker I mic'ed. I think it's a Vintage 30.

Let me know if you'd like to hear them on anything else. Usually the 421 shoot outs are unfair cause most of the time its a new 421 in great condition and a vintage 421 in beat up horrible condition. In this case both new & vintage mics are in perfect condition so I feel like its more fair than the typical shoot outs.

Next time I will snap a picture of the mic placement.

Thanks
Steve

I would love to hear them both on vocals, that's one of my favourite uses of this mic, this year I recorded and mixed two albums with it as microphone of choice on two different voices. Then maybe some drums like floor toms or kicks and we'll have more or less whole picture of differences between them both. Thanks!

Really? I never used it on vocals. Probably cause I mostly use a u87 on vox, I'm not much of a singer but I will try and get some samples up soon. Toms and kick no problem. I will add those as well.

Thanks
Steve

Here are the floortom files It was recorded the same way as the guitar above

Floortom> MD-421 >Vintage api-312 > Apogee converter>logic @44.1>mp3.

No processing, This time I did NOT adjust the preamp to try and match levels like I did on the guitar shootout.

Sorry for the Drum sounding so bad I did not tune it since the last session and the skin is old as hell with tape all over it.

It is an 18 inch Tama Artstar 2, I believe its from the 1980's but I'm not sure.

Here are the Kick drum files It was recorded the same way as the guitar/ Floortom above.

Kick Drum > MD-421 >Vintage api-312 > Apogee converter>logic @44.1>mp3.

No processing, This time I did NOT adjust the preamp to try and match levels.

Kick Drum is a Tama Artstar 2, From the 1980's ? Who cares! The size is approx,18"D X 24"W, Not really sure how they measure.

I like vintage one more on all samples but kick drum, where new one is brighter and more forward sounding. Good to have both

Great to hear on the tom as well as Kick , I actually like both mics equally .

I agree with you, they are both really good, one leans one way and one leans the other way, both are very usable for many applications. Both are great multi-purpose mics.

Thank you for this. This helped me decide on the vintage 421. Creamy buttery goodness.

Thanks for the comparison. I was surprised with how different they sounded. Like two completely different mics! I prefer my older vintage units... except on the kick, but I never use mine there anyways.

Great!!! Glad it helped you decide. Let us know what you like it best on??


Thanks
Steve

This is a cool thread. Esp the floor tom. They sound similar to me but the vintage 421 clearly has more low end. It's s tight low end as well. I'm not crazy about any of the sounds but if nothing else this thread confirms that vintage 421s have more low end and its still tight. Very cool-thank you for this