| I found five mics in this
category. Fletcher of Mercenary Audio sent me his personal Milab VM-44
Classic (he's not a dealer, he just likes them). I also got hold of the
3 Zigma CHI SDC, CharterOak M900, AKG C 451 B reissue and the unusual
DPA 4099. Let's talk about that last one first. This mic clamps on to
your guitar (or violin or mandolin or other acoustic instrument) so no
matter where you wiggle and squirm the mic will be pointing in the
right spot. It's not a bad idea if you record yourself, but it takes a
long time to find just the right spot, which would make it a tad
complicated for recording others. They'd pretty much have to send in
their acoustic guitar an hour ahead of the session. But DPA is on the
right track, I think. The three standouts here were the M900 with cardioid cap ($500), VM-44 ($700) and the 3 Zigma CHI microphone with hypercardioid cap ($680). The clarity and detail are crystal clean on the CharterOak M900, which also offers capsules in omni, hyper and cardioid mode. The 3 Zigma CHI also offers modular caps (I liked the hypercardioid for this mode) and has the best noise specs of any mic costing less than $1000. The Milab has a slightly mellower sound than the other two, but they all have similar crispness and speed but never come off as overly bright or harsh. |