Expanding My Mic Collection

If you could only have one of these mic's, which would it be?

  • Sennheiser e604

    Votes: 1 14.3%

  • Sennheiser e609 silver

    Votes: 6 85.7%
  • Total voters
    7
Eboy87

Eboy87

Well-Known Member
So I've been needing to expand my mic collection for a while from the POS Digital Reference things (which make great TB mic's, read, cheap) and the MXL pack I thought would be a good idea. I've been cruising ebay and found the Sennheiser e604 and e609 for good prices. But I do have a question regarding the 609.

I've heard through the grapevine that the 609 silver is a terrible mic. I've not personally had the pleasure of listening to one, other than a few wave files I have, but I have heard good things about the 609 series in general. Is there a reason I shouldn't pick one up?
 
From my experience, the 609 is a great mic. I've used it for hanging over the fronts of guitar amps (what it was designed for), as well as winds and horns. Works great on trumpet. I've also heard of people having good experiences with using it on toms, but I always use something like an Sennheiser 604 or an Audix mic for that.
 
I too have had great success with the 609's. They sound great on guitars and congas. I used them for the first time last summer at a festival I worked. After the two weeks were over, I had to buy 2 for my own collection. I have used them countless times since.

~Dave
 
They are different mics for different purposes. 604s are good drum mics, although I prefer Audix D series. You'll find they have a nice big sound but I prefer the attack of the Audix D2 and D4. I've never used them on guitar cabs, but I suspect they would be rather dark and boomy.
The 609s are the new version of the old 409s from "a few" years ago. I've had no experience with the new 609s but the old 409s were fantastic on horns and pianos, and pretty decent on low SPL guitar cabs. I never liked them (old 409s) in High SPL applications, and couldn't imagine using them on drums. Based on that experience, I wouldn't recomend the new 609s as a drum mics but I wouldn't turn then down as guitar mics.
Usually I use an SM57 on High SPL guitar amps, and Sennheiser MD-421s when the focus is more about quality than quantity. Interestingly enough, the 421 is also a reasonable tom mic. Maybe a bit thin, but better than nothing in a pinch. I've seen seen it as a vocal but that was a TV broadcast so I can't evaluate it properly in that application. As a general purpose stage mic, it's pretty good though. Might be worth a look.
 
Thanks guys. I actually went with the 609, found a great deal on B-stock that I couldn't pass up. The 604's intrigued me, since I've heard good things about them. Really, I hope to make a Sennheiser MD441 my next purchase. We've used them, 421's, AT4033, that Nuemann vocal mic something 105, etc. in class. I've gotten the mic buying bug from Jack methinks.
 
Two last things, how acceptable are blue mic cables on stage? I thought about picking up some of them from Audiopile to know which are mine. And does anyone have a source for stiff foam for a mic case? I was gonna price out building my own ('cause I enjoy building things). I know avkid had a link to case building parts, but I seem to have lost that link somewhere.

Thanks guys, and gals.
 
Blue mic cables kinda stand out...I'd stay with black. But, put two pieces of electrical tape (pick your two favorite colors) to put bands on the ends of each cable, adapter, mic stand, etc. It's hard to not agree that it's your mic cable when there's a two-color identifying system. I use dark blue and dark green together as my code for cables mics, stands, adapters, and all of the tools in my toolbox.
 
Check out that link to listen to some different mics on toms, etc.

I've never used a 609, and it seems like others like them okay; if I were you, I'd get some 57's and some other mic (Shure Beta 52/91, Audix D112, etc.) for the kick drum (since it sounds like you are going for a drum kit type to thing). If you don't have the money, remember that less is more and it's better to save up for the gear that won't let you down.
 
I wasn't neccessarily going for the drum look. I thought it might be interesting to have a few 604s nonetheless. I found out that if you see it for a good (realistic) price, it's best to get the item before its gone. I wound up with getting a 609 for around $70. Now I'm after an Oktava MK012, but I need my paycheck from this weekend first.

I'm actually not too much of a fan of the Shure 57/58. There are much better mics that are tailored to a situation that sound so much better with little to no EQ. True, they may be everywhere and accepted in as many places as American Express, but it's like having a Kia when you can afford something much better. Besides, I'm a huge fan of Sennheisers offerings. Now if I can just afford a 441 I'd be in heaven.

And thanks guys for the reality check on the mic cable. I don't even know why I posted such a dumb question. I was looking at these anyway. I really need to win the lottery, I have a long shopping list.
 
I wouldn't go for the Oktava - we did some mic testing the other day in sound design class, and I can say that the MXL 603S/604 are excellent mics. They have a bass response that you wouldn't expect from a diaphragm that small, and are incredibly compliant. Basically a great drum overhead. Our TD actually got them as "extras" with his MXL large-diaphragm mics (the two-pack with a large and small diaphragm condenser) because they were on sale, and he was very surprised to plug these things in and here the very nice, uncolored, full range sound that they were able to pick up. A pair (with aluminum case and shockmounts) can be had on ebay for $150 on a good day. And that's from an MXL dealer. Without shockmounts, and just stand clips, $110 seems to be a good price to look for. Another small diaphragm condenser to look in to would be the AT PRO37. Excellent mic, small, but good response. I've used these as drum overheads and as instrument mics, and they work pretty well. I've seen them used in a number of live situations as drum overheads, and they've always sounded pretty darn good.

I'm also looking at buying a pair of small diaphragm condensers, and that's all of my research from the past month or so.

I too am not that hot about SM57s and 58s, preferring Sennheiser's E835 for vocals and Audix's I5 for instruments.
 
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Here's the best deal that I've found on the MXL 603S.
 
I've never really been a fan of MXL's offerings. We had an MK in class the other day, the Russian one, not the Chinese one, and I thought it blew the sound of a MXL away. You do need to watch the feedback from them, but I think they sound excellent considering their price and size.

Then again, mics are one of those things that no one will agree on.

For the record, the e935 is my favorite vocal mic. Oh, and howlingwolf, it's AKG who makes the D112, and I think the only place on a gig I wanna see one is propping the door open, if that. Those things sound like a**
 
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I got one of those MXL two packs for half price at a Guitar Center grand opening.
The side address condenser had some issues from 2-4k that required a decent bit of eq.
The pencil condenser on the other hand was lovely on violins and not too bad on a banjo.
I sold them when I switched my focus to loudspeakers and infrastructure to support demo rigs.
 
Call me old; but SM-58s for vocals and SM-57s for everything else, and you're done. Why complicate things with all those fancy and expensive mics? Shure, you could use all Neumann, but "It's all in the mix," anyway!;)
 
derekleffew said:
Call me old; but SM-58s for vocals and SM-57s for everything else, and you're done. Why complicate things with all those fancy and expensive mics? Shure, you could use all Neumann, but "It's all in the mix," anyway!;)
Click to expand...

That's like saying that a MAC500 will work for just about everything, and a MAC600 for the rest.
 
derekleffew said:
Call me old; but SM-58s for vocals and SM-57s for everything else
Click to expand...
So you can't use a 57 for vocals?
I know a bunch of people that disagree.
proxy.php
 
I've heard from many people that those aren't '57 elements in there.
 
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