Best mics - high end

kungfumonk007

Anyone have preferences on high end mics - like Royer, Neuman SDC's, Schoeps, U47-87 etc. I think I see a lot of Neuman SDC's on guitar and ribbons on fiddle but would love to hear ya'lls opinions for those of you who have had the privilege to try out multiple high end mics on your guitars.

Buco

A friend picked up U87. We're planning to record something together. I'll let you know how I liked it. But can't compare it to anything else as high end.

crookedpinky

I have a number of condenser mics - all pretty low budget - but I struggle to get a decent sound because they are too detailed in what they pick up from my guitars. The one mic which works better is an old Reslo ribbon mic. These were used by the Beatles in their early days at the Cavern. It's a mic which can go for ridiculous prices so it could be considred high end from a price point of view but not necessarily from a performance point of view - however that works in it's favour.

I had a conversation with a well known Scottish bass player about pickup systems in general and he was talking about Fapy Lafertin and other players back in the 80s who were using lapel mics to amplify guitars. Interestingly he mentioned that the limited frequency response improved the sound and amplification of the instruments.

nomadgtr

I use a Neumann KM184, a great go to mic for acoustic guitars. Some others prefer the Schoeps CMC 6 which is similar, but the frequency response is just slightly different. I have been experimenting blending it with an old Crowley and Tripp ribbon mic. No longer in production but they were bought out by Shure years ago and the newer equivalent to that mic is the Shure KSM313.

I have also observed where some of the guys in France were recording with a condenser and a Coles 4038 ribbon and blending the two together. I believe that was the setup Adrian used on his last album.