Amazing!

You have got to be kidding me. Try these mics out for drum over heads, or put when up for hi hats. They sound amazing! At this cost I am going back for more.

Outstanding value!

This mic package is nothing short of amazing at this price point! I've used a lot of mics over the past 35 years or so and I know what a good mic sounds like, believe me. The Avantone Ck-1 sounds wonderful on everything I've used it on. Although it is bit on the bright side, it never sounds harsh or edgy like so many inexpensive SDC mics do. It has a silky smooth top end balanced with a nice meaty midrange and solid bottom end. It compares favorably to my Shure SM 81's (a bit brighter) and, while it isn't a Neumann KM 184 or (my favorite) the vintage KM 84, it is not far! Plus, it comes with three capsules, omni, cardioid and hypercardioid. Haven't had a change to use the omni for anything yet but the other two sound great on acoustic guitars, mandolins and other acoustic stringed instruments. Even used it with the hyper capsule for some VO recording and it did quite well, considering it is really an instrument mic. The main thing about this mic is how clean and quiet it is. It's built with very high quality capacitors and it really is evident in the sound of the mic. And the overall build quality is excellent...built like a tank! Comes with a very nice shockmount and in a wooden case too. Highly recommended.

Best Indoor location microphone in the world, for the money...

I've done a lot of indoor location recording the past 7 years. That said, I retired both of my high end shotguns from indoor recording and ordered a matched set of these puppies, after trying my friends set one tday "on a dare".

Simply the cleanest top end, and the best on-mic filtering I've ever seen indoors. Clear, crisp, great definition, good body and dynamics, along with a very controllable field [with 3 very different heads] and a bass pad that all but eliminates any low end dirt.

I have another friend with a set of similar Russian made mics [you know which ones] and they sounded like mud next to these.

For the money, the best mic you can buy in my opinion, bar none.

Awesome Pencil Condenser

I have been able to A/B the CK1 with other pencils 10x's the price range on Drums, Guitar, and Choirs. All I could say was WOW. 3 capsules, 10db pad, and HPF, all for $150. This mic packs a lot of punch into an affordable platform that meets, if not exceeds, the abilities of the more expensive pencils out there.

Avantone CK-1 pencil condenser, my honest evaluation.

OK, so this is not a huge amount of money to pay for a small diaphragm condenser. I have other pencils, but I was really curious if the comments that I've read elsewhere on the web really matched what this mic is all about. The other selling point for me was an omni capsule, which I was lacking in my mic cab.

I first tried it in cardioid mode and was really pleasantly surprised by the definition and clarity of this mic. It does everything a small diaphram condenser is supposed to do and really causes you to take notice of how well it performs. This is going to be my go-to mic for about anything that I can throw at it, especially instruments with high top end potential like fiddle or mandolin. It actually seems to add a bit more presence in the upper mids that has the effect of smoothing out any tendancy toward edginess on these instruments.

My next experiment was changing to the omni capsule, wrapping the body in foam and tucking between the bridge feet of my upright bass facing upward toward the fingerboard. The resulting recording has sold me totally on this method and justifies the purchase of this mic for this use alone. This trumps my medium or large diaphram miking methods hands-down.

Three capsules to choose from certainly gives this mic a competitive edge over the competition.

Visually it is a stunning piece of kit and demands that you pay attention to it. If I were a budget-priced condenser and I didn't sound this good I certainly wouldn't draw attention to myself. The CK-1 has no problems living up t o it's racey appearance.

If the mic wasn't enough, the shock mount is a perfect match. It works great, and it's so beautiful you'll want to leave it out on the coffee table.

Nothing's perfect in this world, so I have to find SOMETHING to complain about. Two things; The tiny switches on the mic body do not instill confidence in their use, and the small plastic holder for the mic caps is a little too snug to allow one of them to slide in and out easily. I can live with that, the switches don't get used that often and I tend to keep the cardiod capsule on most of the time.

Although I purchased not really expecting this mic to meet the hype, its all true. I'm going to get another to use as a stereo pair. They won't be a matched set, but who's going to notice when these sound so lovely by themselves!