home studio reviewer 
by Michael Ryan from Portland, OR, February 2005

I purchased this mic about six months ago. It's the most expensive mic that i own for a home / project studio and it's the only Neumann that i own. For a reference point, i have a small collection of blue mics (dragonflys, baby bottle, etc). You'll find very little info out there on this particular mic. To date, i've found only two reviews / articles out there on the web. Therefore, this mic is one of the best secrets around.

Features.
The mic ships with the cardiod and omni patters only. To get the full range of patterns you have to buy the external N48 - R2 power supply ($699.99). It also has a -14 db pad and a two setting high pass filter.

Value.
There are a number of mics out there that outperform this mic. In fact, for nearly any particlar role, there is a better mic. However, i don't believe that you'll find a better "all purpose" mic anywhere!

This mic does not get "boomy" in front of an amp. And it's bass response is tight and very accurate. I get a very high quality recording from my bass stack using this mic. Usually, a dynamic mic does a better job up close to a 15" bass speaker, so you can imagine my surprise when i used this large condenser in omni (with the pad enabled) and got an extremely good recording. There was more clairity between low e and low f / g than i've ever before heard. I could clearly detect slight finger "squeeks" and slight neuances of the right hand as it slapped the bass silly. I'm not used to hearing that much detail in the low end.

This mic has a very unique sound on percussion instruments. It isn't as creamy as a tube mic, like an m149, but it does deliver a world class reproduction of the instrument. I don't presonally like the sound that i get from this mic in front of a kick drum for rock / blues. Also, i prefer 2 blue dragonflys for drum overheads, but this mic is an awesome "spot mic" to fix any issue with a drum kit session. If the high-hat or snare has issues, this mic can easily jump in to save the day. If i need to mix in a little ambiance mic, i use this mic in omni.

For acoustic instruments, i simply can't believe this mic. It sounds darn near the m149 even though it's a solid-state mic!

I love this mic for vocals. It has a slightly tamer sound that the U87 probably because it lacks the mid-range bump that the U87 has. I recorded a female vocalist in omni about 3 inches from the grille (through a thick pop filter) for a very soft baliad. On playback it sounded like she was whispering in my ear; like childhood dreams of sweet lullabies. How does Neumann do that?

If, like me, you want the best all purpose mic you can buy, look no further. Even if your mic cabinet fills up with world class mics over the years, you'll always use this mic somewhere. It won't collect dust. Finally, it has that "Neumann sound" that is so hard to explain.


Michael

Write Your Own Review!
We all love gear, and we all love talking about gear with our friends and bandmates. Why not share your thoughts with the hundreds of thousands of customers who regularly visit Sweetwater.com? Write your own customer review on this product! To begin, just Click Here!