Guitarist's Dream 
by D.J. from Monterey, TN USA, July 2008
Music Background:  Live Sound Engineer, Recording Engineer, Vocalist

I have to give full disclosure here first, in that I am a huge Sennheiser fan and user, and have already written a couple of reviews on two of their vocal mics that I use regularly. That being said, I have to let anyone reading this know that as a mic for a live guitar cabinet, you simply cannot go wrong with this mic. It picks up everything that comes out of your cab's speaker cone with perfect accuracy, and does not muddy up or lose any of the frequencies, whether you are playing a screamingly high lead guitar in an 80's "Hair Band", or getting down and dirty with a 7-string while covering some Godsmack or Metallica. When I first brought this mic to a practice session a while back and used it to run my lead guitarist through our practice PA, he actually made the comment that he liked his sound coming out of the PA speakers (product of this mic) better than he liked the actual sound coming out of his cabinet! As a sound engineer, however, I found one of its greatest attributes to be the fact that it NEVER feeds back. As a band that plays more small-stage joints than arenas (like most of the readers, I assume), we constantly find ourselves on "stages" that may be 10-15 feet wide where the monitors can be as close as 10 feet away from the guitar cabinet mic. This creates an intensely challenging feedback scenario where nearly every other mic I have tried has failed without significant EQing (by that I mean degrading) of the monitor mix (I'm talking to you, SM 57!). This mic takes it without so much as a flinch, as its flat-face design allows it to be placed directly on the face of the cabinet where other sounds and frequencies find it difficult to make their way to the mic's element.
As a closing thought, I will add that I normally opt for something a little more "elaborate" for studio guitar cabinet micing like an Audio Technica AT250DE, as that mic basically gives me two mics at the same time. But the AT takes up a little more real estate, which can be hard to come by on certain stages (as I mentioned before). This mic can simply hang over your cabinet without a stand if need be, which is super convenient in the live arena, and it costs just a little over half what the AT costs! The added flexibility of the AT (dual element) is the only reason I give the Sennheiser 4.5 stars instead of 5. As both a live sound and recording engineer, I can truly attest to the differences in each environment, and in the live environment the Sennheiser 906 will simply blow you away for all the reasons I have given. If you are still debating, I'm telling you to buy this mic. For its price, there is simply no way you will be disappointed.

  Fantastic sounding mic!! 
by Rich Grillo from Alpharetta, GA, April 2008
Music Background:  Recording Engineer / Studio Owner

The extra frequency response over the E609 is well worth the extra money. This has a clear, full sound that sounds great on guitar amps. I've also combined it with an MD421 to mic a bass cabinet. Great big bass!!!

I'll be buying a few more very soon!!!

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