Studio Projects B1 Large-diaphragm Condenser Microphone Reviews

What can I say. The B1 is a great all purpose condenser. I've had mine for over 5 years and it works just as well today as it did when I first took it out of the box. The pads are great for someone without the luxury of recording in a 100% noise free environment (and honestly who is?) or when you're close mic'ing a loud source. I've used it on vocals, guitars, basses, drums and percussion and it's worked beautifully on pretty much everything I've thrown at it. I've thought about getting a new, more expensive microphone to replace it, but I just can't justify it. If you're looking for your first large diaphragm condenser, stop right here!

I picked up this microphone after hearing Ryan from Sleeping At Last strongly recommend it on his podcast. I'm using it to record acoustic instruments including guitar, piano and drums, also vocals. I've spent a few hours with it so far and I really like its sound quality. I use it with a Scarlett 2i2 interface and I couldn't be happier.

Like the title says, hard to imagine a better large diaphragm condenser at this price. Behaves just as it should, very clean and flat at appropriate distances, with the expected proximity effect up close. Is it a U-47? No, but then it doesn't cost $4000 either. Maybe just a bit brighter (and slightly quieter) than my other similar mic (modified Oktava MK219), but not enough to keep me from using them as a stereo pair if needed. I highly recommend.

We use this for Special Music at a church and it picks up a small group of singers really well.

Works Great, worth the money!!

The B1 was recommended by a friend who is a sound engineer and mixing pro, for use in my home studio as a vocal mic. I've had it about 10 days and have used for vocals on two songs. I am amazed at how accurately it presents my voice without any processing at all. The clarity and precision in capturing vocal quality continues to amaze me, and for the price it was a great recommendation. No need to spend $1,000 on a vocal mic for my home studio.

The Studio Projects B1 is a great, inexpensive large diaphragm microphone. I use it as an all-around instrument and drum overhead mic in my project studio. A special thanks to Kevin Spunde and the folks in tech support for helping me quickly resolve an issue I had with this microphone. The new mic works perfectly and I am very pleased with my purchase.

Ted Cobena

Fantastic mic, I want to get another.

I have used other condensers at this price and this one is be far the best. I used it as a drum over head and for vocals and i was shocked at how well it preformed. Very bright so know what you are getting yourself into but it would suggest this to anyone looking for a budget large diaphragm condenser.

As close to the AKG 414 that I could find in a price point I can afford. Blew away the sm57 condenser I have. Vocals Acoustic guitars - Marshall stack.. all excellent. spent time on checking this out. All ratings are 4.5 to 5's. Have to spend 10x the amount to get better than this.

This mic is just professional. My first Condenser mic. I have little experience with large condenser microphones, but the quality is great.

I just decided to use the SP B1 on a gospel song after having it for 3 years. I have been using my more expensive because I was skeptical about the quality of sound from a cheap condenser. But when I fired this thing up and set my reverb the B1 was amazingly clear and breathtaking. It sound as good as some of my more expensive microphone condensers. Normally the saying goes you get what you pay for, but with this B1the saying is far from the truth. The B1 is an exception and is very impressive for the buck.

Man, at first i was just getting this mic just to have something temporary before getting the Mojave Ma-200. I was thinking this mic i probly going to suck but who cares I just need something to record my ideas, but D*** I was so wrong, I've had previous mic and this one tops all. The vocals are so clear, and for my rappers, yes you can scream to the top of lungs and depending on your setup, no distortion. This mic is the ish, but I'm still getting my Mojave Ma-200. This mic is worth every penny, and oh yeah i use VS-100 also, and Sonar 8.5 Studio Edition!

It's insane how well these super-affordable mics hold up against big-name pro studio fare! I was able to get an excellent (underline, underline) vocal sound in my modestly-treated home studio. Frankly, I'm not sure if I would spend any more money on a brand name mic; not with the B1 around! I can't recommend this enough. Forget everything else and buy this now!

I have several low cost mics (AT2020/2021, CAD GXL 2400/GXL 1200, etc)and they do a good job. But the SP B1 is sensational for the current price. I have been testing and comparing mics back and forth trying to find the ideal acoustic guitar and vocal mic, and the B1 appears to be it. Actually, combining the B1 with the CAD GXL 1200 has proven to be the best combo, with the B1 facing the bass side of the upper bout of the guitar and the CAD pointing to the bridge.

The B1 includes the pad and bass cut switches seen on higher-priced models.

My only complaint is the shock mount. The outer ring is fine, but the inner part that the mic fits into is a strange, plastic design.

Regardless, the B1 is worth every penny of $100 and in my book, a lot more. I liked it so much, I ordered a second.

The B1 mic is fantasitic for its price, crisp and clear. We use it for voice recordings in an audio theater setup. We record voices and do post prduction.
I cant see that a more expesive mic would do a lot better than this one. We were so impressed we ordered two more.

THIS MIC IS TOO GOOD FOR IT'S PRICE, IF YOU ARE A RAPPER WANTING THAT SOUND AND COLOR GET THE B1 TRUST ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS MIC CATCHES ANY THING YOU THROW AT IT NO LIE THIS MIC BLOWS YOUR MIND !

I was pleasantly surprised by what an improvement this mic was over its predecessors in my mic arsenal. I recorded an album's worth of material, and then went and re-recorded all the vocal tracks with this mic..big improvement. I could give you all the specs about what this clearer, much more present mic has done, but the best advice I can give/: Get one...

I have to say I don't have much to compare this against because most of the recording I have done in the past was mainly guitar cabs with dynamic mics.
The difference is mindblowing.
This does not have the sweetening aspect that some high dollar mics might have but if your source is solid you will get a solid recording.
I would not try and compare this to mics that cost twenty and thirty times it's price but I have compared it side by side on the same console with a Blue Spark and the B-1 held it's own very well. (But I still want a Spark too!)
The two singer songwriters I have recorded have both been very very happy with the results I have achieved on both their vocals and guitars with this mic and a 14 year old Roland VS2400, one of whom has recorded entire albums in lower level pro-studios.
For the price, I think this is an awesome tool. Now I want the B-3 to go M/S

I recall a mic shootout from when I attended Audio Engineering school, that stacked up this mic against competitors of very highly regarded brands, checking their unaffected signals through Neve 88rs console pres, while monitoring on a pair of 824's and Genelec Far Fields, shockingly enough this guy came in third place in overall application, not too shabby for the price eh?

I've read some valid comments here but had to post my own findings. I'm thinking that it's partly due to the fact that I'm a professional recording engineer using this in a properly treated session tracking room in my home project studio, and I have a lot of experience recording vocalists. This mic has a very similar recording sound to that of a neumann U87ai. It is missing a speck of the mojo of the original u87, but then the modern u87ai is also missing a speck of that mojo. I suspect that the transformer isn't great in it, with a mod it might be amazing.

Great vocal mic though anyway. not a terrific tom mic, not great on guitar cabs in my opinion, but really great on vocals, especially female.

Got this mic 4 years ago, and still sounds clean, no noise.
Other chinese mics such.....need f.e.t replacement or recap often
this mic doesn't.......let me say something about this mic, I abused of this
little mic and stills performs like new, although inside the mic looks
cheap, it's sound proves that it is not cheap sounding at all.

I got to say that I prefer the neumann u47fet over it, but man for that price....
For me this mic is somewhere in between an AT4033(fast tight) and the u47fet,(mid boost) works great
on vocals, haven't tried yet in other sources, but I guess outside or inside the would do the job.

Sound great with uad apollo's preamp.

To be honest, for the price, this mic is fantastic. It does a wonderful job and it's worth every penny and many more. My room would need to be quieter for me to use it more. If my voiceover was done in a whisper room, this would be great for narrations.

For the price, its the best vocal mic of its kind. Clear crisp vocals is what your gonna get. Not so great for miking instruments though.

I bought two of these about a year ago, they are a nice clean sounding mic. I've used them to record choirs, rock bands and rappers. They do lack the "warmth" that i prefer and compared to other microphones, the b-1 sounds a little harsh. Overall a decent mic, i'd recommend it for some one else's mic locker.

I bought this mic years ago, before they even had the 'new' updated graphics design on it. I bought it hoping it would be multipurpose. I was right. It works for nearly everything. Odd thing is I still use it even though I have much more expensive, 'better' sounding mics. I use it along side 57's on amps to an extra mic on acoustics. Sometimes it doesn't give me the sound I want but that's to be expected with any microphone. Great value, especially if this is your first mic and you're new to recording.

Very nice sounding mic for the bucks... clean, crisp and not overly sibilant like the Audio Technicas. Much better than the MXL mics in my opinion. In comparison with my AKG 414, I notice a slightly less open midrange, and a necessity to stay closer to this mic. At 6 to 8 inches back from this mic, I notice much more of the ambient room sound than my 414. Very low noise and worth the bucks...

this very inexpensive mic sounds very natural and clean. it's a nice affordable addition to my modest mic collection. i would use it to record vocals, guitars, bass, drums(toms, oh's, room) in the future.

Normally, I use the EV RE320 Variable-D Dynamic microphones for doing vocals. I was advised that a condenser microphone was better for doing vocals, even though the EV320 is a broadcast microphone.

I probably would've given this mic a one or two star rating a few months ago. I've owned it for years and found it fairly useless on most sound sources and would describe the sound as dull and lifeless. I thought the thing was a total loss until I was thinking about how to solve a problem with a "harsh" sounding hi-hat. This mic added presence of the hat in the mix but mellowed the thing out. To use this thing on vocals or an acoustic guitar, however, would NOT provide great results in my opinion. At least I found a use for this thing!

I use this for toms and it's pretty decent. I have used it for guitar cabs as well but you should use it in cunjuction with another mic for guitar. On toms, it'll bring out a nice mid range quality with enough airiness for a sense of depth. It handles the attack pretty well but sometimes the mid range does get a little boomy on the lower toms although still manageable with some creative eq. the decay was very nice as long as your toms are tuned correctly. By far not the best mic to use for guitars but with an sm57 or another suitable standard mic for the top end clarity, this mic will deliver the mid range to low end punch. Use another mic for the low end bottem on the guitar as this mic will seem boxy at times in that spectrum. But this is more then I had expected for a mic in this price range and I would suggest it's use for toms if you don't have the funds for the higher end mics since you will need as many as you will need for tom mics. Over all, better then average although not a very versatile mic.

After reading many positive reviews of this mic, I decided to try one out. Since it is very inexpensive, the risk was not too great. It works fine for recording acoustic guitar, but is far less good when recording vocals, which was the original purpose that I had in mind. When recording male singers the sound is quite muffled with pronounced lows and mids and with females, somehow too trebley. Essentially it is the worst of both worlds! Given the low price point, I will keep it to record certain instruments, but it has been a disappointment for me, at least up to this point.

I got the B-1 mainly to record acoustic guitars and hopefully to record vocals as well. For acoustic guitars previously I had been using an EV ND267 dynamic with very good success. The B-1 sounded very similar, and I used it on many songs, feeling it had a nice clean response. But the final recording seemed to lack something I'd call "presence" compared to previous recordings on all the same equipment except the mic. On vocals, I tried and tried and gave up using it for my vocals because it just didn't match my voicing, so I went back to my trusty SM57 for vocals. On another person's vocals, I used the B-1, and was always impressed with the clean sound but never thought it was giving me more "life" to the vocals than previous mics. So in the end, I do think it's a good mic, but I have trouble saying it's a great mic.

Excellent mic for the money. I use it on vocals, and it's a step up from the Oktava MK219 I was using. Also a significant step up from the Sure SM57 for guitar amp mic'ing. It is very sensitive, and not colored - what you put into this for the most part is what gets recorded. I have found that giving a slight increase via EQ in the 2-4K region with the B1 sounds quite nice.