The Oktavia Mk319 is a large-diaphragm mic that goes for just under $100 (well, it did 2 years ago). It's a great deal for home studios, I've talked about it before, and I just found this review on the thing.

http://www.mojopie.com/mk319.html

And no, I don't get no kickbacks on the sales. Just forwarding the info along.

otan said:

Thanks for the link

I tried an Oktavia a few years ago, and it was a great value for money. I think the one I tried was an older model and sounded a little bit on the dull side, but was still a great value for money (although I couldn't believe it sounded as good as it did when I opened it up! Total mess inside...).
I heard this one is much better, both in build quality but also in sound. I might go shopping again to get me one of these new ones!

I've owned an Oktava MK 319 for the past two years. It's good, but boy, it picks up EVERYTHING...

Very powerful.

I also just ordered the BOSS ME-50 Multi-effects unit. It's gotten good reviews and it's like having a bunch of BOSS pedals in one unit.

Can't wait!!!

JesseDezz said:

Sorry for the sub thread... I have a ME 50 you can hear it at my soundclick link. I use it for delays, phase, on most of my tunes and use the Wah on my tune Butter Face. I really dig it except for one thing, on your preset patches that you can program there is a brief, complete cut of the signal when you switch the pedal to another preset. Bugs me a bunch for live play, if you can live with it the ME 50 is a hell of a deal. I record with it a ton fronting my Plexi but for live stuff I mainly use it for delay and verb and have a couple stomp boxes so I can use them with no signal cutting. If you take that tiny issue away the unit is perfect... The line 6 stomp boxes don't do it.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 1 13:02:01 2004 by Kevlar]

No sweat hijacking the thread... it's all talk.

Hey Kev - do you have any recordings of your playing that's via a miked amp instead of direct? Your playing is awesome - but the direct sound kinda overwhelms your guitar tone on some of the solos...

but DAMN the playing is badass.

otan said:

Hey Thanks,

That is all a mic'd 50 watt Marshall Plexi. On the tune Sucker Punch, the one one my main page I intentionally had the FX very hot with phase and delay. I was standing 5 feet away with the amp wide open so it is on the extreme edge of feedback all the way through. I had the ME 50 set to kind of a tape delay vibe. I was going for the Beck, Led Boots, Truth /EVH Woman and Children kind of vibe, which translates to guitar on the brink of disaster...lol . On the other tunes it is a bit more below the main mix. Sophistcated Mama is a good example of that. I will add that depending on what puter speakers you hear this through it can sound very different. It sounds much better through the average stereo system.

Damn Beau, I had $20 burning a hole in my pocket and you said "just under $100"...
[This message was edited Thu Apr 1 15:25:57 2004 by psykosoul]

I haven't tried this version of the Oktava, kinda got put off by its predecessor.
I was going to purchase a RODE NT1 microphone, but it's seriously overrated and I just acquired its American equivalent from ADK (although it's manufactured in Korea - go figure!).

I once read that vocal band Manhattan Transfer used a Tube/Valve version of the condenser I purchased but the ADK has been ideal for recording Acoustic Guitars and vocals - especially when U get the compression settings correct for different vocals.

The flip side though is that my version has no Bass roll-off and I have to do a bit of minor EQ'ing (like taking off maybe another 10-20HZ), but it's definitely bang for the buck.

'dre

What's it cost Dre? Just curious. I really like this mic, but I realize it's pretty much an entry-level large-diaphragm mic, when you consider a "real" studio would have one that's ten times as much.

DreZone said:

DON'T BUY RODE!!!!!
We have an NT2 in the studio, and a friend of mine bought the Tube NTK. They have the same sound character, very unpleasant. You need a great de-esser or two to fight with the Rode sound when recording vocals. and I still haven't found any instrument that will sound better on Rode than on other mics.
I've been using AKG 414, Nuemann TLM 103, Neumann TLM 147, and Rode, and unfortunatly, Rode sounds bad. You can get a better vocal sound from a Shure SM58, if you work hard enough.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 4 19:17:06 2004 by Heavenly]

Heavenly said:

up until recently I used a Sennheiser E825 for recording instruments as it has a surprisingly excellent top end and rivals a Shure SM58 IMHO for instrument miking/recording.

I understand what U're saying about the RODE series, but when U've got the Neumann series and the 414's (which I dream of owning one day!) well, beit condenser or valve, the RODE is gonna pale in comparison, U get what U pay for!

btw Otan, I got my ADK for circa $120 USD which I guess ain't bad! No De-esser required!

'dre