I think i've narrowed it down to one of these two mics for vocals and/or acoustic guitars for my home setup. If anyone has had some practical experience with either or both of these, your opinion(s) would be much appreciated. If there is anything else within the price range ($250 - $350) worth checking out, please let me know.

Thanks

Jordan

I would stear clear of the Rode mics and look out for the Audio Technica 4033, 4040, 4047 type mics. They're in a different league to the generally inconsistent chinese made mics.

Mark Simms wrote:I would stear clear of the Rode mics and look out for the Audio Technica 4033, 4040, 4047 type mics. They're in a different league to the generally inconsistent chinese made mics.

Agreed 110%. The only thing Rode's are good for is, of all things, choirs.

The 4033 is excellent VFM. A great vocal mic, and quite good on a lot of guitars. Can be special on some stuff. Whatever, it's worth owning.

You should also check out their small diaphragm stuff if you do a lot of classical/ acoustic guitars. Not world class, but very close.

I own NTV mic from RODE for several years now, and I do have AT you have mentioned...they both do their jobs well...
Recently I heard lot of good things about RODE and if I am correct, they are from Australia and very old company, 30+ is old in modern audio industry - right?
Chinese?

Recently I heard lot of good things about RODE and if I am correct, they are from Australia and very old company, 30+ is old in modern audio industry - right? Chinese?

Wrong, Rode as the microphone manufacturer appeared in the mid 90's along with many other U87 lookalike brands. The family company which they describe in their lit were not microphone manufactures as such..
In the case of their NT2; the housing and capsule are built at the 797 factory in china, the pcb is built in Australia and the whole thing is assemled there too. Some of the other models have Australian machined housings, but still use the chinese capsules.

.... just wanted to add. Don't want to sound like I'm Rode bashing, because some of these far-easten sourced mics can be good for how cheap they are. Quality control of the capsule is the issue, so anyone buying in this range should check out as many as possible in the store.

Hmmm,
You got me thinking.
But where did you gather this kind of info?
http://www.rode.com.au/ has nothing in that direction...
It's not that I don't trust you guys, it's just that I like sound of my NTV so much and I use it alot. I own several other tube mics, but I prefer this one for years now...maybe I am crazy....

correct, rode did not begin making mics until the 90s. i wasnt aware myself that the capsule was of chinese origin, but this does not surprise me when u see how inexpensive these mics are.

ive used the rode nt1 in the past and it consistently gave a good sound - i recently purchased an ntk for myself and i absolutely love it. obviously it doesnt compare to mics that cost 3 times as much, but in its league its fantastic. and the nt1 has just been re-launched as the nt1a which supposedly has the lowest self-noise of any large diaphragm capacitor mic, whether this is true i cannot say, i have not used one...

Both the ntv and ntk are great mics. The nt2 is harsh. I wish they still made the ntv. Oh well.


b.

I just had a great session and made two takes and compared NTV and new mic from Audio tehinca 3060? Tube mic powered just by phantom power...not bad at all.