Studio Project B1 is a great place to start for a large diaphram condensor. I did a quick recording with one on acoustic and vocal. You can hear it here. "I Come To a Mountain"
An SM57 is almost a must, for any studio. It will sound descent on almost any source, and will teach you a lot about mic placement. It won’t be as picky about room acoustics as a condensor mic is either.
Blessings, Terry
The nady star power series (SP1, SP9, etc.) is worthless, unless you have kids who like to play with them or you want to do open mic surgery to see what happens when you poke holes in the diaphram, that sort of thing. Really, don’t bother with them, it’d be a total waste of money. IMHO, that is.
You want good really cheap? check this out - mcm bought the last of AT bite and bark mics, and occasionally sell them for 9 bucks, right now 13, and I will vouch for them, I have three:
Part number 58-8795
http://mcm.newark.com/NewarkW…795&N=4
I have 2 of the Nady Sp9’s, came as package deal with small Yamaha PA. Worthless is understatement, stuck one on an Alvarez acoustic just to see what it would do. The guitar sounded like my grandson’s toy guitar, tried vocals, yuckkkkkkk, totally sux. Tried to EQ, was a joke, they are now decorative wind chimes!
For vocals and acoustic guitar you should have an LD condenser. I have an MXL 2001 that sounds quite good and they are going on ebay for about 60 bucks.
It’s a little out of your price range but I second Daniel Smart’s recommendation for an Audio-Technica ATM63HE as a dynamic mic for instruments. I hardly use my 57 anymore, this mic just sounds better. I got mine on sale at the Friend for $80 but I did a quick search and it looks like they are going for about $120 now. I still would take this mic at $120 over a 57 at $80 or $90.
As far as a dynamic vocal mic goes, I have an Audio-Technica MB1000 that beats the heck out of my SM58. You can get one for $39 at Andy’s Music
yung blokes today seem ta often overlook the old ev standby mics used by studios fer yrs loike the elecvoice RE mics fer example. these are blinkin good mics. and aint hyped seven ways ta sunday. 
EV’s, excellant mics!
yer blinkin rite yaz mate’’’’ i also seen blokes forgettin bout old sure 545 mics. in good nick they is good uns also
then if yer got gobs o’ tha readies coles is blinkin intrestin
designed by da beeb engineers yonks ago
Hey I love my neighbor of the beast (EV 664, that is!). One of the greatest elec guitar amp mics ever! 
And if you try you can get one of those for 25 bucks on ebay. Also, the 635a.
tom ive got one of those 664s too!
What have you tried it on, Brent?
| Quote (TomS @ Dec. 17 2004,14:49) |
| You want good really cheap? check this out - mcm bought the last of AT bite and bark mics, and occasionally sell them for 9 bucks, right now 13, and I will vouch for them, I have three: Part number 58-8795 http://mcm.newark.com/NewarkW....795&N=4
|
MCM is selling these again for 8.95 US dollars. I think you need the catalog number to get the price, although perhaps they'll give you the deal if you called or emailed.
Really for 9 bucks they are worth it for parsimonious folks like me.
I know you said on a tight budget, but check out a Shure SM7. It was my first real mic and it works well on just about anything. It may cost a few bones, but the fact that it does the job of 5 mics saves you a lot of time and money trying to cover all the bases with a bunch of lower cost mics. It is dead easy to get a good sound out of. Two caveats, you’ll need a preamp with some decent clean gain and it isn’t great on acoustic guitar. On vocals, drums, horns, and electric guitar it is a real winner.