On 3 Dec 2009 02:18:51 GMT, John Stumbles
wrote:

My 16-yo budding rock guitar hero son is after a microphone. He and his
mates often record themselves jamming and don't have a suitable mike. They
tend to record into PCs (or Macs) and I guess might want to bung it into
guitar amps or various bits of domestic audio kit they have around. Apart
from vocals I guess it might be used recording acoustic guitars.

It definitely needs to be robust and, having some idea what any sort of
serious mics can cost, priced at the Santa-friendly end of the range :-)

Apart from suggestions of what makes & models to go for (or avoid) can
folks guide me through the technology? I guess we're looking at 'dynamic'
(i.e. moving-coil?) with cardioid pattern and some sort of built-in or
add-on pop filters, but no doubt you can get kit with built-in preamps,
bluetooth and teasmades these days - I'm a bit out of touch ...

Oh and I guess it needs to look cool too ;-)

Don't know how deep Santa's pockets are, of course, but standard fare
for rock musicians is the Shure SM58 (between £80 and £100,
typically). It isn't a mic you'd use for recording an orchestra, but
it will do a fine job of miking an electric guitar, as well as being
more properly a stage vocal mic.

If this is too steep, I can have another rethink.

d