"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
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 ...

Hi John.

I would recommend the AKG C214, a large diaphram cardioid
pattern condenser mic, with a 20dB pad.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_c214.htm

I don't know what is considered the "Santa-friendly end of the range"
any more, but Thomann have the AKG C214 as a bundle offer,
to include the mic, a padded alu case, a good quality K+M boom stand,
a 6m mic cable, and a pop shield for vocals, at GBP 333.
That's pretty amazing value, but I don't know what it might to
to Santa's blood pressure :-)

http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_c214_set.htm

The mic needs a phantom supply.

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


Only an old valve Neumann looks cooler!

Avoid cheap Chinese copy mics, T-Bone etc.
They sound rough and are not reliable :-(

Cheers
Iain