Big mic, little bucks

BOX
MANUFACTURER:
Marshall Electronics,
1910 E. Maple Avenue., El Segundo, CA 90245
Tel: 310-333-0606
Web: www.mxlmics.com

SUMMARY:
A large diaphragm cardioid tube mic whose performance far exceeds its price point.

STRENGTHS:
Solid punchy sound. Open top end. Amazing bang for the buck. Includes shockmount.

WEAKNESSES:
No pad. No lowcut filter

PRICE: $399.00

CHART:
Manufacturer's Specifications
Frequency Response

Marshall Electronics has been successfully serving those who are looking for high-quality, low cost mics for some time now. Among the company's late offerings is the V69, a tube-based large-diaphragm cardioid microphone.

"I was sent the V69 Mogami Edition, which includes Mogami cables for connecting the mic to its remote power supply and the power supply to your mic preamp or mixer. The mic comes packed in a road-style case that is divided into compartments to hold the cables and mic (in a leatherette pouch), as well as the included foam windscreen and shockmount. The mic itself looks awesome, and feels solid in your hand. It's physically big enough to make vocalists respect it, and its gold-plated grille provides a rich touch.
As far as mics go, it doesn't get any more straight-ahead that this: there are no controls or switches at all. Plug the mic into the power supply, and the supply into your preamp, and you're good to go (after the mic warms up).

In use, the V69 has a full, round sound.. I used it before I checked out its frequency response graph, and my ears predicted what I saw there: A bit of a roll -off on the very low-end, and more important, a smooth rise above 10 kHz. This gives the microphone an open, detailed top end that worked well on vocals, as well as on instruments such as steel-string acoustic guitar. While the mic exhibits some proximity effect, the low-end boost isn't as prominent as you might expect. However, when you get close, the mic can get a bit humpy-this was especially apparent when I had my monitor system's subwoofer turned on. A low-cut filter on the mic would be a nice addition for taming this problem, but in the real world it was no problem to filter any spurious thumps out after the fact".

"I was especially pleased with the V69 on my vocals. The sound was rich and smooth, with plenty of midrange punch and nice definition on top. As I've noticed with a number of recent mics, the V69 has an almost pre-EQ'd quality to it. It seems to sit well in the track without much processing required. It's not quite as dynamic as some other mics, but for many vocal tracks, this translates to less compression being required later".

"If you're looking for bargain-priced mic that performs like it costs a bunch more, give the V69 a very close look. You'll be thrilled at how little money you have to shell out, and you'll be even happier at how well it does it's job."….

Mitch Gallagher, Editor Eq Magazine