tom eaton wrote on Fri, 31 July 2009 06:21 |
I have owned a pair of 141s for a number of years. I can't compare them to the other KSM small diaphragm mics, as I haven't heard the others.
The 141s are great little mics, very quiet, flexible, honest mics. I love the mechanical omni/cardioid switch, too. They are terrific room mics (I sold my Earthworks after buying the 141s), and are great on piano, overheads.. all the typical SDC uses.
tom
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Ditto everything Tom said. I haven't compared with the 137.
If you head in this direction, I would absolutely go for the 141s over the 137s because the omni option is useful. I've used them in omni for room mics and also for close mic'ing of banjo and acoustic guitar. We were surprised at how nice one omni 141 sounded right close to the bridge of the acoustic guitar.
A brief list: acoustic guitar, banjo, "distant" (4 feet away from source) XY-pair for spacious telecaster sounds, drum overheads, omni room mic for ambient stuff, pointed at the forehead of a singer doing BGs (made for a nice diffuse sound that blended well with the main vox), omni inside of a kick drum, in XY for gang vocals, in roughly ORTF for recording a percussion orchestra (about 20 people), etc., etc.
We listen back and we are pleased with how things are captured. The people I work with are solid musicians who know very little about recording but a lot about how their instruments sound.
If you like your KSM44, you'll be happy with a pair of 141s or 137s. I have compared them with Neumann 184s and Gefell M300s and haven't found the KSM141s to be lacking in any way.
Other things: I have had no mechanical or electrical issues with them after a lot of usage. The variable pad is very useful for snares or other loud things. The mics are still quiet even with the pad engaged. The cardioid pattern is very tight so I can use them in more "live" situations and end up with useable bleed. They put out a lot of level and make an API 3124+ very very very hot even with both the mic and the preamp padded. The input transformers on my Hardy M1 allow me to keep the pad off the mic in most situations and my ears tell me that's a good thing.
If you can audition them against other SDCs in that price range, absolutely do so, because everyone's taste is different.