Turtlerock Forum

Hi all...
New here!
I need to buy a decent workhorse mic mainly for vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar cabs, mandolin, dobro (tho i hope to get a nice ribbon for dobro next tax refund!) and have whittled the choices down to something along the lines of a TLM 103 or maybe a Soundelux U195. I have a Rode Classic which is sometimes lovely but find when building up tracks things start to get a bit flabby. My pre's are Avalon 737, UA 2108.
Anything else I should be looking at?
Thanks in Advance
Phil

Best advice is see if you can get both in at te same time and try and see for yourself.
When testing try it on a lot of vocalists and see which preforms well on most. Also a range of instruments as well.
The U195 has more options with switches for different sounds.
Neumann is better know with cleints if your a comercial place.
I have had a Soundelux U99, E47 and Ifet7.
Really nice mics.

I tried the U195 and thought it was a little bright, especially on female vox. Also tried ifet7, a few rodes and ended up with U87. Still happy!! Was invaluable experience comparing them, but this is what worked for me and my uses.

Personally I hate buying gear if I cannot use it for myself preferably in my own place.
I know sometimes local its hard.
I know I have helped others with shootouts before of mic pres I have.
So do see if you can try both.

I am doing a R&B singer at the moment he wanted to see what a difference his Studio Projects B1 was to my Neumann M149 with better preamps(he has a mbox:) ) etc. Of course it was not a small difference for this singer.
Not to say the little B1 will not beat the M149 with another voice.
If your keeping your Classic maybe look to see what does not work with it and get the mic the complements the rode best as another flavour.
Also maybe look at Brauner mics as well as your in Sydney.
I do not know what the Fet sells for but worth asking Gunter how much.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~gwagner/ ... r_main.htm

[quote="davemc"]If your keeping your Classic maybe look to see what does not work with it and get the mic the complements the rode best as another flavour.
[/quote]

Yeah that was really what I was getting at. Sorry if I didnt word it very well. I want something thats a good allround quality LDC (yeah i know....!)that wont be too close in character to the Rode Classic. I spose a U87 would be ideal but i dont think i can stretch to that.

Thanks chaps!

Hay mate,

the 103 sounds a lot like a U87 to my ears, i think its the same capsule or based on it anyway. its less coloured as its transformerless and it can be a bit heavy on the low end if not positioned right, but has a lot of clarity and smoothness in the right bit of air.


ive got a tlm 103 that im selling... send me an email at email@trentdobson.com and i can tell ya all about it.