SamsonC02 Matched Pair Studio Pencil Condenser Microphones with Cardioid Capsules for Instrument and Dialog Recording

OK... I rarely (if ever) give a 5 star review because they are often "faked" or the people writing them are "starry-eyed" (Ooh... Shiny!) ...In this case, however, I will make an exception. (OK... If I could give them 4.5, I would, just to stick with my "no 5-star reviews" rule.) ... But I digress.Back to the mics, for the money, I just don't think you can beat them, at least for the application for which I am using them. I bought them because I wanted to get high-quality acoustic guitar recordings in my home studio. I have a fairly nice on-stage microphone (a Sennheiser 835S). It does a fine job on-stage but as a recording mic it is "meh". (This should come as no surprise because it's fundamentally not a "recording mic".)My "Cordoba GK Pro Negra" guitar also has a very good quality Fishman built-in pickup and pre-amp which also is fine on stage but likewise suffers from "the meh factor" when trying to get a good quality "studio" recording. By "studio", I mean in my home studio, feeding inputs into a Presonus AudioBox 22VSL interface... and then into my laptop. (Don't even THINK about trying to run inputs directly into your computer, if you want any kind of quality recording onto your laptop... but that is a topic for another day.)Anyway, I decided most likely the only way I could get the sound quality I wanted was to buy a couple of dedicated mics to use in my studio. Like many of you out there, I didn't (don't) have an unlimited budget, so I decided to give these a try.To get right to the point, I simply could not be more pleased with them... especially at the (approximate) US$100 price for two. My first impression when pulling them from their handy little travel box was the "sturdy" feel they seem to have. I plugged them into my interface, pushed the "phantom power" button, and they sprang to life. (Yes, they require "phantom power" to give them the juice they need to operate. No phantom power = no sound.)Just a word about "phantom power" and the cables you use... a laptop cannot provide that extra 48 volt shot that these mics require. You will absolutely need some kind of audio interface. As I mentioned above, I use a "Presonus AudioBox 22VSL interface". This little box can accept either 1/4 inch "guitar cables" or "XLR" cables. I cannot speak toward other interfaces, but with this particular interface, 1/4 inch cables CANNOT receive phantom power. I absolutely MUST use XLR cables to get that 48 volt phantom power that the mics need. Other interfaces might work the same way, so be sure to check.In other words, if you are using these mics with an interface and you are not getting the phantom power you need, check to make sure you are using XLR cables, not 1/4 inch cables. Just be warned.But back to my review...They are VERY sensitive... but that is what I wanted. It will take some time to find the exact "sweet spots" to position them, but that too is OK, as I appreciate the subtle differences in their tone when I move them around.The "cardioid pattern" of sound pickup is exactly what I was looking for. Due to their sensitivity, I found I had to be careful not to look down at my hands while playing my guitar , as doing so turns my head (and breathing) toward them, resulting in their picking up wind noise as I breathe. Certainly I could eliminate most of this by using the little wind screens that are included, but I don't want to use anything that will cut off any of the natural frequencies. I now have a couple of disk-shaped pop-filters I position between my mouth and the mics. That eliminated the problem.(Until I bought the pop-filters, my quick-n-dirty solution was simply to wear a "pollution mask" when I played! It worked perfectly as a means of eliminating the "puffs and rumbles" of my own breathing but was not a good long term solution. Hence, I bought the pop-filters.)Now if I could just eliminate the sound of my blinking eyelids... Ha ha! ... Just a joke... They are not quite THAT sensitive.Also because of this very predictable "cardioid pattern", my studio (with some ambient noise coming from outside) does not need to be absolutely silent. My neighborhood can be a bit noisy, but always making sure the mics are pointed away from the window seems to eliminate any but the sharpest of background noises.The heavy window drapes I have also help.One last thing... as I mentioned above, the two mics came packed in a handy little hard-shell travel case. Nice!So to rap it up, I hope my review does not seem "overly gushy", as I really have put them to a pretty comprehensive set of tests in my home studio. Your mileage may vary in other situations and applications but as acoustic guitar recording mics in a home studio ... and especially considering their bargain price, one simply cannot go wrong with these mics when using a similar application as mine.

I was looking for a good pair of condensers to record guitar and cymbals without having to spend too much money right away, so I ordered these. They seemed like exactly what I needed. Eager to try them out, I first set them up to record my acoustic guitar. One aimed at the fingerboard, one aimed at the soundhole, I recorded in stereo and was amazed at the sound I got without even having to experiment any with my mic positioning. If you want to hear an example, search Robert Bassett Acoustic Guitar Recording Example on SoundCloud. I can't link to it in a review, but you should be able to find it easily. That recording I got is exactly the signal I got coming in, without doing any EQing or anything. The excess noise is due to the environment I recorded in, me breathing, and my laptop's crappy soundcard, not the microphones. You can hear the full range it picks up, and even the decent bass response. The closer I positioned the mic to the soundhole, the greater the bass response.I tried drums a few weeks later, and that was when I really fell in love. I had these guys set up over the drums to capture the cymbals and whole kit, as well as mics on the hi-hat, snare, and kick drum. After listening back to the sound I got, I realized how well the Samson's were picking up the kit on their own, so I ended up pulling out the mics on the hi-hat and snare, and just using a mic for the bass drum and the Samsons for the rest of the kit. The kit we recorded with didn't have the greatest cymbals on it but you couldn't tell that from the recordings we got. The Samson's made them sound crystal clear.Another few weeks later, I tried capturing a baby grand. I positioned the pair about 5 inches back from the hammers and 5 inches up from the strings, one aimed at the lower strings, one aimed at the higher strings recording in stereo again. The recordings I got were awesome, and their wide frequency response picked up each note beautifully throughout the full range of the piano. I just used another condenser five feet or so back from the piano to capture the room sound, and a little reverb of course, and I was more than pleased with the recordings I got from such an affordably priced pair of mics. I would have payed much much more for these.So basically, if you're looking for a matched pair of condensers for recording stereo, you really shouldn't look any further than these. For a little over a hundred bucks, they really took my recordings to the next level. Their wide frequency response makes them excellent for use in any application. And the carrying case they come in is really handy too. I didn't think I'd use it since I already have a case for my mics, but I ended up using it anyways since they fit so nice in it.Oh and no i'm not affiliated with Samson in any way, I just fell in love with these mics haha. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, i'm not an expert or anything but i'll do my best to tell you my experiences i've had with them.