Premier Rock Forum

What about the RE-20 compared to the U87 for Vox and acoustic guitar?

Anybody have a comment on that?

I used to use SM-81s on acoustic guitars/plectrum strings....

I thought they sounded great when acurracy was important.

An AKG 414 is probably a best bet for having something that is going to be most flexible. Some folks might say dry, but that's only to say "without character", which I'm OK with.

Has anyone ever used any of the Sennheiser MKH series? Thoughts?

SM81's sound great on acoustic guitar too. But yeah, the 414 is more flexible.


RE-20's are just boxy. Not that you can't use them, but usually condenser mics provide a more desired vocal sound and the same for acoustic guitars. Some people like Elephant cocks(RE-20's) on kicks and floor toms and such. Electric guitars too..

Royer R-121. Superb on acoustic geetar and geetar amps, and much else besides.

I bought my Royer R121 thanks almost entirely to the intelligence, excellence, and recommendations of people on this forum. 'They' collectively are right. Weigh up all the hugely intelligent information about microphones you can find on this site, listen, and buy. You will likely be right. The R121 was my first 'proper' mike, and it has improved my life and my art and my work no end. Thank you all.

CoyoteTrax wrote:What about the RE-20 compared to the U87 for Vox and acoustic guitar?

Anybody have a comment on that?

Last month I did a comparison between the two when recording vocals and I ended up with using the RE-20. It just sat much better in the mix and worked very well for the singer's screaming throaty voice. The U87 was used as room mic.
I've had good results with U87s and female voices, my girlfriend, she has a U87 voice. I don't want to say that a U87 is a women mic but with the men most I ended up with either a dynamic for the shouters or a tube mic for the "singers".
I've never compared the two on acoustic guitar, but I've used the Neumann for a steal string western guitar - can't remember which brand- and it worked alright.
Generally, I started to like dynamic mics for the singers with the voices rillyrilly loud, the Beyerdynamic M88, she sounds so good when mens are screaming so loud.
The AT 4050, she a very versatile one as well, not to expensive.