microphone
 

Anyone know a good instrument mic? I don't want to spend a ton just to play open mic's but that's all I do. I'm old school and I think no pickup sounds as good as a good acoustic instrument with a good mic. Any help? Thanks, Danny

The Shure SM57 is pretty popular and inexpensive.

But as an alternative, consider installing an LR Baggs "Lyric" mic in your guitar ... virtually no alterations and gives pure unadulterated microphone sound when plugged in.

Audio Technica has some cheaper condenser mics that sound really good with acoustic guitar. I have found that a decent microphone pre-amp (tube pre-amp are my favorite) can make alot of the cheaper mics sound really warm, rich and full. I use a senheisser e914 and a Heil PR 35. They are both very smooth and warm sounding, but expensive.

They don't, but they were never designed to sound as good, they are intended to provide a relatively simple solution to amplifying acoustic instruments, with maximum feedback rejection. In the right room, with the right kit, and someone who actually knows what they're doing on the board, micing acoustic instruments live can work well, but its rare that you get all of the above, a lot of the time your lucky to get any of them at all!

They're definitely the lesser of two evils in most situations, and with some care and work the sound is perfectly acceptable. Its a real pain to find a suitable mic, get something that doesn't feed back immediately and it usually sounds like your guitars wrapped in a sponge, get something sensitive enough and its squealing as soon as the levels near where it needs to be. And unfortunately, something that works really well usually costs a lot more than a pickup :)

Yeah, for an open mic where you never know what you might have, I would steer away from the mic and get a K&K and be done with it. Use a mic when you record, use the pickup in the real world where things are not perfect.

But if you want a good mic for acoustic, you're going to spend some money. Even then, it may not work for live sound. A Lyric will get you a mic'd sound. You may or may not like it. And I concur with the Heil PR35 suggestion above too. Great mic for acoustic.