Low cost alternatives to zoom

[jay1683]

Which one of these would sound best for recording nylon string guitar at my desk:

1. Zoom H2
2. Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone
3. or above non usb mic with low cost preamp such as ART Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp.

or would they all sound about the same and just best to go with the zoom H2?

[Doug Young]

With the Zoom, you're getting stereo recording, which is likely to sound better than a single mic. You can also take it anywhere you want, so you can choose a location that has good acoustics, rather than sitting beside a noisy computer. For the price, it's pretty hard to beat the H2.

[Fran Guidry]

But you might want to wait for the new H1:

http://en.audiofanzine.com/pocket-re...ay,n.6385.html

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bad-dog-c...usikmesse.html

Reportedly puts the H4n mic technology into a smaller stick-like recorder with a brighter screen and lower cost.

Fran

[ted in eburg]

i really like my little Boss Micro BR - the onboard mic is OK and when i run my vocal or guitar mics directly in it gets better. there used to be a limit on how big of a card you could use for memory/storage, but i think that limit may have been raised. Of course i'm not a real sophisticated user so i don't know if it gets deficient when you try to do more with it. - ted

[jay1683]

Seems like the consensus is that for the same money or even if one spent double the price of the zoom you could not do better in terms of sound quality with USB mic or mic and preamp for home recording.