The classic! This is the mic you need on kick drum. It gets all the low end, doesn't distort, and has a nice peak in the mids to get the "click." It sounds as good on stage as in the studio. It's also very sensitive to placement, so you can get a lot of different sounds just by moving it around in relation to the drum or beater.

You can also, obviously, use this to mic a bass amp, and this gets good (though not as versatile) results. The mid-peak that sounds so good on kick drum gives you a very aggressive sounding sound on electric bass guitar. It sounds weird, I know, but I actually feel like you get a warmer, smoother sound on bass guitar using an SM57.

Here's the real surprise, though: this thing sounds *great* on electric guitar. There isn't that much low frequency information coming from the guitar amp, so you're not really using the full range of what the mic is capable of, but the mid punch combined with fullness is exactly what you want from rhythm guitar tone. The D112 is my secret weapon for recording the non-lead guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

It does what it's supposed to do (kick drum, bass) and some of what it isn't (electric guitar) really well. There's still things I want to try it on, like maybe combining it with a small-diaphragm condenser on acoustic guitar solo.

I have two of these and I wish I had a third.