These dedicated snare and tom mics are pretty much just cheaper priced and cheaper sounding Sennheiser 421's. They do have some of their own virtues however. They are dynamic mics, and they will connect with an XLR cable. You don't need to have phantom power running for these ones. There is a medium sized diaphragm, which is going to help you get a larger low-frequency response for some added weight on your toms and snare. There isn't a low end roll-off switch, so you will have to hit the EQ if you want a tighter sound. The best part about these mics is the great convenience of the way they are mounted. They come set on clips that specifically designed to latch on to drum rims and not budge. They are raised from that a couple inches and are then on a pretty much 360 degree pivot, so you should be able to manage to get this mic pointing at the drum heads in any way you want. Usually with other mics there is a lot of hassle and taping to deal with, but these you can get set up in under a minute. As for the sound, it does seem to lack a little bit of clarity and richess. You get a lot of point on the drum hits, and a lot of power from the lows and low mids, but the high end detail is just not really there or it's kind of wishy-washy. You'll definitely want to make good use of overhead blending to get a balanced drum sound if you're using this for drum mics.

OVERALL OPINION

I have used these on a couple of sessions at other studios. They really don't sound as good as 421's do on snare and toms, but they are much cheaper and have convenient clips. I would probably recommend these to someone new to recording who doesn't have the budget yet to go for some of the nicer mics. These are not bad drum mics, it's just that they're not that good either. Very cheap though, so it's a good value.