This mic is Sennheiser's answer to the AKG D112 and the Audix D6. It is a large diaphragm moving coil dynamic mic that is designed to mic up your very bassy sources. Primarily you will find this stuffed inside a kick drum. It connects with the standard XLR cable and doesn't need any phantom power to operate. It actually comes pre-fixed with a mic clip, so you don't need to worry about losing and replacing that little piece which is nice. The frequency response of this mic definitely seems to be tailored to kick drums in two specific places. First, on the low end, there is no obvious bass roll-off like you find on a lot of dynamic mics. This curve acts to preserve the bass you'll get from the proximity effect and the natural bass from the source, so you can get meatier sounding kick drums. There is also a bit of a dip around 250-300Hz to counter-act some of the boxy tone that some kick drums have. There is also a little bit of a presence peak at around 3k to help the beater on the drum head sound come through a bit more, so you can hear the kick drum better in a mix. The polar pattern is cardioid and it is a front address capsule, so you'll probably want to angle this to point at the drum head for the most balanced sound.

OVERALL OPINION

I have used these as the live kick drum mic a few times. I am usually loathe to switch out anything for the AKG D112, but I have actually been pretty impressed with the sound this mic can get more than once. It definitely depends on the drum and the player, but times have come up where this mic sounded better than the AKG D112 as well as the Audix D6. At the least, this mic gives them a run for their money. It is cheaper than its competitors, which helps it in the value area, but overall I would say not as good a mic as the others. I would recommend it as a back-up.