All user reviews for the MXL 990

A static capacitor

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 3 days and I'm disappointed I was really looking better, it sounds good but the sound is not warm, there is too much highlighted. I try Apex 435 before I preferred over the MXL, frankly I'm very disappointed and I think it does not match my voice is pretty serious. I would make and I Rode NT1 essairait the A.

For a beginner the qualiter for money is pretty good since we do not exceed the 100 €
But as I am very particular with it myself I'd rather pay more and get better quality.

Last thing it is quite small and heavy and it looks very robust

I wasn’t too sure about the MXL 990 at first just because of its appearance. Most mics that look like this sound horrible and they make them look like this (really goldish and shiny) to attract people then once you get it you realize how bad of a decision you just made. But that wasn’t the case with the 990 by MXL. Now I wont say that the quality you will get will blow your sox off, but for the price that it cost brand new there are few other mics in that range that can even compete with it.


OVERALL OPINION

The best thing about this mic is that me having a deep voice sounded great on it, which was a plus because its always so hard to find a mic for my low tones that I sing and hum in. Most mics just don’t pic up the low’s too clean and they end up sounding really muffled. But the MXL 990 specializes in picking up those low tones and base tones. I have not used it on my acoustic or any other instrument yet, but they claim that the MXL 990 is an “all purpose” sort of a mic. I have used it for over a year, but I do not own it anymore now. I have gave it to a friend who needed something to record on and I have a lot of mics so it didn’t hurt me to give him one to use. He loves it and hasn’t complained yet. I just cannot stand the way that it looks, it just seems really cheap looking to me. I am very thankful that it doesn’t sound like it looks, which is pretty much what I thought was going to happy. Overall, it’s a solid mic for a decent price and it will not disappoint you.

MXL 990, condenser, 48 Volts
Cardioid
Shock mount suspension included (which makes it look like a TLM)

OVERALL OPINION

Hello everybody,
I just bought the MXL 990 for $130.
And, for the price, I have nothing to say, except that it has a coloration in the high frequencies,
But then again, you shouldn't expect too much, and you have to look for the right position, it's not a NEUMANN that costs $2000, you know!!!
In conclusion, it's quite all right for a home studio, better than the Rode NT2, I think. Some say that even big studios have a couple of them!
The product range looks promising
It's your choice.

I use it mainly for vocals, but it does pretty good on guitar and other acoustic sounds. Cardiod, electrostatic transistor mic with an impeccable finish, a very nice look, like the TLM 103 (but I don't mean to say it's a TLM!). Comes with shock mount, stand adapter and case. No user manual. Only a sheet of paper. But it's useless, anyway. I give it a 10 because the only default I've found has to do with the case (it didn't close tight from one side, although it got better with use...).

OVERALL OPINION

I've used it very intensely for three days. I simply love its transparent sensitivity. I'll explain myself: It captures very, very well everything that is close to it, without capturing the fly that's 20 feet away! There's no audible noise, so it's great in that sense! Now, when it comes to sound... Compared to a Behringer B2-Pro I had and replaced with this one (a big loss of money, but I'm happy) the mxl-990 has a warmer feel, more accentuated lows (without being too much), distinct highs (but not aggressive) and splendid mids. And compared to an M-Audio Luna (that a friend lent me), the sound lacks very, very little warmth, as well as a bit of high mids and highs.. BUT THE SOUND IS NEVERTHELESS VERY HARMONIC! With its small capsule (20mm), it can put up with a lot without distorting. And that's what I love. It seems to have a slight bump in the lows, but nothing that a little EQ can't fix! So, given the quality and, especially the price! 10/10

People should keep in mind. This is a value mic. You aren't going to get $3000 sound quality from it. I just wanted to say that up front. But for the price this thing is great. This is a very cut and dry condenser with no frills at all. However I was shocked at the build quality. It's built quite solidly despite the specs making it appear cheap. It's not cheaply built.

OVERALL OPINION

I initially got this for a friend who needed a cheap vocal mic, but during testing it we discovered it had a lot of other applications. Yes it does vocals pretty well. Particularly male tenor vocals. That seems to be the sweet spot. We did not try female vocals on it. It didn't like low male vocals very much. It takes a specific mic to do that well. It's not very forgiving if you have imperfections in your voice. A lot of cheaper condensers are like this. So if you are a bad singer it will show it with flying colors. If you have bad technique this mic can fix that. It's also very volume sensitive and it can peak pretty easilly. You have to play with the levels a bit to get it right. Not a huge issue really since this is a studio mic and you can control the environment.

We also found it was great on dreadnought acoustics and other smaller bodied guitars. The clarity and trueness to the sound was very surprising and this mic beat out a few small condensers we had costing a lot more. This gave us the idea that it might make a good ambient mic because of the clarity, but we tried it for hallway vocal slams and it was too "bouncy". I'm not sure how to describe it but it doesn't fair well as a room mic. Still though, for the cash this is phenomenal. Get one.

A rather general-purpose cardioid mic. Not bad on paper, even if it doesn't have the flattest curve (but there are worse and more expensive).

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using it for 1.5 years, directly connected to the mixer and phantom power, which means it goes into a $80 preamp.
In terms of applications, I've used it on wind instruments (flute, sax), for which it wasn't bad at all, and as overhead for a choir, where it was very good. In my opinion, it's not the best for solo vocals (a placement problem maybe?)
I didn't try any other mics in the same category before buying it.
Given the price, its value for money is not bad, but the bump in the highs and the very week attenuation of off-axis sources dissuaded me from it and made me decide for another one in the same series, due to my needs.
[edit January 2010]
After several years of using it and still not having the slightest problem, I admire its solidity and I still use it to record tuba sounds. Impeccable results, and the criticisms regarding off-axis attenuation are no longer valid. The tuba player told me his sound was too "dry" in comparison to what he is used to: The mic removed the reverberations just by being correctly placed.

Cardioid
Electrostatic with 48V phantom power
20mm 6 microns capsule
30 - 20 000 Hz
Sensitivity: 10 mV/Pa
SPL: 134 dB
2.3" x 5.1"
9.5 lbs

This mic doesn't have a low-cut filter nor -10 dB pad

Sold with shock mount suspension and case but without cable,
which is good to know if you want to test it as soon as you get home!

OVERALL OPINION

I haven't had the time to really test it.
No noise, very good sensitivity (a given, being a condenser)
Nice finish, the suspension seems all right.
In short, it is really worth the $130. Impeccable to start out.
to record sound for little money!
Don't forget to buy an XLR cable, because none is included.
I bought it because it was the cheapest I could find in my city, including a suspension
and, besides, it got a good review in a magazine.
It's surely not the best (its curve has a bump in the highs),
but it's nice to start out, in my opinion.
The Manoir studio (in Léon, France) has two of them among its mics!

Edit from June 2005:
You can now find less expensive micsl,
like the T-Bone SC 300 that sells for $40! And the Apex 435, which can be bought for $100!

The MXL 990 is a large diaphragm, FET preamp based, condenser microphone, aimed at the consumer looking for a condenser microphone for their home studio. The 990 is featured in a mic package with the MXL 991 (a small diaphragm pencil condenser), and has become very popular over the years as it was one of the first microphone packages to be super cheap and easily available to home studio owners. This was actually the microphone package I purchased when I first starting putting my home studio together about seven years ago, although I no longer own these mics. The 990 specifically is a cardioid based mic, with a frequency response ranging from 30 Hz to 20 kHz.

OVERALL OPINION

The MXL 990 is quite a popular mic and for a pretty good reason considering the price. It has a pretty decent sound and will pick up pretty much everything in the room as it's quite sensitive. I wouldn't consider it a professional mic, but for recording demos at home, it will get the job done, and I know people will be using it for more than this anyway. It's a good combo with the MXL 991 if you buy them in a pack together as you're getting a good range between the two of them. I've used the 990 for recording vocals amongst other things, and it definitely does have a pretty clear sound even if it's not the richest sounding microphone out there. I think you can buy the 990 on it's own, but if you can still buy it along with the MXL 991 at the same price, I'd recommend doing that if you're looking to get the cheapest possible condenser microphones that don't sound terrible. While the 990 wouldn't be my first choice out there, you can't go wrong for the price.

*Microphones are very subjective. Some microphones that work for some brilliantly may be disastrous on others. It is therefore important to understand the context in which this review is written and take it with a grain of salt, like all reviews on microphones should be treated.*

Except for this one. The MXL 990 is a very popular microphone for one reason. It's cheap. It features a 30-20,000Hz response, and comes without any bells and whistles. No pads. No roll-off switches. That's understandable, since the MXL 990 is stupendously affordable. The diaphragm is also only about 3/4" inches wide, so it isn't a large diaphragm condenser, like many people seem to believe.

OVERALL OPINION

The MXL 990 is famous. It's famous because it's cheap. That means every single one of my friends who sort of cares about recording owns one of these.

There's very little to this microphone, because of its lack of frills. You either like it or you don't. Most people who have never recorded with this microphone will enjoy it, but for those of us who have used better equipment, this microphone is somewhat of a running joke on forums when wide-eyed beginner recordists ask for suggestions and bring it up. In the frequency graph, it has a strange rise in the sibilance range and a drop off right before the airiness. It also has a reduction of low-mids, making this microphone sound rather brittle. When I used it, there was a strange effect going on in the lacking mid-range. When I read Michael Joly's mod package for the MXL 990, he mentions a mid-range phase shift. That's just one of the problems that seem to plague this microphone.

You might appreciate it if you've never used a studio condenser before, but the MXL 990 is not exactly a place I would recommend beginning. I would recommend the Audio-Technica AT20-series for some neutrality or the MXL V67 for a more proper definition of high-end.

It works fine with instruments and vocals (although it depends on the timbre of the voice, obviously). This was my first condenser mic and I still use it. It has a particular color, but it's impossible for me to tell you exactly what it is, because I have two and they don't sound the same. One is warm and has a nice color, while the other one is very timid or dull I should say. I even bought another one that is outright lifeless.

OVERALL OPINION

I've used it for four years.
I prefer it over some other more prestigious ones.
Pros: Value for money
Cons: It's a bit like playing the lottery (one sounds good, the other one not so...)
But I still recommend it: A mic with this quality and price tag is definitely worth a chance.