All user reviews of 4/5 for the MXL 990

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.

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.

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.