All user reviews for the Mojave Audio MA-200

The Mojave Audio MA-200 is a large diaphragm tube condenser Microphone that is used for vocals and instruments. It is a really good multi purpose microphone with a clear flat and warm sound that will need little EQ’ing when mixing. It can be used in either a recording session or a live setting. I have heard it used in many different live applications and every single of them sounded perfect. You would have though it was a 5000 dollar microphone by the way that it sounded. Male Vocals, and Female Vocals both sound great on the MG-200 as well as a whole handful of instruments that I have hear it used with. I have heard it on saxophone, piano, acoustic instruments, and even as drum over head microphones. It sounded amazing on all applications, to me it sounds better as a live microphone though. The frequency response is 30Hz-18kHz, it comes with a shock mount and the microphone cord as well as a really nice case to carry the microphone around in.


OVERALL OPINION

The first time I heard the Mojave Audio MA-200 was back in May, and since then I have been seeing more and more live acts use this microphone. I have heard some of the other Mojave microphones including the MA-100 and the MA-100SP. All of them are good, but the MA-200 just takes the cake with me. This is a well rounded microphone that needs to be on stage. You really don’t need a microphone like this for your personal home studio unless you have enough money to buy it with ease. Most of all of the official studio here have this microphone on hand and I recommend it to everyone. It is worth the money. Your sound quality will never sound the same after you use this and then go back to your old microphone. You will get no distortion with the MA-200, it is ready to go right out of the package and can be used as a broadcast microphone as well as just a vocal or instrument microphone.

I had this LDC Tube Microphone in demo to AB test on 3 singers. On 2 of them he came out as a winner, for the 3th one it was ok but needed some more high end. There were 18 microphones in the test, all from very well know Manufacturers. I will add one very soon to my gear list.

OVERALL OPINION

We were looking for a good vocal sound on a soprano , alt and Tenor.
The microphone had to capture the voices so they sound open and well balanced. They sing Gospel with acoustic instruments only. I had 18 microphones between 800 euro and 4000 euro on test and this one came out to be in the top 5 for all 3 singers. For Tenor and Alto even the big winner, he captures well the warmth in the voice without closing the sound.

I also heard a demo on Drum kit and that sounded great too, rather colored sound but nice if you're looking for a big drum sound.

Mojave Audio MA-200 Tube Condenser Mic Features:

Large-diaphragm tube condenser mic
Full, warm reproduction for vocals, piano, acoustic instruments, drum overheads, orchestra, and spot miking
Hand-selected 3-micron gold sputtered capsule
Jensen audio transformers
Military grade JAN 5840 vacuum tubes
Frequency response 30Hz-18kHz, ±2.5dB
Carry case, power supply, shock mount, and cables included

OVERALL OPINION

There comes a time in every engineer's budget that he questions how much better the 3k mic is than the 300 buck buddy mic. I have long since given up that battle. MA 200 is one of those mics that will make your wallet hurt and your ears ask why you didn't hurt it sooner. I should say up front this is a wonderful mic. The build quality is tremendous. Mojave is one their game and right now they are one of my favorite mic companies. That's the truth. You can tell a lot of thought went into the design of the ma 200 just from looking at it. Probably a lot of research was done too. But these days anyone can afford a tube condenser. You aren't paying for that.

Anyone who says this is a bad mic is crazy. But that doesn't mean everyone should drop the change on it. Bottom line, this is probably my favorite mic for my own vocal tracks right now. And that includes a locker of some very very nice stuff. If you don't have a really good preamp interface, don't even bother with this mic because your cheap pro tools firewire digital interface is going to kill this thing's signal. Sorry but that's the truth. It's like that with any great tube condenser.

For tracks where my vocalist has no backup, this is hands down the mic i use. It has that extra warmth and smoke to support a solo vocal take like no other mic. There are other cheaper mics that sound about as good in my book. But the ma 200 has a certain vintage warmness to it that I love.

Here's my advice. If you DO decide to spend 2 grand on a tube condenser, make it this one. Okay? That is all.

Micro static tube and Jensen transformer manufactured by Royer Labs (world famous for its ribbon mics).
Unpacking it's very solid case with good suspension, power and cabling, plus another box into the box to protect the microphone itself. Brief seriously.
All electronic components are supposed to be "military grade", ie the highest quality possible.
Least one small, it has a directivity. I put the 9 for that.

OVERALL OPINION

Its very clear, very airy, light-colored, compared with an 49 (very different then the ribbons of the brand).
Very good on vocals, beautiful acoustic guitars, wind instruments, etc ...
I recently used an AKG C412 (C12 capsule of Fet-mail), and although it comes close strongly, including the grain that we manage to get on the high notes of a guitar. Magnificent.

The Mojave Audio MA-200 is a large diaphragm tube condenser microphone.  It comes with its own power supply and has a special cable and connection on the end of it to send it to this power supply.  It also comes with a hard shell case and a shock mount specially designed for this mic. 


OVERALL OPINION

The Mojave Audio MA-200 tube condenser microphone is a pretty good sounding microphone overall.  It has a warm and full bodied sound to it that makes it a good microphone for vocals as well as for acoustic piano, drum overheads and just about any other application you'd want to use a large diaphragm tube condenser mic.  However, for the price I was expecting a little bit more from the tone quality of this microphone.  Don't get me wrong, it definitely is a good sounding microphone overall, but for that price of about a thousand USD, I was expecting a better sounding microphone.  When you consider the other microphones you can get for this price, the Mojave Audio MA-200 doesn't seem as appealing anymore.  This day and age microphones are being made much cheaper than ever before and it seems to me while this is a good sounding microphone, for the price I could find others that sound comparable or better for a cheaper price.  For the same price I would much rather have a Neumann TLM 103 because it has a superior sound quality even though it isn't a tube condenser mic.  If you are looking for a tube condenser microphone I would definitely recommend checking out the Mojave Audio MA-200, but I would also strongly recommend shopping around to see what microphone will work best for your situation and budget.  Overall though, the Mojave Audio MA-200 is a nice sounding microphone for a somewhat reasonable price.

(Originally written by chouwap/translated from Audiofanzine FR)

Cardioid tube microphone.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using it for 6 months. Excellent for electric and acoustic guitars. Warm and fat sound with different preamps. The sound is very sweet on vocals but if you increase too much the level it can become aggressive and sibilant generating an unpleasant saturation. Pay attention to your EQ settings because the mic already sounds very open and clear in the upper frequency range. It's a wonderful mic but you might need a de-esser for certain voices. It sounds like the C414 B-xl2 but bigger. It's a high quality mic although I would prefer a good U87 for vocals.