CAD E-200

Been recording for 30 years now - using E-200s into various DAWs for the past decade

Its been well-described in the previous reviews, so i won't waste your time repeating the specs. This is a "VINTAGE" one ( the original run, not the recent re-issue)

Its a RUGGED mic, dead-quiet, very flat response, very clean and crisp. My "go-to" all-round all-purpose hi-fidelity mic, I try it on everything first - and 90% of the time, its a keeper.

Especially nice for micing LOUD sources - its nearly impossible to make this mic distort!

I've been making music for about 20 years, 13 years as member of a band, since then mostly recording. Semi-pro vocalist since 15 years

recording experience: semi-pro

recording to: digital multi-track (Tascam DA38/88) or Nuendo 2 (studio projects)

primary listening equipment: Syrincs M220 active monitor system, Sennheiser HD25 and HD560 Ovation as headphones

The E200 is a 3/4" microphone offering omni, cardiod and figure-of-eight-pattern. It is capable of working without phantom power due to 2 batteries inside (being recharged by pp in normal use!). I mostly use it for vocal recordings or AB-, MS- or Faulkner settings in live recording. The sound is very clean - no specific colouring. For solo recordings it works fine with all kind of voices, only some high and very high sopranos turn out a little bit too sharp. In such cases I prefer the E2b (E200's predecessor), which adds some warmth especially to female voices due to different op-amps and circuitry inside (would make a nine-and-a-half-rating for the E2b!). The E200 comes close to legends like the U87, but doesn't exactly reach them. After all, it's suitable for most situations when you just have left a medium budget for your microphones. Since users seem to like the E200, CAD re-issued it. Attention: My review refers to the old one!

I have been dableing in songwriting for about 15 yrs. My recording experience is modest on four tracks and with a tascam us-428.

This mic is a dual diaphram 3/4 inch electret condensor microphone. At the moment it is the best recording mic I own. I have used it on everything, vocal, ac. guitar, guitar amps, bass amps, drums....(I play mostly rock/alt rock/blues/folk)
As far as I can tell, it is useable on all of these aplications.
I got this mic at Guitar Center after CAD had discontinued it, I understand it is back in production at a lower price, and with different batteries. I pretty much bought it because at the time it was an insane discount, and seemed to be a better mic than any other I could afford at the time, and I could barely afford this one.

As I said it is useable for all applications, but dosen't seem to accell at any. Of course, this could have something to do with my lack of experience. On vocals it can be usefull because the proximity affect is very slight, but the sweet spot is rather small. On Ac. Guitar positioned around the 12th fret or where the neck meets the body, it seems to capture the sound with little coloration. On the sound hole it feels a bit muddy. While this mike has three positions, I find the figure 8 to be the most pleasing to the ear, in cardiod the bass is little lack, but useable, I never use the omni mode because I don't have a quiet enough enviorment to record in.

Some features that make this mic great for small project/home studios, are the batteries, and the extremly low self noise. From what I understand, the mic actually runs off the rechargeable batteries, and phantom power is used to charge the batteries. There is a jumper inside the mic houseing that you can set to use the mic without phantom power present. This can be handy if you find yourself in a situation where you only have one phantom power unit, and another condensor you want to use at the same time. The low self noise means you can use one of those ugly little tranformer plug things to plug into a 1/4 inch hi-z input. Actually I sometimes prefer this sound, it seems to tighten up the bass just a hair and smooth out the high's. Works great with the Audio Technica converter I have.

Finally, I should mention that I once saw this mic being used on a PBS special about something to do with music production/education (it was late at night). They were using it to record flute, it sounded very natural and focused. I would imagine it would work well for that, picking up the primary sound of the instrument, while rejecting the sound of the keys clicking only a few inches away.

My rating is based on a price vs. performance basis.

Recording through ART D/IO into Cubase SX and other PC DAW apps and occasionally ADATs. Monitoring through Mackie HR-824 and TOA ME-265.

Large Diaphram condenser. 3 patterns, if I remember correctly. Roll-off switch, Pad switch (memory again), on/off switch. We use this mic mostly for vocals. It's been set to a Cardiod pattern for the last 3-4 years, and with the windscreen obscuring the switches, I never look at them - I just know noone has changed them. It's a big mic compared to the one it replaced (AT4050), and it didn't come with a spider mount although it does come with it's own type of mount (not shock absorbing). It's supposed to run off of internat power - rechargeable battery - or something like that, but I've never opened it or checked out that aspect.

SOUND: Well, this is very subjective. It records a very clean and clear sound. Self noise seems to be no problem at all. It lacks a little warmth, but there are a million ways to try and get that back.

These days there are a ton on mics in this price range. When I bought it, the large diaphram mic wars hadn't started. Still, I'mm happy with it. It will be in my collection 'till I die. If you can find one in good shape for a couple of bills, you should be able to find some uses for it.