MXL 960

Been in bands playing keyboards, responsible for PA and live sound, and done various kinds of live and project studio recording for about 30 years. Right now I am recording through a DAW onto hard disc. I own a variety of Shure, Oktava, AKG and other mics

This is a cardioid condenser, tube microphone. I'm not sure why no one has added a review for a couple of years, so here goes.

This is an excellent microphone. There are no qualifications (for a Chinese mic, for a cheap mic, etc.) If you read discussion groups or google Harvey Gerst, you can find out a lot about what makes a good mic, and why even a project studio should consider a range of mics. He has good things to say about this one.
To my ears, the MXL 960 is pretty amazing. It has a very clear top end without sounding harsh or forced. The mids and lows are very natural sounding. I have found that a vocal track will sit in a mix with just the right amount of presence. Often this is without any significant processing (EQ, compression or otherwise). The mic easily captures the subtleties of a vocal. There is no "best vocal mic", just as their is no "best vocal sound" but the 960 does a very good job on a range of both male and female singers.
I thought the sound with the stock tube was very good, but tried it with a Siemens E81CC 12AT7, and I think it makes a very good mic even better. The differences are not enormous, but I thought the change out was worthwhile.
Prices have ranged from about $150 on sale to about $250. I would recommend this mic to anyone wanting to add a quality piece of recording gear to their sound pallette.

I've been playing guitar and bass for thirty-five years, and recording in commercial and private project studios for twenty-five of those years. Currently I record with an Akai DPS24 and Presonus Eureka pre's. For monitors I use JBL LSR28P's.

This is a side address, large diaphragm tube condenser offering a cardiod pattern only. There are no other switches such as roll-off filter or pad. I bought this purely out of curiosity, as it's so ridiculously cheap. I have used it to track vocals and acoustic six and twelve string guitars. Build quality is reasonably good, though there are some alignment problems of the head assembly with the front of the mic body. Internal electronics are arranged and soldered neatly and the tube is mounted in ceramic socket, which is secured with rubber mounts. The frequency plot that accompanies the mic indicates that response is mostly flat with a slight rise at 10kHz. When compared to similar mics I can hear a slight bump at about 5kHz, as well. This is a typical voicing of just about every mic that is manufactured in China. While in most cases this in not a bad thing, I'd like to see some low-cost mics with a flatter response.

Aside from the build anomalies this is a pretty good mic. It responds well to the male voices I've tried it on, and worked well with the acoustic six (Martin HD35), but didn't do quite as well with the twelve (Ovation 1755) as it's not as detailed as other condensers.

It might not be worthy of being the only condenser in your mic closet, but considering what you get for under two hundred clams it's pretty amazing.