Samson 5KIT

I been in a band for around 4 years now, doing live sound for other bands with various PAs, and also home recording, recording other bands with various mics.

First of all; the build quality. I must say it is particularly poor as 4 out of the 5 mics I got in this kit have broken over 2 years. The tom clamps can't hold the weight of the tom and bend over, and after a while snap, so if a drummer were to hit the clip it would just snap straight away.

The Kick mic clip has also broken, which is incredibly annoying as it now has to be taped to a stand so there isn't a lot of room to move the mic.

It's also frustrating that the mics are screwed to the clips so they can't be used with any other mounting mechanism.

The sound: the tom mics are surprisingly good for a budget mic, and certainly do the job for around ??40 each. For live sound they come out of the mix without much EQ, and in the studio they can sound great very easily.

I tended not to use the snare mic for Live or in the studio simply because the clip just gets in the way for most drummers, so I've tended to use a mic that can be mounted on a stand to get it out of the way, however I think the Q snare and Q tom are actually the same mics, just with different names on them.

The Q kick does the job for live sound, but doesn't give a great sound. I don't like to use it in the studio, it has a very dull boring sound and refuses to come out of a mix and it picks up a lot more than you'd want it to.

But for overall value for money you can't really knock it, because you can't expect them to sound brilliant at that price, so I would recommend these mics to a live sound engineer, but not to a studio engineer.

I've been making music for over a decade and recording music for about 5 years.

I bought this mic pack and one of the Tom mics was DOA. They sent me a replacement quickly. I think these mics are fine maybe for live applications in a smaller venue, but overall, the sound just isn't that great. I definetly would save money and get a better kit for recording. The bass drum mic doesn't give you any kick. The other mics have too much bleedover. I've tried different mic placements and still can't get too great of a sound out of them. If you're on a budget and absolutely need some low-end mics, go ahead and get these. But, if you can save some money and get something better, you'll be much happier.

I have been playing my main instruments (guitar, bass and drums) for five years now, and I've been recording since before that... probably about seven years. (Granted, I used to be a rapper, but hey, whatever!) I've recorded a few bands and do most of my experimenting on myself... I mean... my music. I'm pretty much PC-based (use my 4-track for scratch demos), so that's what I record to and listen through.

Well, coming from a background where I used four Wal-Mart karaoke mics on drums, these sound fantastic! I mean... it's kinda nice to control each tom (although there's always a time and purpose for the ol' 3 or 4 mic setup, a la Bonham). My only complaint on these is that for being designed for toms, the tom mics seem to have an actual SPL lower than what the claim (which escapes me at the moment) and I get quite a few more distorted hits than I think I should be getting- then again, I don't have a pad on the mic or on the mixer, so maybe that has something to do with it. Basically the only way around it is to pull it away from the head and kind of aim it across the head instead of at it... but hey, they're 150 dollar mics. For my recording purposes at the moment, this works just fine. Eventually, I'll probably upgrade to some 421s for toms and go with the good ol' 57 on my snares...

Home recording since '89, with many years using truly substandard equipment. Graduated to Roland VS-840 in '98 and recently put out a solo album recorded with it. Spent all my money on guitars, basses and drums so never had much left for good mics - thus, sonic revelations every time I'd spring for one.

Just recently the urge hit to advance beyond my usual Sixties-influenced, 1-3 mic drum recording setup (mainly an overhead condensor through Beatlesy EQ and compression, a la "Revolver"). I saw this set of drum mics and clips on sale and took the plunge. I had no idea to expect from Samson as far as sound quality is concerned.

I clipped the mics onto the drums. The clips are pretty limited in their range of motion - they swivel on one axis (up and down), and have a limited height adjustment. Basically they can point straight down at the edge of the drum head, or point more toward the center at quite an indirect angle (picking up more stick attack).

The manual quite eloquently describes the different tones you can achieve by changing this angle. It also claims that each of these mics is optimized for its intended drum's EQ characteristics.

In practice, I'd say it works. With flat EQ settings on a Soundcraft Spirit FX8 board, and appropriate gain settings, I can get very pleasing close-mic drum sounds to complement the two overhead condensers.

The bass drum mic is my favorite. Just pointing it at the beater's point of impact yields a tight, fat sound with surprisingly balanced frequency content that gives my mixer a great starting point for creative EQ.

The snare and tom mics are solid, too. I'm very pleased with the hi-fi (for me), totally stereo drum sounds I can finally get. This set of mics was the low-cost solution, and was indeed an inexpensive way to whet my appetite for more modern recording techniques.

Are they made cheaply? Yes. I'm glad I'll be using these for home recording... those clips might not last long on the road. The mics themselves are sturdy feeling and attractively made; I have no worries as far as their longevity in the home environment.

Do they sound cheap? Possibly. I've never had my hands on a set of close-mics before. They make my drum kit sound TO ME like a million dollars... but at 1966 exchange rates.