Samson Q Tom

I've been playing music for twenty years now and I have worked as a sound man for the last eight. I have also done professional recordings to DAW.

I am talking about the Samson Q Tom here. Like I always say, you can tell the quality of a mic by how much you need to EQ it. And to tell you the truth these mic's are pretty good. I bought them as part of a Samson Mic kit that included the Q Snare and two worthless overheads which are think are C something. I will check on that and write a review for them as well.

Yes these mic's are cheap and have a plastic clip but you could buy three of them for the price one SM-57. Personally I don't think an SM-57 is a good tom mic. A tom mic needs a higher a mid range than other mic's and no boominess. These mic's do a really good. Good sound, output, with no feedback. Diffidently the best mic's in the Samsom Drum Mic kit.

I'm recording a 9-piece set (hybrid Sonor, Ludwig, Premier, and Pearl) to PC in a home studio. Been recording since 1986, but only doing acoustic drums for a few years. I replaced three Shure SM57s with Samson's 3-pack of Q Tom mics for $90 including case and a rim-clip with each mic.

Dynamic mics with integrated rim clip. The clips are plastic and a tight fit on my Sonor and Premier rims. The guy at the Sam Ash (Columbus) drum room told me he was using them as well, and told me that he's broken a clip already. I'm not surprised; you have to force them on. Good that they won't fall off, but if you're gigging a lot (I'm not), don't expect the plastic to last forever. (These are budget mics after all.)

The first thing I did was record a "before" snapshot of me slowly going round the three toms with the Shure SM-57s, and then I recorded the same strokes with the Samsons. Overall I would say that they sounded 95% as good as the 57s. The midrange was a tiny bit more scooped with the Q Tom mics (but that may be your thing). The volume level between the two types of mics was the same, so that was good. (I had feared a volume drop.) Realistically, the tiny EQ difference between the two types of mics was nothing that a tiny EQ adjustment at the mixing board wouldn't correct.

Bottom line, I needed some more mics to fully capture my 9-piece, and for $90, I couldn't pass it up. ($30 a mic, including integrated rim clip? Great deal.) I was afraid that they would sound "budget", but they're darn near the SM57 that everyone seems to be using, so overall I'm very pleased. I wouldn't tour the world with them, but shoot, for recording on a budget, this is great "bang for the buck".