Sennheiser e609

This mic was designed for micing guitar cabs. I bet when they designed it they were micing a Marshall tube amp. This is the only mic I have used that can reproduce what my ears hear from my Marshall cab. I listen back to recordings and say to myself, "now that's it, exactly what I hear live". I can NOT say that about an sm57 or any of my other mics including expensive condensers. If you play thru a Marshall tube amp and want your sound to sound just like it does live-GET THIS MIC!!! I do have to boost the bottom end very slightly and cut just a wee bit of the mids but.....perfection! To give a little more reference my Marshall is a DSL 100 with KT77's and celestion GT1275's. So, if you have something different then you may get different results. It does the distorted tones and clean tones equally well. For years I have tried to find a mic that can do this and now I have it! Thanks, Sennheiser!

I play harp. I've been playing since high school. That would be about 45 years. To amplify "Chicago style" I use a couple of relatively small, old (as old or older than I am) tube amps. My favorites are a Premier 50 and a Danelectro Special. I also have a new Epi Valve Junior. The only effects I use is a Toadworks Meat Jr. pedal to fatten up the tone even more and to give me a boost to compete with the massive amps guitar players love so much. I just bought a Danelectro Echo pedal but I haven't used it yet. I anticipate using it only for a limited number of songs.

This microphone does exactly what it is made for and does it well. It fits my needs perfectly. What are my needs? Quite frankly, I need to be heard every so often. Buying massive amps is not the answer for me. The sound you get from small class A amps is unique and not even a Fender Bassman can get that sound. Besides, who wants to spend that kind of money? So, I put my Sennheiser e609 on a desktop mic stand with a weighted disk base and point it at the sweet spot just off the center dome midway to the edge, angled slightly ouward to match the angle of the speaker cone. I have installed substantial feet on my amps so that the stand slides right underneath. I like using this type of stand because it takes up so little room on a crowded stage. Much harder to trip over or tip over. I then plug into the PA. I make sure my volume on my bullet mic and my amp are turned back a bit during the sound check. This way the guy at the board sets my volume high enough and I can then control the ultimate volume easily at my amp and harp mic.

I went even further. On my Danelectro amp, the speaker cloth surface is recessed into the box. This gives me a little ledge on the bottom of the cabinet. I drilled into it, improvised a plastic sleeve and put a thumbscrew into the front. I then installed the mic on the 4" upright from the mic stand and now I stick it into the hole I drilled. It goes directly into the amp- no stand. I then use the thumb screw to secure the upright. The business end of the mic is actually in contact with the cloth. No one can trip over my mic stand and the mic is exactly where I want it.

How does all this sound? It sounds like me (the most important part of my entire setup) and my harp through my bullet mic and my amplifier. The e609 neither adds nor takes away. It just transmits. Whatever is wrong with the sound is my fault and not the mic's.

You could do a tap dance next to it and no one would ever know. The isolation is amazing. That's important when your stage is crowded with Leo's most monstrous boxes! (Thank God blues player don't often use Marshalls!) But this mic just lives in its own little world, unaffected by what's going on anywhere except directly in front of it. It's like a horse with blinders.

One annoying flaw- The clip it comes with is so tight it is a real struggle to get it on and off. My solution- put it on and leave it on. I bought a cool rubbery pencil box at Staples and the whole assembly fits in nicely.

I understand people who may think somewhat less of this mic than I do. However, anybody who gives this mic less that a seven or eight I think just has different needs from mine and simply bought the wrong mic. For me, it works perfectly. Nobody notices it. All the comments I get are about my harp playing. That is exactly what I want.

I am now 42 years old have been listening to musicians play since I was in the womb (litterally) and playing since I could sit up. After setting up a digital home studio recently, including a seperate guitar amp room, I thought I would try the e609 as a means to break away from the defacto SM57. I prefer to record louder than everage but not at stack saturated levels and thought this would be a perfect mike for close micing. I was wrong or mislead.

Establised brands are shoving junk down our throats based more on hype and the need for improve their bottom line than they are concerned over quality.

This mic is useless.

For a dynamic mic with high SPL's it is way too agressive for close micing as suggested. If you want a close proximity effect, you won't like this mic. Draping it over the grille resulted in grainy tones that were not pleasant and very hard to Eq out, even for metal flavors and the bottom end of both my Mesa 4x10 and a Rivera 2x12 were almost non-existent. (This mic sucked the life out of two very warm Class A tube amps). What I heard naturally and what was recored was worse than any dynamic mic I have ever used or heard. I even tried different sampling rates and all the old trick from my analog days and there is no post-mic fix for this.

Of course I tried many different mic positions and ended up at 2 feet away, off center from the cone by 4 inches on average which resulted in a room sound more than a cabinet sound.

There is a high-mid boost that will in fact get you above the mix as they say, but it's not what you are hearing from the actual cabinet, speaker or room for that matter.

I hate this mic and can't find a proper use for it. (What a waste of time and money). Maybe it's good for live micing applications but I don't know of any club owner that wants to hear a piercing grainy high-mid frequency coming from a guitar amp and the associated grating that is added to the signal.

I couldn't be more dissapointed with this mic. I WANT MY MONEY BACK !

SM57 are not a great mic but they are useful and useable, and don't trash the tones of multi-thousand dollar amps with the click of the XLR.

I'm 44 yrs old and these days mostly do home recordings on a 16 track ADAT setup.

I bought one of these after hearing all the buzz about how they are excellent for miking guitar cabinets.
When I took it home I did a scientific comparison between it, a Shure SM57 and a Sennheiser 421, (i.e. miking all three on a 1x12 guitar cabinet at the same cone location and simultaneously recording to different channels on my ADATs). I tried clean electric as well as heavy distortion sounds.

Point 1 - All three mics had similar output levels in general.

Point 2 - Both Sennheiser's blew away the SM57... it sounded boxy, constricted in range, with minimal top end and added an outrageous upper mid hump that almost sounded like adding a fuzzbox or additional overdrive pedal against the distorted guitar sounds. (Lord knows how the 57 ever became the de facto standard for micing guitar cabs?!?!)

Point 3 - The e609 has a HUGE proximity effect... miking close to the grill cloth yielded so much bass overload that the mic sounded terrible. This was surprising to me since I believe a lot of people would position it this way live, especially if just "draping" it over a guitar cab. I had to back it off the cabinet a good two inches to get a flatter, usable sound.

Point 3 - Backing it off the cabinet it yielded a nice, accurate, and exciting guitar sound, comparable to the 421 which costs about 3 times as much! Upon closer analysis, I noticed that it did have a hotter response in the highest guitar frequency overtones, (i.e. 3 - 5K region), which I guess would make it cut through a mix a little better, especially if you were recording somewhat murky high gain, humbucker-driven metal-style rhythm guitar tracks. For clean sounds or single-coil tones it might be a bit much though.

Summary: A quick look at the frequency response in the spec sheet confirmed what my ears were telling me... a huge bottom end boost / proximity effect when close micing and an aggressive rise on the top end from about 2K on up. If you understand these characteristics and work around them, you can get a great sound out of it. A fantastic value for the price, but only if you know what you are doing.

I have been involved in live sound for about 12 years, playing guitar 10 and working on recording 3. I use the digi 002 factory, a focurite 4ch pre (isa428). theses are my mics Nuemann (TLM103 and 184), Audix Dp5 (d1 not I5) and Sure (57,58,beta58). I use event asp8 monitors. also sony 7506 and sennheiser 280pro headphones.

dynamic, cardiod mic. Long story short I've used it on Cajons, kick drums and cabnits. when setup correctly it works good on all, the best on Cabs. Used close, the way intended, it sounds very good for live. It looses a little presence on most electrics. Tried it with a d6 and sounded like a studio mic. Inexpensive, sound good (don't expect perfection), it's the best I've used (for itended purpose) under $100.
Basicaly almost all mics have some value (almost) and this one is very good and versitile. Although its still no md409.

Been playing guitar for 8 years and recording for 6. I currently run a home studio with a Tascam interface and DAW surface control station. We got an 800$ condenser by some German company that I can't pronounce, an AKG3000B to fill out the tone if needed, a gazillion sm57s, some Audix mikes for toms and the kick, a D112 and beta52 for the kick also, and some pencil overheads. All that comes out of a pair of EV TR8s. The e609 Silver is the newest member.

Supercardioid dynamic mic. I got tired of the 57. It always colored my tone. It's like a 20yr old mic, so I'm thinking there's gotta be something better. So I decided to gamble with the e609 and compare it to the 57.

It's allright. It's not like "WOW" better than the 57. I took a day off to record and compare the e609 to the sm57 at different positions playing the same music.

Generally, the sm57 had a more boomy sound and no crispness on the high end. When your using distortion, it picks up a resonant frequency at about 1.2kHz that sounds like the "shh" consonant. It's really annoying. BUT, the 57 has more growl in the lower mids that makes your distortion meaner.

The w609 has slightly less bass (which I found to be a good thing)and much much much more attack and crispness on the high end. It also has a little bit more of a cutting presence which sounds clearer. It's flatter response doesn't color your tone, but it also doesn't add the growl that the 57 does.

On cleans, the two are just "different."
On overdrive/distortion, the e609 is clearer and more articulate. Get's an 8 because it's not a wonder mic that totally destroys the sm57.

Been playing 30+ years.I've had every giutar under the sun and strickly play a PRS custom 24 for the past 10 years.I record for myself and my friends. I'm a die hard analog tape man.

I'm sure there are a lot of folks that find this mic to be soothing and user friendly,I found this mic to be muddy and flimsy. It has the feel of a plastic cheap mic and I wouldn't depend on it holding up very long. My SM57's have much more tone and are built much stronger.Once again I'm disapointed in Sennheiser.I'm not one for bashing but this is truly a flimsy bad sounding mic.

I have been playing music for most of my life and recording for 3 years now and i was in the market for a good mic. I use a MBox 2 which i recently purchased. I was thinking of a Shure SM57 or 58 but what attracted me to the 609 was...and this sounds shallow ...Pink Floyd live from Pompeii. They used the MD 409s and after ten minutes of searching the net i found the 609 which has a higher impedence and larger freq. range...10 Hz difference.

Though its super cardiod pattrens are meant for amps i used it on a vocal track...like Pink Floyd...and was it ever a holy sound. Nice range no loss of frequencies when distanting myself for louder parts, like the SMs seem to do. then on to my acoustic guitar and the mic punched me in the face with its exact reproduction of sound.

It is a pain in the arse to get it out of the mic clip and the price I paid for it was a bit more than I expected but with a ten year warranty and awsome sound price doesn't matter. YOU NEED THIS MIC especially if you want to start a home studio or a beginner...better to have a good mic to start than a bad one I always say!!

I've been making music for quite a while and needed a guitar cabinet mic for both my old rhodes which i was running through a fender deluxe and to mic my bad cat black cat. Never really been pleased with any of the 57's of ive used so thought i would give this a try.

I think im going to agree with some of the comments below. This is a pretty good mic recording but much more suited for live use so ill give it an 8 for recording and 10 for live. Granted alot of hobbiests might use this for home recording studios but i found when just doing really quick demo tracks that this mic ends up sounding pretty thin. I would defintely go out and invist in a higher quality condenser mic with a high spl rating for recording guitar cabinets if you can afford it. But for live use I really do enjoy this mic. It has great side and rear rejection so the only sound you get is the sound from the source your micing. I recently also bought the 906 that sennheiser came out with. It sounds bigger and the cut features are really nice. But if you dont want to spend another 70 bucks this mic will definitly do the job and do it well

Been writing/playing music for about 15 years; recording for about 14. Have used a wide variety of recording equipment - both analog & digital: 4-track to 24-track consoles experience; currently own a Roland VS2000 for home studio (which fits all).

Have used them on guitar amps, snares, and sometimes even (first by accident, and now for fun) used as a room mic on just about anything, and lightly introduced into a mix.
Placed at various angles and inches from guitar amps, and about 1 - 2 inches from snare/tom heads.

I was STRICTLY an SM57'er for about the last 12 years. There was no breaking me from it... probably because 57's treat my mid & low vocal tones, specifically for live shows, with the most honesty I can find. My 57 was my pride and joy when it came to amp and snare micing. At 12 years old they're still in great condition cosmetically as well as mechanically. My 57's could do no wrong. . .

Until about a year ago when I had to mess it all up and buy an e609 solely on a whim. Then. . . a couple more (for toms, and because I had enough cash for two more).
Since then, I'm severly guilty of having betrayed my 57's in the studio and out.

The e609 is ideally for amp and drum micing. However, the advantage is - whether it be close or distant placement/clean or distorted/wet or dry room - the e609 will translate exactly what your amps and drums are saying. You pretty much don't have to be too careful. It's like the "soul mate" of those sounds.

For the price (betwixt $80 - $100) they've given me more than I paid for, maybe even enough to make up for what I didn't know I was missing from my 57's. I'm only giving the e609 an 8-rating because I'm still feeling guilty about having ignored my 57's except for live vox.

I think the only area it falls short is the mic clip that new ones come with. You're best using a more universal or rubber clip.

I highly recommend the e609 as the "new" standard for all live and studio use, you see.

I have been making music for 13 years and been involved with audio production for 6 years. I have used protools and currently use Cubase SX on a Mac.

This is a dynamic microphone built to mic guitar cabs. It is designed for live use so don't expect a fat sound during recording. It is great for mic'g close in and along with other microphones. It beats an SM 57 with better sound and design. They are also lighter. If recording is your game, buy a condensor. If live sound is your game, buy one.

I've been playing and trying to record guitars and
moaning since the opening of the Cretaceous period.
I record with a ProTools LE system hooked to an 8 bus board and monitor with Sony or AKG headphones or my JBL studio monitors at 200 watts a side.

I have always wanted one of these mics and now I wish I could buy three or four more.
I associate these mics with the cool middle period Pink Floyd sound.
They seem to have used the 409 quite a bit.
As far as the different models,specs and performance go, Sennheiser says this one is more "period" yhan the original 609.
I think that they tried a flat mic because the technology is there now , it's us who haven't caught up.
Nevertheless put aside any notion that this is a secondrate mic.

I find that this mic is smoother than a 57 , and because it has a gentle bump for a boost instead of the nasty peak that a 57 has you are not always fighting it. I like Clean sounds.
Not super clean but it usually already has a healthy dose of 5-6k coming from my amp.
Then you have to dial out the similar prescense peak in the 57.
Now you have zero mid control.
With the e-609 my board opened up in the midrange and experiments were happening
in frequencies previously unavailable or at least too harsh to take.
I tried it on my Mesa subway and it got a clean thick sound with no trouble at all.
Then I used an HK Cream machine thru a 12" w/ a close mic at whicper volume. Instant Marshall.
To be fair, I do use a DBX compressor on my mic inser set to be at 3 db down when the needle (or led) hits zero.
The e-609 requires a little more gain, trim or preamp volume than a 57 but who cares. This is a quite even sounding mic. I like it can you tell ?

Been making music for 30 years plus,still going stong, the phone keeps ringing.I have tons of studio experience,but i'm not a studio engineer,though i have mixed live shows for years,from local,to now line arrays with midas consoles and the like.I have decently trained ears.This review for the 609 is not based on an opinion from the engineers seat,but more from a live stage,and i'm playing the guiatr rig miked with these mikes,though i will intersperse opinions from the f.o.h. guy'

basic dynamic mic,stuck on Bogner cube.Two cubes,two mic's,stereo rig powered by boogie 395,Jmp1,TC g major,my cut down ,no frills rack.Oh yeah,I use a barber overdrive to get some of those elusive clean crunchy tones.Been using 57's for years,an occasional Sennheiser 421,and now these little 609's.There are better mic's,but for the money the 609's are really quite good.Close micing will require you boost bottom end a little at the desk,back off about 8 inches ,forget the boost.Really great isolation characteristics,literally no onstage bleedthrough if close miked., Extremely smooth and accurate,wonderfully smooth and transparent top end,These mic's make a SM57 sound harsh and muddy.I find the best sound comes from placing the mic to the side,just below the dust cap,angled away toward the side about 5 to 10 degrees.I love the stage isolation,the accuracy,the natural smoothness.If you are going into a pro system,you will be pleased with these mic's.If the horns out front are crap,so is your guitar tone.For most players ,these mic's should be perfectly adequate.I recommend them without hesitation.There are better mic's,but for live work,you would be hard pressed to find one that performs as well as this one does,especially with it's great isolation from other sounds on stage.The 421's sound good,but pick up the whole stage,the 57's are harsh in comparison.Great buy for the money.Go buy a couple of these,you wont be dissapointed.

im a sonic perfectionist. If it doesnt meet professional quality, im pissed.

using directly flat on my fender twin reverb. You can get professional quality sound but sometimes its a little hard. With two guitars, it sounds full and powerful when the guitars are panned hard left and hard right. Couldnt ask for more there. But with only one guitar its definetely lacking. Sounds thin, and lacks presence. When i use this mic with one guitar, i record the same part twice and pan it anyway to get a good sound. But this would get kind of old if i had to record an entire album like this.

its also not as good as i expected handling extremely high sound pressure. I record with my amp set to 2, 3 or 4 for the best sound. I have a boss gt-6, which almost acts as a guitar cab head, as far as pushing sound is concerned. So with the output on the boss at halfway, a twin reverb can get excruciatingly loud, 6 will blow your head off and 10 will bring down a small house. Tube amps sound better cranked, but i just cant get a good sound out with the amp at even 6. soo i was dissappointed there. but this shouldnt be a problem unless you have a tube amp that sounds horrible soft like some do.

so if your on a budget, this is a good buy, but for a little more try the e906 which will give a fuller sound on a single guitar. If you have more money, dont hesitate to go for an md441 or md421. But all in all, for the price you really cant complain.

I have been a home recordist for about 2 years now. I use an mbox/pro tools le, m-audio monitors, mesa-boogie dc-5 combo, etc.

This is a dynamic mic. I heard some great things about it on the net, and since it was only $110 dollars, why not try it out. I had been using the standard sm57 as well as an at3035 condenser. My experience with those mics was always a mixed bag, mostly ending up not sounding how I wanted them to. I would have to eq the hell out of them to get a usable sound. After having the e609 for about three hours now, I feel like I can provide some good advice about this mic. BUY IT NOW! This mic is great for my needs. I recorded some guitar tracks into pro tools le, and went to eq them, then I found out that the tracks without the eq were exactly what I wanted. Now, I'm no professional engineer, but if you're a home recordist who has had trouble laying down some heavy rock tones with that old sm57, go out and get the e609. You cannot beat the sound vs. price value. The mic is very flat and gave me exactly what I heard out of my amp, which is what every guitarist wants. The sm57 was always sounding thin to me, and even when I hard panned them, the guitars still sounded like they were somewhat in the middle of the mix. With this mic, the guitars are full, present, powerful, and clear. Sorry for ranting too much. Go buy this mic NOW!

I've been recording music for a long time as a musician and as an engineer. I started doing studio work in the early 70's as a musician. I've worked on album work and commercials in the Detroit area.I'm currently using a Korg d32-xd for my own studio work and to record my band. I own about 12 different mics and am comparing them to each other for the best and most realistic reproduction of what I'm recording.

The e609 was a mic I've been interested in trying for some time. I read some reviews here and for the price I thought I'd go for it. I've been using SM-57's for recording guitar cabs but felt I could do better, so at rehersal I set up the two mics exactly the same and recorded the rehersal to listen to the two later. I was amazed at the quality of the e609 it was larger and more defined then the SM-57. It sounded the was I heard it come out of the cab. The SM-57 was more muttled sounding and had less shimmer then the e609. I can't wait to get serious with it.

I've been in this business about 25 years.
Main equipment: Too much to list.

This is a response to the previous poster who gave this mic a "1" rating.
Obviously they are smitten with the Audix i5. Beleive me, they'll get bored with it. Not a bad mic but don't slam something else because of your love affair. This Sennheiser is extremely useful and musical!

I've been running a live sound company for 4 years, at least 75 shows a year. That's usually a Midas Venice, Crown amps, JBL SRx series speakers. I've had a recording studio for three years- Midas venice or Soundcraft Ghost mixer running into either a MOTU or Digi002 running on a Mac G4 dualie. I have Tannoy Reveal and M-Audio BX8 monitors.

I'm also an active musician, been gigging for the past 13 years.

Dynamic mic designed mostly for guitar, with a squarish side-address design that's easy to hang on cabinets. I've also used this on snare and toms. I've had it up against quite a few of the 'usual suspects' (57, md421, re20, etc).

When I'm doing live work, this is by far the first mic I grab for guitars. It's so easy to hang and sounds a bit more present than a 57. When recording, I prefer an MD421, but this is another nice spice in the cabinet. It's sounds good on smaller toms, a bit lacking for floor toms. Sometimes I prefer it as a snare mic, depending on the song.

I bought one to try out live. The next day I went and bought 5 more. They're cheap, sound good, and extremely easy to use.

Been making music for 10 years, have been recording demos for all the bands that i've been in for the last 5. I mostly use a Roland vs-880ex to record and then mix/master on my computer with cubase and sound forge. My primary listening equipement is my Kenwood surround system and my Sony MDR-V900 headphones.

dynamic hyper-cardiod mic. forget this mic. get the audix i5. i bought both and tested them at the same time. this mic is just a hyped sm57. maybe one degree better but you will still get that compressed lost in a metalic cave sound. read my audix i5 review. its the last mic i'll ever buy for guitar cabs (well except maybe for an re20 and a ribbon mic). It is much more open, accurate and truthfully than the this highly overated sennheiser. i got rid of this mic the next day.

I've been doing music for about 16 years now--mostly playing bass, guitar, or keyboards live. I don't have my own studio equipment beyond an old Tascam 4-track, but I've recorded various projects at studios from arranging, playing, singing, and mixing standpoints. This mic I'm using to mic my guitar amp for live playing and sending it to the house system. it's running into a Mackie SR series 4-bus board, through Yamaha and Crown amps, and out Peavey 15-inch, 2-way main enclosures and a sub, folded back through Yamaha and Carvin monitor wedges.

Okay, this is the E609 Silver dynamic cardioid mic, and obviously, its main use is micing guitar amps. Others have said they use it for toms, but I haven't bothered with that. I got for my guitar amp, and dang it, that's what it's getting used for.

Right now it's micing my Carvin Vintage Series Nomad 50 guitar amp, which is a 50-watt combo with a 12" speaker. This is placed behind me on an amp stand and slightly angled away from the back of my head when I play. The E609 I've come to like simply hung over the front of the amp (right on the grill!), positioned off center on the speaker cone (right in between the center and the edge). If I was using it for recording anything more than live scratch tracks, I'd put a lot more time and effort into mic postitioning, but with what little experimentation I've done, this setup works great for me.

This mic was in competition with the standard SM57 for this duty, as well as with some cheaper condensers. It was basically replacing the direct out from the amp (which stank with a great stink) and the other dynamics I had on hand to mic it with, such as old SM58s, AKG D-series mics, etc. I had been using the Sennheiser Evolution series vocal mics for a while, and since I really liked them (they're especially good for the money) I figured I'd give the E609 a try.

This mic can really handle the the high output of a guitar amp, and has a great sound. The great thing about the flat design is that you can put it right against a speaker grill and get as much gain as you need to without worrying about things like feedback, stage noise, or signal from other sources. For the price, this a great guitar amp mic. It's better in my opinion than an SM57, or anything in its price range. I've been very impressed with listening to CD and mini-disc recordings of our live playing and the sound that this mic gives. The sound of the guitar amp comes through without significant alteration, which is about all you can ask for in this kind of application. If you are going to record with this mic, don't expect the articulation and "air" of a $2,000 condenser mic, but if you want an improvement on the old SM57 for not much dough, this is a great mic, especially for live micing applications.

I'd definitely recommend it to others for the above-mentioned purpose, but frankly, if you've got a recording setup and several expensive condenser and ribbon mics, I don't think you'll need it. If you're going for a dynamic mic sound that's clear and punchy, with plenty of headroom, and you don't want to break the bank, get this mic! The only reason it doesn't get a perfect score is because I have pretty high standards, and while it's really good, it won't stand up under critical listening situations against mics costing 3 or 4 times its price.

I've been recording in my home studio for 2 years. I record basically alternative hard rock. I use a Digi001 as DAW, Sytek MPX-4AII as my mic pre, MAudio SP-5b as my monitors. I also have a MXL V69, MXL 990, SP B1, and SM57.

It's a very simple mic as the other reviewers have it covered.
I'm using this mic primarily for close amp miking and I love it! It sounds great! Very nice clarity with no harshness of the uppermids of the SM57. I was considering other guitar mics possibly the MXL 2001 or 2003 as well as the M421 because i wanted to get a better guitar sound instead of SM57 and it works great alone or together with the SM57!

For my purpose I don't see any area that this mic falls short...this mic was design for close amp miking and toms and that's where it excels at!

I would highly recommend this mic for anybody that wants to get great guitar sounds out of their recording! It's affortable and it more importantly it sounds wonderful!!

I've been building, using, and upgrading my project studio for about 25 years.

For the past 10 years or so, I've been able to add pro-quality gear to my studio here and there; mics have been a big focal point. Currently I'm using a Millennia HV3 preamp and a good selection of mics from Neumann, AKG, Earthworks, and others. The recording medium is a PC-DAW running Sonar; the interface is a Tascam FW-1884.

The e609 is a small dynamic mic designed for close-mic'ing guitar cabinets. It's also sold as a tom mic'ing tool but I was unable to test that claim.

Since Sennheiser made such specific claims for it as an amp mic, I thought I'd see if it beat my other mics for that purpose. I don't recall the exact price but I think the mic is pretty affordable.

I played a simple rhythm verse on my Telecaster through a Fender Cyber Deluxe amp and recorded it with the e609 about 8" from the grille. I repeated this step with a Shure SM57, AT4060 tube mic, Beyer M260 ribbon, Electrovoice RE20, and some others. I also took a Direct Out (including speaker emulation) from the amp. I did the best I could to ensure that the playing dynamics and tone were consistent from one take to the next. After recording, I balanced the volume on all the tracks.

The result? The EV RE20 was the winner and one or two others were close behind. The Sennheiser e609 was "one of the pack" but did not stand out. To my ears the e609 sounded closest to the Direct Out track. You decide whether that's a good thing or bad.

I didn't try every imaginable mic placement nor did I change the amp settings to "match" the mics' characteristics. This was a fairly unscientific test but it approximated my normal recording methods.

The upshot is, I returned the mic to the store. If I was shopping for my first guitar cab mic and didn't have some of the others I own, the e609 would be a contender. It seems more detailed than the industry-standard Shure SM-57. Note: not all stores will accept mics for return. Don't assume you can try this mic and take it back if things don't work out.

Been in the industry for 11 years now - been making music for about 15 years of my life. Have significant recording background now running a project studio, and been involved in major label recording atmospheres with lots of fun, expensive toys at my disposal.

Now I am recording to a Lexicon Omega A/D (4 lines in, 2 out) and using the Pro Tracks Plus software, which is like the Big Lots version of Pro Tools.

Monitoring through AKG240DF headphones and a pair of M-Audio SP5B active studio monitors.

I also use this mic live through a Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro, Mackie SRM450 tops, and Mackie SRS1800 subwoofer.

General Description

The e 609 has an excellent transient response. Its laterally mounted capsule has been specially developed for miking guitar cabs face on and extremely close to the signal source. The e 609 is also suitable for drum miking, particularly toms, where the microphone's profile allows the capsule to be positioned close to the drum skin. Sound inlet basket: refined steel.

Features
* Exceptional full-size sound quality
* Very high sound pressure handling capability
* Super-cardioid pick-up pattern provides isolation from other
on-stage signals
* Hum compensating coil

Ok - now that that crap's out of the way, I'll tell you what I don't like: for some reason, this bugger has such a high output gain on it - I think good gain should be a lot lower on there. I have to put the trim on my board at about 11:30 for this thing to be effective. A flawed mic? Who knows. Anyway, this is my review so I'll be blunt.

The best application I have for this mic has been with electric guitar amplifiers and toms, although I have managed some success using it as a trumpet mic.

Overall, with a name like Sennheiser, it's got to be good!!!