Alternatives to the Heil PR35

camf

I'm looking at a new vocal mic and the Heil PR-35 sounds ideal. I was thinking of hitting full price at Thomann as it seems to be the only place that has them is stock but I wondered if any of you could suggest a vocal mic with a similar warmth. It could be hand-held condenser rather than dynamic but I need something with decent noise rejection for recording vocals at home that can also be used live in a quieter band/environment (my SM58 is fine for full band). Like I say, the PR-35 looks ideal but just thought I'd see what you guys thought.

Cheers,

cam f

Stuckfast

Beyer M-88?

camf

Cheers, @Stuckfast ; I'd been wondering about that very one. I've read proximity is an issue but if I'm playing guitar, I guess I should be able to keep a fairly consistent distance from the mic. It's on my list, along with the M69. Any others? 

Stuckfast

Well, if by noise rejection you mean a tight polar pattern, then that's nearly always going to go hand in hand with lots of proximity effect. The only exceptions would be things like the EV RE20 and so on that are designed to have minimal proximity effect. The RE20 is pricey and huge though. I really like the old AKG dynamics that were designed along similar lines but they're long discontinued and aren't really robust enough that I'd want to use them live.

The M-88 doesn't have a built in high-pass filter so you will get a lot of low end (but that's what makes it useful for other duties such as kick drum). I believe the M-69 does have a high-pass filter, but I haven't used that mic.

duotone

Did you have a look at the microphone comparison website?

https://www.audiotestkitchen.com/

camf

Why didn’t I know about this? That looks like it will be really helpful. Cheers @duotone (Although personal recommendations still welcome!)

camf

Hmmm. Unless I'm being an idiot, no Heil or Beyerdynamic mics on Audio Test Kitchen to compare. At the moment, I'm thinking maybe the Beyer M88 ahead of the Heil PR35. I'm liking the overall package with the M88. More pondering. 

Stuckfast

No, I think initially ATK is only doing studio mics.

Shure KSM8 might be another interesting option, but I haven't tried it.

camf

Yep. But quite a bit more money, though.

camf

Trigger pulled on an M88. Thanks for the suggestions.

octatonic

Stuckfast said:

Beyer M-88?

camf said:

Trigger pulled on an M88. Thanks for the suggestions.

Good decision.
Underrated mic.
I've used it on vocals, bass drum, bass amp, percussion & brass.

Heil isn't my favourite- I prefer the Beta 58 to it.

camf

Cheers @octatonic. There also seems to be few reports about reliability issues with the Heil that weren’t enough to put me off buying one but the extra cost involved made plonking for a tried and tested ‘old timer’ like the M88 an even easier decision in the end.