GXL2200 Large-Diaphragm Cardioid Condenser Microphone – 1″ Gold Diaphragm & Shock Mount

I upgrade from a decent $20 dynamic mic bought off amazon a year ago to this CAD Condensor mic, and i have to say i noticed the difference instantly. The mixer i'm using is a Behringer QX1202usb with 48v phantom power(require for.this mic) and with the old dynamic Mic had a hum in the background. When i plugged this phatom powered condensor mic in i was pleased that the hum was now gone. I guess thats what happens when you spend alittle more money for a half decent mic. My voice sounds great on my podcast with no static or humming behind my voice. One warning for amature podcasters, beware this mic is sensative! It easily picks up tv or radio or fan or other background noises. You will need a quiet enviroment. However this is a plus if you have a desk stand like i do and don't feel like always leaning forward to speak. Your mouth can be 12 to 18 inches away and this will pick you up just fine. One word on the mount...it fits the mic well for rights side mounting, not sure how you could hang the mic from a boom using the cradle, however if your 5/8" boom/mic stand's mount is right side up it will work just fine. Im using the same desk top mic stand i had my dynamic mic clipped to. I like this mic so much i bought two extra's for my co-host and for when i have guests on my podcast.

In my radio business, and my 25 year singing career, you can bet I have used a lot of studio condenser mics. My husband had done many months of research and along with my advice purchased the MXL 990's for our studio here and they are truly stellar! Hell, even "The Stern Show™" uses them! Anyway, we needed some variety hubby said, we needed a "collection" for the many different voice types we have in studio as guest hosts and show guests come and go all the time. Well, I suggested he go with the CAD GXL 3000's as they certainly in my opinion are one of the best out there. Well, hubby with all his "tech specs" and lingo said that the response from these 2200's are VERY close to the 990's Well, against my wishes purchased these as well as the 3000's and let me tell you, they are excellent. VERY close to the 990's but I feel there is more of a high end punch with these and it's a very good mic. PROS: Construction is solid, with a small but very good shockmount. Excellent quality finish applied to the outer casing for a nice look and I'm sure a long life. The sound is as I said crisp, clear with very nice highs and mids. When I tested, we ran through just our mixer, with no compression of effects and a small amount of EQ as we run our shows. All in all a very nice addition to our studio collection. CONS: The ONLY con I have was the packaging. Just a thin cardstock box with nothing more than small plastic airbags around it for shipping. It does come with a vinyl zip case for the mic itself, but nothing for the shockmount. Not a huge issue, but when compared with the MXL 990 that comes with a solid plastic road case, heavy foam insulation and a very nice quality presentation along with the useability of professional grade portability, it's a bit weak. Other than packaging, this is a solid studio condenser for voice and we highly recommend it!

I use this microphone in conjuction with the blue icicle and so far the audio quality is satifactory, especially at this price point. I was thinking of purchasing a USB microphone such as the blue yeti but I went the xlr route. Sound quality from this microphone exceeds most the usb microphones and it has descent build quality. Noise performance is satifactory and can get really clean audio at half the max preamp volume which is all you really need. Volume dynamic range is acceptable and better than most so pick this microphone up if you can afford it. ' (Needs xlr cable, stand, pop filter, and a preamp) I would get the behringer um2 pre amp, better build quality and more features for the same price as the blue icicle. If you got more money, Id get the rode nt1a at around $200 and if you got more aswell as podcast, get the electro re20 for like $450.

it's a basic cardioid large diaphragm [1 inch dia] w/bass tilt true condenser mic that c/w/ adequate shockmount cage. it c/w/ zipper leatherette bag 4 the mic. pros: bargain price[less than $60.] mic is good build quality & the shock mount is ok 4 the price. mic easily opened 2 change base tilt, the push button is clearly labeled & works smoothly. works well plugged directly in2 zoom R16 digital recorder phantom powered mic input. works well w/innogear 48volt phantom power supply jacked in2 zoom R6 non phantom powered mic inputs. works well w/cad pop filter it sounds [2 me] like it should given the published frequency response. the included mic description & frequency response [ well printed on coated poster stock ] is clear & gives u the info u need 2 use & operate the mic & is presented in the standard format established by the importers of the primo german makers like akg ,beyer or sennheiser, 40+ yrs ago. there is no poorly translated/presented chinese 2 english on or in the box it came in. cad is american based mic manufacturer w/a large line of american made mics, making this mic in china so price is quite low & qc seems good. cons: shock-mount needs washers in the angle adjustment joint so it can b adjusted smoothly, tightened firmly & locked in position. shock-mount mic clamp needs thicker felt so grip on mic body is secure enuf 2 hang mic upsidedown in overhead applications. box it comes in is very thin w/no foam or bubble pack. it is not heavy enuf 2 use 4 storage like the heavyweight box that samson mics come in [& samson gives u a zipper closed fitted case that is very nice]. it wasn't free[ ! ].

I am in the process of piecing together my own home studio and I had been back and forth over what kind of condenser mic to go with. Being on a budget often makes one mindful, because you don't want to break the bank, but you also don't to end up with an album that sounds like it was recorded with a cassette player, so reviews are a penny-pincher's best friend. I was leaning towards a higher-end MXL, but I did not have enough confidence built up in the reviews. Now i currently own a Samson C01 usb mic, and have been pretty well pleased with it, but it never had that crisp, flat sound I was looking for vocally and acoustically. Thats when I ran across this awesome deal. I hook it up to my Behringer Xenyx mixer and this mic brings my stuff to life. Has an awesomely crisp sound and a really nice flat response vocally. My only complaint is that the shock mount is really flimsy and easily broken. Mine actually came with a stripped out screw in it. Thats where the CAD customer service blew me away. I called at 8:00 on a Wednesday, explained the situation, (And wasn't transferred to 8 different departments), the dude sent me another shock mount with no questions asked. I had it by 12:00pm on Saturday. Will forever be a CAD customer now. THIS MIC IS WORTH A SHOT!

When this mircophone arrived it was scratched down the side, part of the wire mesh was frayed, and there were globs of glue where the frame had been put together. Shoddy looking for sure. But for the first day I had it it sounded great so I decided to ignore the exterior quality. Then on day two, in the middle of a recording, a thundering wind noise suddenly started--making the vocals almost inaudible. After that the noise wouldn't go away thus rendering the mic completely worthless. I tried different cables, a different mixer, even feeding it into a different computer, but the noise remained--even in my silent home recording studio. I contacted CAD directly and they promised to return my tech support request within 24 hrs but after two weeks I still haven't heard from them. Luckily, Amazon is good with these things and let me return it. Do yourself a favor and go with a company that's well established as decent people. The Audio Technica AT2020 is in the same price range and has way better durability, sound, and tech support.

I originally gave this item only 1 star because I could not get it to work - it turns out I was using a faulty cable (I wasn't aware it was possible for an xlr cable to conduct sound, but not phantom power, so when I tested it with a guitar it worked so I figured it was ok. Got a new cable just to be sure, and now it works just fine). I would give 5 stars, but I think the mic has 2 pretty unfortunate design flaws. 1) I would like a power LED so that you can see when the mic is actually receiving power (that would have saved me a lot of time and aggravation) 2) There is a button on the inside of the mic that you need to disassemble the entire thing to get at - not that you necessarily need to use it all the time, but it is pretty inconvenient. Would it really be so hard to put the button on the outside? Also, I only even found out it was there because I couldn't get the damn thing to power on so I was researching it online and taking it apart to see if there was anything obviously wrong with it. It would be nice if it came with an instruction sheet. Now that its finally working I can say that it sounds great. The only drawback for me is that it is actually a little too sensitive - I can hear the cars driving outside and my cat walking around. Definitely a major step up from my internal mic and the crappy USB mic I was previously using. It also looks pretty sweet, and so far the shock mount is a nice feature, although everyone else on here says it will probably crap out very soon.

I really can not say enough about this little baby, but that it seems a gem of this modern industrial age that you can get a microphone that sounds this well for only $56.00 US. The microphone sounds better for record9ing than the $300 Shure mic that I have which is more of a live mic for playing out. I purchased for I took some time off recording and playing music and was getting back into recording, but did not want to spend $5-$600 bucks on a mic if I feud that I was not using it a lot. I read reviews about this mic and went for it, and am just passing the message along to other budget minded musicians, or what ever your need is for a mic you will not be disappointed. The only thing I wonder is how can they make such a good quality piece, ...Asia. Who cares where its made, its a good mic for a few dollars, and is a nice addition to many a home studio/podcast u name it.