Why I buy this one ?
- 3/4" gold-sputtered diaphragm
- Attractive vintage body style with champagne finish
- 30Hz-20kHz frequency response
- 130dB maximum SPL
- Sensitivity: 15MV/pa

Musician's Friend offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $69.99 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

What our customer's say!

"MXL yikes!", I was really in the market for a less expensive condenser mic. A friend had one of these at his studio and I tried it out. Iwas really terrible. Sounded awlful. Very harsh. Acoustic guitar sound hollow and harsh - not good. Vocals were really unflattering. Tried a couple of different mic pres. Still bad news. You really hardly get what you pay for with this stuff.

"Too muddy. For $50 more you can get so much better.", I had this mic for one day, which was enough time for me to put it through its paces for my use: voice-over work. Unfortunately, this mic didn't have the presence I was looking for in a condenser microphone, and the mids were far too muddy. I couldn't EQ them out with my basic 4-channel audio board + phantom power. Garbage in = garbage out. I returned the mic to the store about 24 hours later.

Someone said in another review that you'll quickly grow out of the MXL 990 mic once you realize that it sounds like a cheap Chinese condenser mic. I totally agree with that.

Also, a condenser is really not a good choice for a podcast mic. They pick up far too much noise -- they are really meant to be used in studio applications with heavily treated rooms that have no background noise. If you use it in a normal room, you'll hear every tiny little sound along with your speech. I suggest you look at a decent Dynamic microphone. As far as super inexpensive, I've had good luck with the Audio Technica AT818II mic in Asia. In the US, it's actually more expensive, and is called the Audio Technica "Professional Unidirectional Microphone." You can find them here on Amazon for a song. I've been happy with the sound for my podcasts, and as a dynamic, they handle background noises much better.

A great (but a little expensive) mic for podcasts, probably the best, is the Shure SM7. You can read about that all over the web.


"Best mic!", Very good mic for live recording...don't let the price fool this is a really good mic.To hear a sound clip recorded by this mic go to [...] you will be impressed with the quality sound from this mic. Just buy it already!

"More than a year later", I bought one of these over a year ago, and it's been in regular almost daily use since. Easily one of my favorite mics for recording voice and acoustic instruments. I have had absolutely no problems with it, it's solid and reliable.

The sound is perhaps slightly warm for close-up vocal work, so for that you might want to roll back the lows on your eq just a tiny bit. But I find that bit of warmth very pleasant for recording acoustic guitar, dulcimer, flute, etc. If you're miking an acoustic instrument from 3 ft or further away, then the sound is crisp and has enough low end to just be pleasant.

I have microphones that cost more, but for recording this one would be my favorite. Amazingly good sound for the price.

"Cheap and really not all that bad.", [review updated after more time spent with the mic]

Well, there's definitely some detail missing in the mids, but it has a generally pleasing "very fat" (aka muddy) tone. Makes a fair snare drum mic. Needs a bit of EQ for almost any practical application. I don't think I'd use it to track the vocals on anything, but it works. You'd be better off with a similarly-priced small-diaphragm condenser and a windscreen.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"feel free to shop with amazon,com", I am very much satisfy with the mxl condenser microphone with socmount,i purcased from amazon.I will encourage any individual to shop in amazon online shopping.I felt so comfortable and confident when i first placed my order.They are so amazing in any aspect,when it come for the right order and shipping trust amazon.I believe in doing business with amazon online shopping. Feel free to shop with amazon,com.
Thank you.
From Walter Che.

"Don't forget the pop filter", Nice mic at a great price. However, it doesn't include a pop filter which is essential. I was shocked to find that these filters can cost as much as the mic.

"AWESOME MIC", This is mic is good for the price but i didnt realize that it had to have a phantom power adapter so i had to spend about 40 bucks on that and buy to more mic cords so that ended up costing me over one hundred dollars but this mic is great and looks very pro. You cant beat the price and the only problem i have with it is the you can hear everything around you when using it loud and clear. But outher than that it is the best mic i have had thus far.

"Good for the price", i have had this microphone for almost 3 years now, and it still works well. the shock mounting has broken, but the actual microphone unit is still going strong.

i am definitely not an expert in music but i do like sound. i find the highs are a little extreme and sometimes bordering on harsh in this microphone. i realise that terms like 'muddy' are somewhat open to interpretation but i have no qualms with the clarity of the midtones in recording solo vocals or acoustic instruments. as has been noted in previous reviews, this microphone requires phantom power. i'm running it through my alto s-6 mixing desk.

at this price it is definitely picking up one of these microphones, i'm very happy having chosen it as my first compressor mic, but now (after almost 3 years) i think i should upgrade.

"Great for the price, perfect for podcasting", I have two of these because they're SO cheap and use them mainly at home if I have a musical idea. One of the reviewers above mentioned it was a bit muddy which I totally agree with. But it's incredibly cheap and fairly detailed for that amount of money. I'm curious how it will hold up over years of use. Anyway, this is probably the perfect "step-up" mic for podcasts if you are currently recording with your computer's built-in mic or a radio shack dynamic mic. I would choose this over the m-audio mics- it feels slightly more durable.