Avantone Mondo and MXL A55

[dickiefunk]

As you know I'm looking to buy a new kick drum mic and I'm very interested in the Avantone Mondo and MXL A55 kick mics.
I've not been able to find a great deal of info in these mics apart from an a/b shootout between most of the industy standards here :-

Massive Kick Drum Mic Review | recording hacks

I am a little put off by the fact that the A55 has the lowest output of any kick drum mic I've come across at 0.16 mV/Pa!?

The Mondo seems to have the more eq'd tone I hear from the sound engineers eq at gigs so may be a good live mic?

[OneEng]

I realize it is a bit more expensive, but the Audix D6 is my favorite by far and away even over microphones which are quite a bit more expensive than it.

[dickiefunk]

Yes the D6 is a very good kick mic. I'm very familiar with it and borrow one regularly.
I also know a couple of top notch sound companies that use them and they always boost the bass frequencies a little more.
Because of this I am curious about the Avantone Mondo as it appears to already boost more of those frequencies. It's also £60-£70 cheaper!

[AlecSp]

D6 - happy as Larry with it.

And (see separate thread) though I consider it entirely appropriate to be Mr Scrimpy with my tom/snare mics, experience has shown that good cheap kick mics are harder to come by, so I happily cried once and smile every time I use my D6. Sounds fantastic with barely no EQ. Needs a little softening if it's not a rock show, but most of mine are, and a touch of EQ takes the edge off it on the odd occasion it's needed. Having fought with other cheap kick mics, I wouldn't go anywhere else.

Not to say that there might not be quality bargains to be had, but I've yet to find them.

And, when it comes to visiting engineers, there's a lot to be set for having a decent mic come out for the first job on the list - it gives greater credibility to more creative options later on!

[dickiefunk]

Yes quite a few people have said don't buy cheap kick mics. I don't really want to buy something that I'm won't be entirely satisfied with and end up selling to buy something else so I am looking to sell some other stuff to fund a decent kick mic.
The D6 does sound pretty solid on the times I've used it but I've found it can sound a little plasticy and needs a reasonable amount of eq. I've tried it on various kick drums and experimented with lots of different mic positions and whilst this can make a big difference I've never been entirely satisfied with it.

The MXL A55 sounds like it has a little more mid range and could possibly sound a little more natural than the D6 but with similar characteristics to the D6?
The Avantone Mondo sounds like it has way more bottom end going on than any of the other mics I've heard (which tends to get eq'd in by sound engineers) but I'm slightly worried that it my not be quite as versatile as the MXL A55?

What are your thoughts on the clips from the recording hacks shootout I posted?

[AlecSp]

Not sure what "plasticy" means, but I've found my D6 to be an easy, solid mic. Though remember, of course, that the venue & the kit can make a lot of difference! 80% of the time, I have no EQ on the D6, it is the exception that I have to do much to it. And I certainly don't have the need to add in loads more bottom end.

You'll probably struggle to get many opinions on those other mics as they're not very mainstream - but worth a try.

And, as for mic shootouts - I find they're OK, but too many of them are a bit too lifeless to translate into a big live environment. I tend to find that pretty much all guitar cab mic demos shootouts sound universally horrible - but that's as much a comment on the guitar/cab/player than it is on the mic...

[dickiefunk]

Yes I realize that the room, Kit and player make a big difference as does mic position. The sound of the D6 does sound very close to the sound I'm used to getting with it as quite often I'm also miking a 22" Gretsch kick.
Because I can relate to the sound in that clip it gives me a basic idea of how the other mics sound.
I may end up getting either the MXL A55 or Avantone Mondo and do my own a/b with the D6. I might even be able to borrow one of the Red5 kick mics.

[dickiefunk]

Thought I'd quickly update this. I bought an MXL A55 this week and will be using it tomorrow night. Will also have our drummers Audix D6 there so will do a rough a/b shootout.

[dickiefunk]

Got a chance to use the A55 on Saturday night and have to say I was very impressed! I plugged it straight into the channel that was set up for the D6 and found it had a very similar output. As for sound, I felt the A55 had a little more depth and punch. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to do a direct a/b comparison to be able to give a more meaningful impression but am hoping to do so at the weekend.