XLR mic + external soundcard for 160 dollars?

[Buttefly]

Looking to get a kit for my GF this christmas, she sings and plays guitar. Been recommended the AT2020 along with some soundcard, but I would like to see more recommendations. She uses a Macbook Pro if that matters. No need for stand, filter etc. Just the XLR mic and soundcard. 

TIA!

[Tigerleon]

1 hour ago, Buttefly said:

Looking to get a kit for my GF this christmas, she sings and plays guitar. Been recommended the AT2020 along with some soundcard, but I would like to see more recommendations. She uses a Macbook Pro if that matters. No need for stand, filter etc. Just the XLR mic and soundcard. 

TIA!

@The Flying Sloth

[sub68]

sm58 and Scarlett solo 

[The Flying Sloth]

5 hours ago, sub68 said:

sm58 and Scarlett solo 

Strongly disagree, the solo does not have dedicated headphone controls and with the 58 being a dynamic mic they can often require an inline preamp to function at their peak. Besides, there are alternatives to the 58 that are the same quality without the price tag like the Tbone MB75.

 

OP, if you're looking to just get started I strongly suggest you read through the guide in my signature to get some more background knowledge and learn a little bit about the products available. The AT2020 isn't really a bad mic so to speak but there are much better options at a similar/lower price point. Now, does she have a lot of background noise in the area she will be using this mic? If so a hypercardioid condenser or dynamic is probably your best bet.

 

As for 'sound card's the cheapest recommendable interface is the UMC202HD as it's the cheapest interface with up to date drivers and dedicated headphone amp controls, it's great value.

 

As for mics my usual recommendation would be the Behringer C2 because of both size and quality but once you have a read through that guide and let us know about the background noise we can go more in depth into that

[sub68]

3 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Strongly disagree, the solo does not have dedicated headphone controls

*looks at product photo

oh yeah it doesn't facepalms

5 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

UMC202HD

yeah thats a good unit

6 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Tbone MB75

never knew that existed

 

[The Flying Sloth]

29 minutes ago, sub68 said:

never knew that existed

Hahah, no hard feelings,
The Tbone mics are the house brand of Thomann in Germany but their prices are so good it's often worth it for me to import them to Australia (where I am) rather than relying on local options.
The MB75 specifically is an SM57 clone than many consider to be just as good if not better than the original. 
The t.bone SCT 800 is a rebrand of the Se5500 which was designed by Neumann engineers, point being, they're stupid good quality mics for the relatively low purchase cost.

If you're in the market for a new mic just take a look at reviews on some of them, won't promise they're all great but they're often pretty decent value

[sub68]

1 minute ago, The Flying Sloth said:

If you're in the market for a new mic just take a look at reviews on some of them, won't promise they're all great but they're often pretty decent value

ok thanks I will for some budget setup

[Ahoy Hoy]

18 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Strongly disagree, the solo does not have dedicated headphone controls and with the 58 being a dynamic mic they can often require an inline preamp to function at their peak. Besides, there are alternatives to the 58 that are the same quality without the price tag like the Tbone MB75.

Thats not a fair comment to say. The solo has a monitor control which control both headphone and speaker outputs. Very rare for someone to use both at the same time so having a single control isnt that problematic. Also you 100% do not need a inline preamp for a sm58 and you then cant recommend the exact same microphone almost and not say that needs a preamp. 





SM57 and the Thomann copy are a good shout. Surprisingly the Thomann copy is basically the same microphone they did a very good copy. If you like the brand and the heritage and want to support the company who does R&D in the field pick the Shure if you care about budget pic the Thomann.

If its a acoustic guitar maybe look at another Thomann microphone. The T bone Ovid. Its a little clip on microphone which attaches to the bridge. Also if you ever wanted to use a wireless microphone system if you were going to preform at a show this would work well. The guitar version is around 70 Euro.

AT2020 probably going to push the budget even if you got the cheaper interface. If your after a similar style of microphone T bone SC400 is a good choice. And you can make a bundle on Thomann with the UMC202 and get it for 100 euros saving your self a fiver.

Surprised @The Flying Sloth didn't recommend it as it seems to be his favourite microphone. Stereo Behringer C2 sound pretty decent for acoustic guitar. Then again the Thomann copy is a much better microphone SC140. But its not a copy of the C2 its a copy of a better microphone which the C2 is also copying at a lower price. But the SC140 probably push the budget a bit too far.
(*edit* after reading again I have realised he did recommend them)

Interface (soundcard)

I personally would spend the extra money on a Scarlett Solo. Just because of the better build quality and better customer support.
The Behringer UMC22 is half the price but if you have a problem your going to hate your self as Behringer customer support to put it bluntly is shit. Build quality is okay but not as good as something double its price.
The Behringer umc202 is a two input version of the 22. Is still cheaper then the Solo. But also has more features (separate headphone and monitor controls, Pad buttons)  then both the cheaper 22 and the expensive solo.
The Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 is the competitor to the UMC202 but its way out of budget.

I think due to budget the UMC202 is probably the only choice.

[The Flying Sloth]

5 hours ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Thats not a fair comment to say. The solo has a monitor control which control both headphone and speaker outputs. Very rare for someone to use both at the same time so having a single control isnt that problematic. Also you 100% do not need a inline preamp for a sm58 and you then cant recommend the exact same microphone almost and not say that needs a preamp. 

My issue with the lack of dedicated headphone amp control is that often different amplification circuits are used meaning that the output is not at all comparable for headphone users, now, my other issue is that to switch to or from headphones you're forced to unplug/replug which is less efficient than just hitting a button (and you damn well know I like efficiency). While you might be technically correct that a 57/58 doesn't need an inline preamp, it's certainly much easier to get decent clean gain with one and dynamic mics in general certainly benefit from their use with one for streaming/voice chats and the like as often it can be very difficult to drive them to a reasonable level. I personally own the MB75 and certainly wouldn't use it as a daily driver without an inline preamp.

 

As for everything else, looks like we pretty much agree,