I'm looking to get a nice wired mic for my parents in the <$175 range. It will be hooked up to a Behringer powered mixer (500w or something around there) and used mostly in a medium-sized living room but might need to do party room/ballroom duty once in a while.

After a short search, I'm down to these two:

Shure 58A (dynamic), basically the industry standard:
http://www.microphonereviews.com/product-reviews/dynamic-microphones/shure-beta-58a.html
http://www.musicgearreview.com/reviews/shure-beta58a.htm

Audio-Technica AT2020 (condenser), not the standard, but it's different and it generally seems like condenser>dynamic.
http://www.microphonereviews.com/product-reviews/microphones/audio-technica-at2020.html
http://remixmag.com/mag/remix_audiotechnica

Anyone have any experience/recommendations between these two or any other mics?

12/13/2008 11:10:12 AM

You really don't even need the 58A, just get the SM58. If it's good enough for every band in history, it's good enough for your mom.

12/13/2008 11:53:30 AM

Yeah, I second the SM58

12/13/2008 1:18:46 PM

A plain old 58 is all you ever need.

I guess if your mom has a nasal voice, you could get a 57 and chop some of the high end out right off the bat, but that's my only suggestion.

Condenser mics are for recording.

12/13/2008 1:31:00 PM

SM58 is all you need. Also, you don't need a condenser mic for that, I don't even know that many people that use a condenser doing vocals in a studio (maybe some girls), generally its a dynamic mic there too. The only place we use a condenser mic is on drums in a studio.

[Edited on December 13, 2008 at 8:43 PM. Reason : ]

12/13/2008 8:38:47 PM