Rode NT2 vs NT2A vs NT1000

Ok its time for me to buy my own good studio condenser.
I am almost certain I want an NT2 or and NT2A... or a 1000. The NT2 seems to be $100 cheaper. and why would I pay $100 for a couple of pad switches and pickp patterns I have no intention to use...
other than this its made in australia instead of china now. Wow I dont care lol.

I cant really read many reviews that dont say anything other than "Its better and this is why... because we sell the 2nd model and not the first." and dont mention anything on a difference in build.

Is there any other difference between them? in the components or whatever?

and is the NT1000 better-sounding?

P.S. The main things Ill be recording is vocals, acoustic guitar and maybe a bit of piano

Heres the differrence between the 2.

NT2000
http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=NT2000

NT2-A
http://www.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=NT2-A


If it was me, id go for the NT2000 cause theres more things you can do with it.

and whats your budget, cause the Rhode k2 and the classica11 are real good aswell.

The 2000 wasnt an option haha. Not in-budget! Its about $200 for a used mic and with this I could get the NT2 or the NT1000. And the NT2A is about $300 used here

i've owned/recorded on all the mics mentioned at some point.


The truth about the R0de line of mics is that they sound pretty damn good, but they are an acquired taste. Your voice either sounds good on them or it doesnt.

My first SERIOUS condensor mic i owned was a NT2... that mic sounds dope on my voice. That's what made me stick with the R0de line of mics. I own a K2 now along with a NT2 that i've permenantly loaned to my best friend... lol.

There is not going to be a difference between the NT2 and the NT2A in a real situation. The NT1000 sounds slightly different than the NT2 though. The NT2 has a more pronounced high end than the NT1000 does. So if you record on a NT2, you shouldnt need to touch the highs at all, since there already sounding sweet, and open. Thats were alot of people make there mistake when they mix with a R0de mic.

So if those were my choices.... i would get the NT2 if i had to choose all over again.

Word... you sort of confirmed what I was thinkin. We used it for a recording project in college and it was nice and clear. It sounded so natural like it was recorded from beside the mouth if that makes sense? Cause it was crisp and so clear

oo shit lmfao, my bad paze, but yea i would get the nt2 though.

I have the NT1a. It's sounds just like the NT2a without the options on it. I personally like Rode mics a lot. But I stopped recommending them because people complain that they're harsh. Really I think people just don't know how to use the mic properly.

But you should understand that none of these mics are going to sound the same after you break them in. There's really no telling what kind of mic sound you will get. I recommend testing out some used mics, because their sound will be more consistent from when you first heard it.

What you mean by "harsh", and as you use the mic youll sound different, why?

harsh sound is caused by too much high end.

Cheap condenser mics are actually FET Condensers, and they change over time because they have a capacitor inside that powers the mic. This battery power drains over time changing the sound of the mic. Regular condensers are powered completely by phantom power. On a FET condenser the phantom power just acts as a back up source.

so your saying that rhode mics (every 1 of them) will change in sound/time due to the battery falling short.

I believe their higher end condensers are true condensers... their tube mics are not FET either from what I've read...

most condenser mics under $400 are FET condensers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing... you just have to expect some change in sound over time... generally FET's will end up bein' a little duller than when new... but it does take quite some time and frequent use, and also depends on the brand of the mic/quality of components...

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Originally Posted by .Bullet.

so your saying that rhode mics (every 1 of them) will change in sound/time due to the battery falling short.

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not in a bad way

FET is an electret mic?

Yeh Ill probably go into Sound Control (now called Reverb :\) and just test them with an acoustic guitar. I wont embarass myself by singing lol. But they wont have an NT2 since not many places do.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RODE-NT2-WITH-...3286.m14.l1318

I could offer £200 = $400 for that. Seems in good condition and I dont need the windshield.

iunoo if i would buy that, what opey and every is saying that the mics will sound different in time, makes you think if you should by a brand new rhode mic, not a used but buts thats my opinion.

The change isn't necessarily bad. It can be tho. That's why I recommend buying the mic used because change has most likely already occurred. That way, the sound of the mic when you first test it is more likely to be the sound of the mic later on. But each individual mic will sound different when they age. You can't just listen to any used mic and assume that all mics of that model number will sound like that when it ages. You have to listen to the actual mic you're buying and decide whether you like the sound or not. I wouldn't buy any used mics without hearing them first tho. There are a lot of factors that can make ANY mic sound like shit after being handled.

but, is there any chance if you use your rhode mic alot in time the battery will fuck the entire inside of the mic up and it wont work anymore?

It takes years and years of use to completely kill the battery (like 25+ years). And it has nothing to do with Rode mics. Any cheap condenser mic is going to be an electret condenser.

btw... I don't know why I said FET before. If a condenser mic doesn't use a tube then it uses a FET transistor. Sorry for the misinformation.

iight i got you.

Word FET is a type of transformer or something? and its used in electret mics. I didnt know shit about em til I wrote an essay a few weeks back lol

I get what youre saying though Opey. Ill try and find some used Rodes locally but the only one Ive used is in college.... they have some of the shotgun overheads and the NT2A. The studio one of the bands Im working with rented out use all Shure, Neumann and AKG mics.
Aslong as the mic sounds as accurate as Ill get for my money Im happy. It isnt like my pre-amp and A/D convertors are amazing. The mic will have a good cable and go into my 410 which will supply the phantom power. Oh yeh Opey I have a question. I have a D.I. box that I used for my bass a while back. So would I be best using something like this to supply the phantom power or does it make no difference? I realise Im not using an anolag mixing desk btw but just an idea/question lol

just rob a few from your college, ill buy 1 off you.

*blows kisses*

FET transistors are pretty much what we use in all analog and digital electronics. There are many different types of FET transistors. I'm not geeked out on this shit enough to know more than that. I did have to know it for school, but I promptly erased it from my memory. lol

Is your school using the NT5s? They're really nice for a lot of uses. We just bought a matched pair of those to use mainly for overheads in my project studio. I wish I could afford a matched pair of Neumann KM 184s tho. Those mics sound SO good.

But when you buy a mic, you aren't really looking for accuracy. No mic captures an accurate sound. You want a mic that compliments the sound that you're recording. You want a mic that is good at capturing the main frequencies of the sound (ie low end for bass), but at the same time you want to use mics that accent frequencies that the instrument doesn't project very well. A lot of times it's necessary to use a combination of mics to capture the sound that you want. For instance, one of the guys in my production team has a Martin acoustic guitar that is made of Hawaiian Koa. The wood provides a good amount of low end resonance but doesn't sound nearly as bright as an acoustic with a spruce top. So a mic with good low end combined with an extremely bright mic will capture that good low end sound and at the same time make the guitar sound brighter than it actually is. We use a Sennheiser 421 for the low end and one of the Rode NT5s for the brightness. This combo also gives you extra control over the guitar mix because you can add or subtract the highs and lows separately as needed in the overall mix.

And to answer your question, phantom power is phantom power. and DI boxes tend to be a little noisy. Not recommended.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ...Opey...

FET transistors are pretty much what we use in all analog and digital electronics. There are many different types of FET transistors. I'm not geeked out on this shit enough to know more than that. I did have to know it for school, but I promptly erased it from my memory. lol

Is your school using the NT5s? They're really nice for a lot of uses. We just bought a matched pair of those to use mainly for overheads in my project studio. I wish I could afford a matched pair of Neumann KM 184s tho. Those mics sound SO good.

But when you buy a mic, you aren't really looking for accuracy. No mic captures an accurate sound. You want a mic that compliments the sound that you're recording. You want a mic that is good at capturing the main frequencies of the sound (ie low end for bass), but at the same time you want to use mics that accent frequencies that the instrument doesn't project very well. A lot of times it's necessary to use a combination of mics to capture the sound that you want. For instance, one of the guys in my production team has a Martin acoustic guitar that is made of Hawaiian Koa. The wood provides a good amount of low end resonance but doesn't sound nearly as bright as an acoustic with a spruce top. So a mic with good low end combined with an extremely bright mic will capture that good low end sound and at the same time make the guitar sound brighter than it actually is. We use a Sennheiser 421 for the low end and one of the Rode NT5s for the brightness. This combo also gives you extra control over the guitar mix because you can add or subtract the highs and lows separately as needed in the overall mix.

And to answer your question, phantom power is phantom power. and DI boxes tend to be a little noisy. Not recommended.

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Yeh... they have a NT2A, 4 NT5s and NT4. The only time I saw the NT4 was in my sound production theory class where we were talking about stereo micing at 90degrees from the soucres. And we used the NT5s as a spaced pair.

Word. I didnt mean accurate I sorta mean something that sounds correct... if theres a difference. I dont want it to replicate the signal but I want it to sound near enough what the sigal is. I want it to be clear though.... something that my SM57s can only do that so well but not as well as the vocal mic I want

I tried out the NT2 and the NT2A. Both are very damn similar. The NT2 sounds different but not older or whatever. I quite like the 2A but fuckit... Im on budget lol.
They had a matched pair of NT2s that they used as choir overheads. They sound the exact same - maybe because they got them within a few months of eachother. Thing is the people didnt actually wanna sell these, the wanna sell basically every other Rode mic they own so I cant get the ones I used.
Ill see if others sound the same but dayum... when they tell me to test it like I know how to sing I tell them Im using it for acoustic guitar and they tell me to sing anyway LOL.

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They had a matched pair of NT2s that they used as choir overheads. They sound the exact same - maybe because they got them within a few months of eachother.

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or maybe because they're a matched pair lmao

and it's impossible to buy a matched pair a few months apart from each other. Matched pairs are sold together..as a matched pair lmao

and even if they were bought a few months apart... that would have no weight toward them sounding similar.

what about the NTK? or is it better to just spend the xtra dough on the K2?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ...Opey...

or maybe because they're a matched pair lmao

and it's impossible to buy a matched pair a few months apart from each other. Matched pairs are sold together..as a matched pair lmao

and even if they were bought a few months apart... that would have no weight toward them sounding similar.

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They were bought about 2 months apart. Originally used as a soloist recording mic they then bought another and used it for their live overheads

then it isn't a matched pair buuuuuuddy...

word. either way you don't know wtf you're saying. lmao

your school = worst music school ever

or

you= worst music student ever

you pick because i'm stumped.

i gotta be honest...is anyone even sure that he's really attending music school? i mean, no offense dude, but you ask alot of questions that even i know the answer to and i've never stepped foot NEAR a music school....

he's in high school, isn't he??? or the UK equivalent of... maybe he's just takin' music courses...

I just passed my first year of University... I left high school last year

And I go to a college that does mainly tech stuff. The name of my course is sound production so its not really music. We do a bit of recording engineering but Im going for a major in both DAWs and multi track mixing.
And the defiition of "matched pair" is along the lines of "designed the same or to work together; though randomisation will occur seperately". So thats why I called them a matched pair

no. a matched pair is a set of mics made specifically to sound like each other. they're always sold together. no exceptions.

Fair enough lol...
Im checkin out an NT2 tonight. Its $240 used but atleast I get to check it out first