RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

Stephen A. - The Grumpy Old Sound Man himself

Cheap is as cheap does… Well, not really. Sometimes you find an inexpensive gem well worth every penny invested. Recently, I ran across a mic that fits in this category. I am speaking of the CAD C195. Now it sells at online stores for about $99, but I have bought mine on good old E-Bay for around $40 each.

The C195 is a good looking cardioid condenser with a very high output. It is great for weak singers as you don’t have to gain up the input trim to get a useful output. I did the old a/b test with a Shure Bete57 (they look similar) and was pleasantly surprised with the clarity of it. It was fairly flat with a small bump starting at 6k to 10k. This makes for good sibilance projection. However, it does exhibit some proximity effect but this can be corrected with a little Eq. The balance on it is great and handling noise is good for a condenser mic. I haven’t had it out on the road for long so I can’t say much about the longevity, but with the C195 you should not have any problem with dents as the wing screen is as beefy as you can get. The mic does function well for guitars as it can handle 132db of noise.

A friend of mine owns a recording studio and borrowed them for a session with an acoustic band and the final product was very impressive for a mic of its cost.

So all in all the CAD C195 matches up to the Shure Beta 57 at 1/3 the cost. Oh, and did I mention that the mic clip that came with them is also a jewel? Instead of needing a screw driver or a dime to tighten up the clip it came with a thumb screw!!! Buy a few if you can get them for around $50. I own seven.