Equipment Review

Product Reviewed: Equitek E200
Made by: CAD (Conneaut Audio Devices)
Cost: $500 US
Submitted by Jackson Burks

Rating:


Features:
I sincerely hope this review inspires anyone looking for a great large diaphragm condenser to purchase the CAD Equitek E200. If you own a studio and you want brand names on your equipment list, then get a Neumann U87. But if you want equal performance far more affordably, get a CAD Equitek E200. (3 E200s for 1 U87! Ridiculous!)

What I liked:
Now we get to the reason I wrote this review!
The CAD Equitek E200 reproduced vocals true to all the industry's favorite catch phrases: warmly, highly detailed, and fully. To take it a step further, it did it in spades! I'd like to add that the subtleties of the singer's voice were completely and honestly reproduced. Only a little EQ was applied to bring in an "airy" quality that not all vocals are suited to, anyways.
Before buying this mic, I heard it used in a session where the Neumann U87 would have done equally as well. That is to say, the E200 performed as well as the Neumann U87 ever had, and the difference in sound quality was undiscernable. The best part though, is that the E200 sells for a third the price of a U87.
The engineer at that session told me he's used the E200 under a snare drum, on a guitar amp, as an overhead, and for percussion. Any of those can be loud situations, but not to worry, this mic is suited to a maximum 142db SPL!
I'd like to give this mic a rating higher than the highest allocated to this review section: 5, since 5 indicates only "good" while this mic, like the Neumann, is "excellent". 6.

What I didn't:
N/A

User Tips:
It's a microphone! As long as you know what application you want to use it it in and how to set it up for the application, it's a no-brainer.
Included are a no frills steel mounting nut and a heavy duty steel bracket with a big-ass wingnut for easy adjustment. You also get a decent, hard plastic, foam padded case, of course.
Again, if you know what situations call for the use of the following features, you know why you would want such a mic the first place: switches - figure 8, omni, or cardioid pick up pattern, -20 db pad switch, bass roll off, phantom power rechargeable internal battery for phantom power for situations with no phantom power, or if you're just feeling too lazy to engage it on your board or preamp.
For anybody out there who has yet to use a mic with these features, don't fret, it's actually very simple and easy to use.

Reliability:
While this mic is still relatively new to me, the engineer who owns the mic that inspired me to get one has had his for a long time and never experienced any problems whatsoever with it. For this reason, the mic gets the highest reliability rating.
I would not, however, advise that you take any large diaphragm condenser gigging with you. While it can be fun to purposely let a Shure SM57 hit the ground to test its ruggedness, only a mellow and likely acoustic setting would be a suitable gigging situation (see any acoustic PBS live recording special).
This is a studio microphone.


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