Audio-Technica AE2300

Excellent snare and electric guitar mic

I bought this for snare and was not disappointed. I have some good snare mic options inc Beta 56, M201, e904, ND44 and of course SM57 but generally they either only work well on certain snares, or if they are versatile then they are boring. The AE2300 has an excellent balance of transient attack, body and clarity, not too aggressive yet not too mild either, and as a cardioid is less sensitive to placement and proximity effect. It is easy to make it work with almost any snare. The LPF switch enables a relatively gentle filter, so while it is set low at 6k it is shallow enough that it does not cut off the highs but just attenuates them if needed. All these features also make it well suited to guitar cabinets; the most versatile and commonly used for these sources is of course the SM57, but when compared with others you notice they are mid-forward, even "honky" or nasal-sounding. I find the AE2300 much more natural.

Most other snare mics will be excellent in certain application but not suited to others; the AE2300 is one of the most broadly suited snare mics I have tried.

Construction is excellent, it comes in a quality padded soft case and the mic clip is strong and well-designed. AT say it helps isolate vibrations; in my experience this is important but I can't say yet if this clip is effective at isolation.

I took a risk buying it because I wasn't able to try one out first, and it's relatively expensive for a dynamic drums mic, but I am relieved to find it's really good! As a live engineer working with many bands this will be the mic I know I can use on the most different snares. I will still switch to others for specific uses sometimes but this will be my all-rounder. It will likely be a good toms mic but it would need the LPF engaged or the HF will be too aggressive, and it doesn't have enough LF for deep floor tom. It is cardioid, not hyper-cardioid, so it picks up spill from hats or other sources, however the excellent off-axis response means this spill sounds good, unlike the sound of off-axis cymbals in an MD421 which sound quite bad and must be gated out. With this mic you can happily allow the snare mic to also capture hi-hats and it will sound good, if you don't have a separate hi-hat mic; you will have no phase interference with the 2 mics this way too.

I'm glad I selected this snare mic

Great snare mic

great mic for snare and guitar cabs

this mic is tiny great for getting in around a drum kit and have a great transient response for a dynamic mic love the way it reproduces a snare if you looking for cut in your snare tone

great build quality to

been using as a 'live sound' snare mic ,its compact rugged design and secure mount which along with its filter and 'tight' sound makes it very usable for this application