Reconsidering the Wizard Hell Razor

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Nashville Riff Co said:
this is awesome! if you could go to a store and buy any mics you wanted (not like rare vintage ones). things that can be had new/used for reasonable prices.

what would be in a collection that you'd classify "maximizing bang for buck"?
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SM57, SM7. I probably try and grab a couple different Warm Audio offerings, esp WA44 and WA47, maybe a WA87 and that's just basing off the three WA84's we have here that have been really good so I'd buy WA gear without hesitation. Same for some of the now defunct Blue mics. We have a Rode NTK that gets slagged hard by some online but it's actually been a great mic if you let it warm up fully and you can do tube swaps in it pretty easily. The K2 is more well thought of and also a mic that will give good results to a lot of different sources . Any of those big boys means buying a very beefy mic stand to hold them and that can be expensive right there. The big daddy Atlas stand is over 500 bucks now but some of the less pricey ones are still 200-300.

Tone Monster said:
Audix I5 is better than a 57
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I'm interested but I'd definitely question "better" because I've heard that too many times about the latest "great for guitar cabs' mics and tbh even some of the pricey mics weren't "better" than a 57, just different. To me they are like a guitar pickup. It might be better for a certain guitar or rig but not necessarily better across the board in every situation.
 
I have a ton of mics, asking which one is better is no different than asking what amp, speaker or pickup is better, it totally depends what you’re going for.
 
VonBonfire said:
SM57, SM7. I probably try and grab a couple different Warm Audio offerings, esp WA44 and WA47, maybe a WA87 and that's just basing off the three WA84's we have here that have been really good so I'd buy WA gear without hesitation. Same for some of the now defunct Blue mics. We have a Rode NTK that gets slagged hard by some online but it's actually been a great mic if you let it warm up fully and you can do tube swaps in it pretty easily. The K2 is more well thought of and also a mic that will give good results to a lot of different sources . Any of those big boys means buying a very beefy mic stand to hold them and that can be expensive right there. The big daddy Atlas stand is over 500 bucks now but some of the less pricey ones are still 200-300.


I'm interested but I'd definitely question "better" because I've heard that too many times about the latest "great for guitar cabs' mics and tbh even some of the pricey mics weren't "better" than a 57, just different. To me they are like a guitar pickup. It might be better for a certain guitar or rig but not necessarily better across the board in every situation.
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Thanks man, I’ve literally copied your write up word for word to hold on to for when I start dabbling down this rabbit hole haha
 
Nashville Riff Co said:
Thanks man, I’ve literally copied your write up word for word to hold on to for when I start dabbling down this rabbit hole haha
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I’ve done a few mic comparisons if you search with some of the more popular ones, maybe I’ll do another one


RaceU4her

Thread 'mic comparison clip'

this is my DSL 100h with everything at noon, each mic is right on the center of a T75 in the 1960. i changed nothing but the mics, just two raw tracks left and right. the order is:

57
D2
D4
421
Uni57
samson Q7
audix i5

hope this helps some of you out



https://app.box.com/embed/s/ha81txs1gisqsx7y99t65xeio28a8tjg
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Nashville Riff Co said:
Thanks man, I’ve literally copied your write up word for word to hold on to for when I start dabbling down this rabbit hole haha
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You are welcome. Follow your ears. There are a ton of great mics out there to try right now. The Sennheiser 421 RaceU4her mentioned is a famous mic that I have not had the fortune to try. Same with the Beyer M160 guys here talk about all the time. If you listen to some of the vocal mic shootouts on youtube you will get an idea of how well a basic 57 can hold it's own against much more expensive mics. And many of the same mics that have been mentioned are also very nice vocal, drum overhead, acoustic guitar, percussion etc etc mics.

I was doing an ultimate hipster gig in Austin and the soundman had a cheap Samson CO2 condenser mic for vocals. I kind of sighed inside and put my Beta 58 away and humored him. I think he detected my skepticism and he reassured me. Turned out he was right the mic was really nice sounding for a $70 dollar budget mic. A bit different flavor than the Beta, but still a great mic.
 
For metal I actually prefer the predecessor to the SM57, the 535D. Way lesser known and rarely spoken about but it just sounds better IMO.

I also have a Royer 121 and plan to get a TLM102 and a 421.
 
glpg80 said:
For metal I actually prefer the predecessor to the SM57, the 535D. Way lesser known and rarely spoken about but it just sounds better IMO.

I also have a Royer 121 and plan to get a TLM102 and a 421.
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Like greenbacks, I can’t stand the 421, but guys make both sound great. I have a pair of 102’s I mainly use for overheads, but I just tried my old $35 iSK pearls and I like them more for that. Ola uses the 102 in his vids and seem to be accurate to the room which make sense being a condenser, I gotta experiment with them more on guitars
 
Tone Monster said:
Audix I5 is better than a 57
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Different, not better imo.
RaceU4her said:
Like greenbacks, I can’t stand the 421, but guys make both sound great. I have a pair of 102’s I mainly use for overheads, but I just tried my old $35 iSK pearls and I like them more for that. Ola uses the 102 in his vids and seem to be accurate to the room which make sense being a condenser, I gotta experiment with them more on guitars
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I didn’t like the 421 either, actually Sennheiser for guitar mics in general. Same opinion on the I5, not better just different.
 
glpg80 said:
I don’t own a 421 for the same reason but it’s something I want to try - people get them to work for metal and they can sound great.
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i grabbed on of these clips to use with a 57, i thought the proper way was to use a different speaker for each mic but who knows, im gonna try it again

EHB4U2j_d.jpeg
 
glpg80 said:
I don’t own a 421 for the same reason but it’s something I want to try - people get them to work for metal and they can sound great.
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Bought one tried it for a few months. Never could get anything I liked out of it. Thought “it has to be broken”. Sent it back to Sennheiser and it came back the capsule was bad and they replaced it. Tried it again and still didn’t like the “electric razor” kinda sound so sold it.
I have a few mics now. My favorite at the moment is a 57 /Se Vr1 ribbon in the SE mic isolator deal.
Beta 57, I5, Lewitt (440?) the one Malmsteen uses anyway. Also have a Heil PR30 that rarely ever gets used.
One of these days I will get an AKG 414. Used that in studio before and liked it.
 
Greazygeo said:
Bought one tried it for a few months. Never could get anything I liked out of it. Thought “it has to be broken”. Sent it back to Sennheiser and it came back the capsule was bad and they replaced it. Tried it again and still didn’t like the “electric razor” kinda sound so sold it.
I have a few mics now. My favorite at the moment is a 57 /Se Vr1 ribbon in the SE mic isolator deal.
Beta 57, I5, Lewitt (440?) the one Malmsteen uses anyway. Also have a Heil PR30 that rarely ever gets used.
One of these days I will get an AKG 414. Used that in studio before and liked it.
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Really really hated the 421. Even more than the 57
 
In addition to the SM57, SM7B, e609, M160, 4050, there’s a condenser mic called the Soyuz 1973. Sounds kind of like an SM57 but with richer mids and smoother highs, but not too smooth. I don’t own one but I’ve been thinking about picking one up. It seems like it could be a great thickener mic.

Here’s a video that shoots out a few of these mics a few youtubers put together. Yeah it’s got Rhett Schull in it (can’t say that guy’s name without hearing “Rachel” in my head) but it’s easy to just skip straight to the comparison parts and not listen to much talking.

 
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TheGreatGreen said:
In addition to the SM57, SM7B, e609, M160, 4050, there’s a condenser mic called the Soyuz 1973. Sounds kind of like an SM57 but with richer mids and smoother highs, but not too smooth. I don’t own one but I’ve been thinking about picking one up. It seems like it could be a great thickener mic.

Here’s a video that shoots out a few of these mics a few youtubers put together. Yeah it’s got Rhett Schull in it (can’t say that guy’s name without hearing “Rachel” in my head) but it’s easy to just skip straight to the comparison parts and not listen to much talking.

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I have the Soyuz Bomblet, definitely is great for a thickening, really fat on its own
 
my contribution to the Hell Razor lovers society...shitty iPhone clips that really don't capture the monstrous tone and just cannot capture the immense THUMP...holy hell!

both vids, same fan favorite riffs being fucked up but 1st video has amp set darker and the second one has it set brighter.

It's got 6L6's and is 100 watts...and I'm way too scared of it lol...RIP all the 150 watt owners, I hope you guys own titanium jock straps to protect yourself :LOL:

EDIT: both 4x12's are connected...Diezel with V30s and Scumback with H75s. Just EPIC!



 
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Nashville Riff Co said:
my contribution to the Hell Razor lovers society...shitty iPhone clips that really don't capture the monstrous tone and just cannot capture the immense THUMP...holy hell!

both vids, same fan favorite riffs being fucked up but 1st video has amp set darker and the second one has it set brighter.

It's got 6L6's and is 100 watts...and I'm way too scared of it lol...RIP all the 150 watt owners, I hope you guys own titanium jock straps to protect yourself :LOL:

EDIT: both 4x12's are connected...Diezel with V30s and Scumback with H75s. Just EPIC!



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Great Clips! congrats on the amp
 
Nashville Riff Co said:
my contribution to the Hell Razor lovers society...shitty iPhone clips that really don't capture the monstrous tone and just cannot capture the immense THUMP...holy hell!

both vids, same fan favorite riffs being fucked up but 1st video has amp set darker and the second one has it set brighter.

It's got 6L6's and is 100 watts...and I'm way too scared of it lol...RIP all the 150 watt owners, I hope you guys own titanium jock straps to protect yourself :LOL:

EDIT: both 4x12's are connected...Diezel with V30s and Scumback with H75s. Just EPIC!



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Nice... looks like you got Justin's amp. Congrats!
 
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