MXL Genesis

At first glance you'd think this thing was going to take off with some gusto. With its bright red chassis and shiny gold cage, it certainly looks the part. This is a very well priced tube mic and some may be thinking it's too cheap, but then again it still costs more than, say, a Rode K2, and that's not to be sniffed at. The Genesis uses a Mullard 12AT7 tube old stock but new valve and these things are highly sought after.

Internal cabling is Mogami and that's certainly a name worth mentioning, so we're off to a good start I think. The power supply is an external red box, well built and solid and the package is starting to look very appealing.

Performance? Well again this is something that has to be put in perspective; each mic has its own personality and variety of uses and some have a little character and colour, while some are more honest and transparent. The Genesis seems to be pretty honest, revealing detail and airiness. The mic does seem a little sensitive to rear spillage and leaning a little to the hyper cardioid pattern as opposed to narrow.

There's a 150Hz; 6dB/octave low-cut filter switch located on the mic body, along with a 10dB pad switch, a 15-foot seven-pin Mogami connecting cable, and a 15-foot Mogami three-pin XLR mic cable. The mic also comes with an elastic cradle-type shock mount and a wooden box to house it.

I'd say the mic excels on female voices, revealing gorgeous nuances in the high end of a haunting female voice, but tweak the EQ and you'll handle most anything.

As I said, don't sell this mic short; when tested with acoustic guitar, it performed well. Just experiment with positioning and you'll find that the Genesis is great with acoustic instruments and performs just as well with drums as an overhead/ambient mic. It'll perform okay too with crunchy guitars and I'd be confident that this mic would last. Distributed by ELFA.