"The G7s were superb as drum overheads - I threw them up just to see how they managed and then left them there for the rest of the session. Also got used on gang-handclaps in omni mode (OK), acoustic (good), electric guitar (good), and female vocals. I didn't like the sound I got on her vox as much as the MXL2001-royer-mod mic, (although it was not a fair test as the preamps were not identical). I find that matching a voice to a mic for a particular style of music is a suck-it-and-see affair, and the G7 was a bit too clean and honest. She has great pitch & tone but I wanted something a bit dirtier and we actually did two of the tracks through an old grampian dynamic which is really little better than a telephone. Sounded great - I love that grampian mic."
You have to take all this with a pinch - our mic collection is mostly
cheapish (modified) condensers (rode, oktava, mxl - the usual suspects)
and car-boot/junk shop ribbons & dynamics (grampian, reslo, geloso).
Sadly I don't have a neumann or a AKG-C12 to audition them against, although
if I had then I may never have built G7s in the first place.
One challenge was to find a way to attach these mics to a mic stand
- the thick brass construction makes them heavy enough to kill a drummer
if dropped from a suitable height. I made some suspension mounts from pairs
of brass rings (actually disgarded gaskets from vacuum manifolds, although
anything strong and circular would work here) and a broom handle. Simpy
saw the broom handle to length, cut slots, insert the rings and glue with
epoxy. The microphone is held in place with rubber bands, which gives some
degree of isolation from shocks:
The broom handle is about the right size for a standard mic clip (Sure SM57 in this case), or you can wrap a little gaffer tape around to mak it nice and secure, as shown in the photo. These were good enough to hold the mics as overheads above a drum kit for a weekend - so good enough for rock and roll then!