Best Microphone for Recording Acoustic Guitar Reviewed

To get a good sounding recording with an acoustic guitar, the proper mic must be selected. Different guitars have different tones, some are warm, some are bright, some have a balanced tone. As an artist, you must be the one to decide on what mic you are going to use, as different microphones give off different textures, dynamics, and overall frequency response and sensitivity, to help you, we are going to list the Best microphone for Recording Acoustic Guitar, rest assured that we are listing quality microphones and the rest of the decision is up to you.

Starting up with the AKG Pro Audio P420, This Microphone comes with a nice hard case. Inside the case, you will find the microphone itself together with a free shock mount. The AKG P420 is a cardioid mic that works best picking up the audio in front of it, but then this mic can be switched with another 2 different pickup patterns are the Figure-8, which picks up audio coming from the front and the rear of the microphone. And the last pickup pattern you can pick out is the Omnidirectional mode which picks up every sound around the microphone. 

In terms of connections, this microphone is connected via an XLR input, and this microphone does need Phantom power for you to be able to use this. In terms of frequency response and capacity, this microphone can detect frequencies ranging from 20Hz-20KHz which should cover everything you need since it covers everything on the human hearing range. Although this mic has a significant peak in presence at around 5kHz-10kHz, which shouldn’t be too bad.

This can take the loudest sounds for up to 155dB. This is possible due to the -20 pad switch which cuts the recording volume down. With this mic, you would have a hard time finding a situation where this would be purely inappropriate Overall this is the best microphone for recording and acoustic guitar… and way more, in terms of versatility.

These microphones are sold as a pair so you can use this with any configuration you like, and this does have a cardioid pickup pattern, and also comes with a case and shock mount clips. This is best for recording stereo, realistic audio, which works really well for acoustic guitar, since so many artists prefer their acoustic recording to sound as natural as possible.

The C02 is highly capable of recording any instruments, these microphones are made to record 50-20kHz which it does fall short in the low-frequency range, which can be a real problem if you are recording percussions. These can take sound pressure levels of up to 134dB. With a slim pencil-like build, and the case, this would be pretty easy to transport and setup. This mic is connected using an XLR connector with a bonus of having gold plated XLR ports for maximum efficiency in signal transmission, and this does need phantom power to use.

With its frequency response, these microphones would be best for instruments, but then this can also be good at recording vocals from time to time, and it came prepared since this also came with a pair of foam windscreens to help mitigate hissing Ss, and popping Ps.

 In the end, this is a list for the best microphone for recording an acoustic guitar, and this may be the very best option you can get considering this is sold in pairs. Although with a small drawback of having the low-frequency response limited to 50Hz, it shouldn’t be that significant when you actually get to use it.

Starting off with what comes with the box, the package includes the MXL 990 itself, although some areas sell this bundled with the MXL 991, but unfortunately, that is not the case today. This does come with a color matching shock-mount. Then, when you take this microphone out of the box, you will immediately see its beautiful finish, the body of this mic has a vintage style finished with a champagne color, so this does well with its build quality.

Now in terms of how well it performs, well this is not a slouch, to begin with, as this has a frequency response of 30Hz-20KHz, and has a very well-balanced response, which is at least better than the Samson C02s 50Hz low-end response. MXL illustrated its pickup pattern and it showed that this microphone has a pattern that somewhat has a resemblance with an upside-down mushroom, but then upon proper tests, it showed that this has the same feel in terms of frequency response with a proper cardioid pickup pattern in terms of mitigating background noise.

Overall, this is somewhat better with recording vocals, but yes it is still excellent with recording instruments, but then after seeing tests with this mic recording an acoustic guitar, it sounds a bit too bright, but then some artists prefer that. Overall, this is a great mic, a bit more versatile than the Samson C02s but it just can’t top the overall versatility and quality of the AKG P420. And yes this is one of the best microphones for recording acoustic guitars.

Sum up

Overall, all these microphones are excellent at recording acoustic guitars as they are all reliable and has an amazing sound quality, but then the things you should consider before buying something that is mentioned in this list are the different frequency responses and tone, if you’re looking for an all-around mic, we suggest the AKG P420, if you want something more dedicated, consider the Samson C02 or MXL 990, but if you prefer a bright tone, then the MXL 990 is for you, get the Samson C02 if you need a warm mic.