eBay Pirate Strikes Again: Two Rode NT5 Microphones

Aw yeah.  I "won" (as eBay’s marketing department tells us we do when we bid high) an auction for a pair of factory matched, Rode NT5 small condenser microphones for $152.50 with 40 seconds left in the auction (they’re $400+ new).  YAAARRRRGGHH, that’s me booty now!!

I’ve wanted a pair of small condenser microphones for some time.  They’re great for acoustic guitars, and especially so when used in stereo in an X-Y configuration.  (Seriously, for all you home recordists, if you don’t already, try recording acoustic guitars in stereo — the difference in sound richness is just plain stupid.  Or, record twice and pan your recordings left and right.  Or, both record in stereo AND record twice!)

My next song (song #3) will be entirely acoustic, so it seemed as good a time as any to invest in a couple solid mics, though I was hoping to stick to a budget of $200 max.  After doing some research, I was reading a lot of good things about these small condenser mics:

• AT4041 ($500/2; $350 eBay)
• Rode NT5 ($430/2; $310 eBay)
• Studio Projects C4 ($350/2; $350 ebay)
• Shure’s SM81 ($530/2)
• AKG’s C1000S ($297/2)
• Audio-Technica’s AT3528 ($259/2)

They were all over my budget, so I checked eBay next, and voila, there sat a couple of used, factory matched (meaning, sonically equal…like-model mics can vary in sound response) Rode NT5 microphones with only a single, solitary bid made.  AFter watching and waited for two days, I pounced like an eBay ninja with 40 seconds left.

Beware the eBay Ninja…beware.  Not to be confused with Ask a Ninja, my favorite YouTube advice column.