the t.bone MB 88U Dual

I should state that I bought this mic for recording music and not for podcasting or skype. The mic itself isn't that bad and is ok for live audio performances but it lacks the punch of other dynamic mics and the treble region lacks clarity and sparkle. I have used it to record guitar amps which gave pretty good results although I used the XLR output and ran it through an interface with a preamp. Recording via the USB connection into a soundcard does not give as good results, especially with the cable included in the box which is quite short which means the mic is close enough to the computer to pick up interference from the hard drive.

This mic is great for quick and easy recording but the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. It is well built and can take a lot of wear so it is useful for a backup mic for a gigging band but the sound is not good enough for the lead vocalist.

This was the first microphone I bought with the intention of using it for podcasting.

With a little EQ I was able to get a very natural sound with this mic. Any criticisms I would have of the mic would be that the sensitivity is quite low and amplifying the signal afterwards was amplifying unwanted noise. That said, I did many recordings with it after experimenting with distance from the mic which were perfectly acceptable and I even recorded a 45 min CD with the acoustic guitar using only this mic. Sure it didn't sound out of this world, but it was quite acceptable.

Having the built in USB is great, but the mic really comes alive using the XLR out and a decent pre-amp.

For this kind of money, you could do a lot worse.