Ric, Is that a MXL990 ,not a 990s right. Is everyone in the middle singing and playing through it. What do you have the MXL hooked into? It looks like the guy on the far left, Bass player and maybe the far right are going through separate amps and the rest are being picked up by the condenser. I am interested as i have not found a good setup for small gigs. I also read HHs link.
It's an MXL990. I bought mine in a set that included an instrument mic, locally. Mine did not come with a shockmount, but it did come with a mic stand adaptor:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...ndenser-Microphone-with-Shockmount?sku=273156
The MXL990S has more features. I have not tried one:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-990s-Condenser-Microphone?sku=273103
I bought the 990 on Howlin' Hobbit's recommendation. Here's the dilenma I needed to solve: I've played guitar in Rock, Blues and Country bands. I'm used to microphones like the Shure SM58's (vocal) and Shure SM57's (instrumental). These mikes are super cardioid (very directional and distance sensitive). You have to sing/play close and on center for proper sound. This prevents bleedover from stage amps, drums and feedback from monitors. It works great when you understand and apply this...
BUT!!!...............
When putting musicians on stage that are uncomfortable playing and singing with these restrictions, it is IMPOSSIBLE to balance the mix!!! I had several people that would stand 2 feet away from the microphones and complain that the volume was not loud enough. If I turned the inputs up there would be howl and squeel feedback.
After several posts and inquiries back and forth with Howlin' Hobbit, I bought the MXL 990 and a Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer (the 802 has phantom power for the condensor mic MXL 990):
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Xenyx-802?sku=631263
People singing anywhere with 4 feet of the MXL 990 can be heard clearly. Anywhere on the stage behind and to the sides of the MXL 990 will be heard, not as loud or clear. Any amplification on stage will be heard through the main system, too. The caveat is that you cannot use a monitor with the MXL 990, because it WILL feedback. The MXL 990 picks up anything in front or to the sides of it and even some behind it. It's quite a learning curve to sing on pitch on a stage in front of a large crowd with lots of ambient noise, but singers/players can move around without destroying the sound mix.
In the above photo, Donna's playing bass through a Roland Microcube RX Bass that is placed on stage behind the microphone. Captain Mike (retired Naval Captain) on the left is playing through one of the amps and the rest of the ukuleles on the stage are being picked up by the MXL 990, which is feeding that sound through the Carvin S400D.
I was very sceptical about the usability of a wide pattern microphone like the MXL 990. In my paradigm, it could not possibly work. That paradigm's broken, as the MXL990 works fine for this application. It would be a nightmare if the stage volume was high, as in a rock band. Ric