SUPERLUX PRA MICS

Complete boxed sets of drum mics at incredibly low prices. Is it too good to be true?

Not content with trying to pull the rug out from beneath large-diaphragm capacitor microphone prices, Superlux are now attempting the same thing with drum mics, with their PRA series. Three kits are available comprising three, four or five mics, all based around permutations of the same three models. The mics themselves are built into tough metal housings with resilient capsule supports, and certainly don't look in any way cheap. They also have the advantage over more conventional mics that they are physically small and have integral swivel mounts, enabling them to be placed for minimum inconvenience to the drummer. Each set comes in a foam-lined, rigid plastic carry case, and thread adaptors are included.

There are three mics in the PRA series, the first of which is the PRA218A kick drum mic, a supercardioid dynamic model with an extended bass response and a broad presence peak between 5kHz and 10kHz to emphasise the slap of the drum. The response falls away above this and is around 20dB down at 20kHz, earning the mic a paper response of 20Hz to 12.5kHz. Figures for noise and sensitivity have little meaning when the mic is designed to be used inches from one of the loudest instruments on earth, but this model is designed to handle very high SPLs without flinching. Unlike some kick drum mics which have humps and bumps all over their response curves, the PRA218A is fre

Superlux PRA Series pros Unbelievably inexpensive. Nicely styled and robustly engineered. Good basic drum sound. cons Any criticisms of these mics are meaningless when the price is taken into consideration. summary Despite their 'car boot sale' price, these mics work really well. Now, even if you only work with drums on rare occasions, you can still afford the mics to do it.

In the five-mic set I reviewed, the PRA218A was accompanied by two PRA228A dynamic

That leaves the PRA268A, which again has a supercardioid pattern, but because of its back-electret design it has an extended high-end frequency response. The mic works on phantom power in the range 9V to 52V and the frequency response curve is interesting in that the response drops off gradually below around 300Hz, which is no bad thing in a mic designed to be used primarily as a kit overhead or for miking cymbals/hi-hats. The paper response puts the frequency range at 50Hz to 16kHz, but this takes into account the low frequency roll-off and a broad presence peak, which tends to skew the way the response actually looks. In reality, there's as much sensitivity at 20kHz as there is at 400Hz, and the mic is around three times more sensitive than the dynamic models at 6.3mV/Pa.

Despite their budget UK price, the mics held up pretty well in my tests with drums and as

Prices     DRKA3 three-mic set, £104.58. PRA218A. PRA228A (x2). DRKA4 four-mic set, £128.08. PRA218A. PRA228A (x3). DRKA3C2 five-mic set, £198.58. PRA218A. PRA228A (x2). PRA268A (x2). All prices include VAT.

The PRA228A sounded tonally quite similar to the PRA218A, but with noticeably less bass extension. It is ideally matched to smaller toms, snare and hand percussion, where it behaves much like any other competent dynamic model, but with the benefit that it is easier to position. Again a good balance between depth and definition.

Finally comes the PRA268A, which sounds almost disturbingly lacking in low end when you first

Overall, these mics turn in a pretty good performance when used with drums or percussion. Although there are better mics out there, you'd have to pay quite a lot more to hear any appreciable difference. At the price, they're an obvious contender for the live market, but they also work surprisingly well in a recording context. The dynamic mics are particularly impressive, and the compactness and swivel adaptors really do make kit miking far less stressful.

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