the t.bone SC 400

I've bought this mic in 2019 august after much deliberation. I looked up a bunch of reviews about it with proper audio tests, and I tought there is no way this is gonna sound as good as in the tests for the price I bought it at.

Well, color me suprised. Its been my daily driver for gaming + streaming + work calls with a very barebones mic arm + a Zoom U-22 because it does need phantom power, and its been amazing. Never had any glitches, any problems, the build quality is amazing, sound is really good, I did mess about with a little bit of post on it, but its been great. Its been especially great for the price, really.

The only reason why I am here thinking about buying a new microphone is that I made the mistake of looking at some of the newer t.bone releases, and I really want to buy the BC-500. Do I need it? No, not really. But I put the bug in my own ear unfortunately, so now I am checking it twice a day for no reason.

I am literally writing this review because I got the prompt for it when I came to check the weight on this one so I can decide wether or not I need a new boom arm for the BC-500... I figured I can definietly at least leave a review since it served me great for half a decade, without any complaints. If you are on a budget and you have a 48V phantom power source interface for it, this thing is GREAT. Highly recommend it. The only thing I personally was missing on it was a manual "mute" button, but I guess you can solve that with software nowadays.

To give you a bit of an introduction, I've been working in broadcasting for 27 years. This is my first full-range, studio-use condenser microphone; though I've used some that weren't my own. I've owned and used dynamic microphones pretty much all my life. I've used some good and some bad; some dirt cheap, and some at the top of the price list for their purpose. The expensive ones weren't always the best, but at the same time, the cheap ones weren't always the best, either.

My voice has a very de-nasal bump right around 800Hz, and between the frequency response of those mics and the ability I (or whoever's engineering) have to EQ them with whatever they're plugged into, it can be very hard to make them sound like my unamplified voice does to the average ear. In fact, the microphone that I had plugged in to my chain before I received the SC 400 required TWO bands on my parametric EQ to be set to 800Hz and cranked WAY down.

I plugged in the t.bone SC 400 and reset my entire EQ to zero. I was prepared to test it out as long as it took to get it right.

It took thirty seconds.

All I need is one band at 800Hz turned down to about 25%, and this things sounds BEAUTIFUL. Crisp highs -- I actually had to back those down a little, too, but not by much -- perfect low end, not a single other thing adjusted to compensate. Never in my life has it been that simple. The SC 400 sounds very natural, it's very sensitive, and I have been thoroughly enjoying every moment with it.

I'm using it for home voiceover recording and, eventually, podcasting and radio. In fact, as I type this, I just moments ago ordered a mixer and audio interface right here at Thomann in preparation for that.

I don't have any "cons" to give you, but as many people seem to be buying this as an entry-level studio condenser (as I did) and likely need some help adjusting, let me give you a couple of notes:

Sensitivity is going to be the first thing you notice, because the SC 400 has plenty of it. If you're not familiar with how to read sensitivity figures for microphones, I'll just give you the basic idea: where you see "dB re 1V/PA," the higher the number in that spec, the more sensitive the microphone is. The SC 400 is rated at -32.6 dB in that category. One of my other microphones, the Audio-Technica PRO 61 (a dynamic), is rated at -55 dB in that category. If I switch back and forth between the two, my preamp will have to be significantly adjusted to compensate.

The SC 400 is a hypercardioid microphone, meaning the most sensitive, accurate-sounding area around it is dead-center, right in front of the diaphragm. If you move around your microphone a lot, you're going to find yourself off-axis and sounding distant rather often. This mic is generally intended for studio situations where you or your talent are stationary in front of it (such as vocal recordings or radio broadcasts). This attribute COULD be used in a live sound setting to avoid feedback, but don't forget about that sensitivity, because even if it's off-axis, it WILL still pick up sounds from all around you. In ANY setting, I highly recommend a noise gate.

Being a condenser, the SC 400 is meant to be used at a slight distance away from the mouth. You don't want to eat this microphone, it will not do you any favors. Now, that said, I do personally keep it closer to my face, but I also keep it slightly off to the side so that the front of the diaphragm IS still pointed at my mouth, but the direct wind from my speech is passing over the TOP of the mic, not directly into it. This prevents plosives while still providing the proximity effect. In fact, I recommend that technique with ANY microphone. Old trick of the trade that seems to have been lost over the years.

Bottom line: just buy this microphone. You will not regret it.

This is a large diaphragm studio condenser microphone, albeit a small one. If you are used to using dynamic microphones for recording you will instantly notice the improvement - the crystal clarity that a large diaphragm condenser gives in comparison.
This is also a very cheap large diaphragm studio condenser microphone. In my experience, normally that cheapness would be reflected in the quality of the built-in pre-amp. I expected a relatively high noise floor - background hiss with the gain turned up to record quiet sources. I have to report it's not there.
According to the included specification sheet, this microphone has a better noise performance than my Audio Technica AT4033. It would be a complex process for me to actually measure if that is actually true, but in using the two side by side I have no reason to believe that the performance is worse.
I have used this mic to record vocals and acoustic guitar, both of which it does very well. It doesn't have a built-in pad, so I wouldn't use it for anything loud like horns. The low-cut switch is internal and requires unscrewing the body - but this is only required for close mic-ing, and these mics are best used with a bit of distance between source and mic (with a pop-screen for vocals).
The included shock mount is a necessity for this type of microphone, and the one supplied does the job quite adequately (considering you could spend the same money for just a shock mount on its own).
If you haven't yet recorded with a large diaphragm condenser, then get yourself one of these. Just remember though, the money you save on buying this (rather than a more expensive model) will have to be spent on acoustic screening once having a decent mic shows up how bad your room acoustics really are. But you'd have to do that if you spent more on a mic.

Overall a great sounding mic for the price. However, I experienced an issue with it. Sometimes I can hear this weird noise in my recording like someone is blowing into the mic very hard. I have a popfilter and keep the mic at the corner of my mouth so it can't be me.

Thomann told me that it's possible that this microphone can't keep up with the bitrate and high buffer size of my recording software.

I'm not sure that's actually the case or if my microphone is simply faulty, but Thomann has issued a full refund for me, so that's great! Great customer service on their part.

Overall, if it weren't for that issue, I'd give this mic a five star rating simply because it's a great bang for your buck.