i recently bought what I thought was a Sennheiser MD421 from a respectable recording engineer who's sound i've always admired. (planning on using it for toms and guitar).


when it shipped to my house, i peeled the duct tape off the clip and it turns out to be a 421 II.

i've always heard the original is better than the II, but i've always admired the tom sounds that were recorded with the mic i'd just bought.


any thoughts?

I've got a really old one (blackfire series) and a fairly new one.
I substitute them all the time, and find that it doesnt really matter!
They have small differences, and they approximate the same great sound.

yeah, I have heard the "II"s sound better than some beat old ones so I wouldn't worry about it, and yours probably has less use and more life left in it than a really old used one. If it sounds good, use it!

The biggest difference is the II version has a 3k peak to it, making the older ones sound smoother by comparison. 3k isn't bad on kick drums etc though, or toms so likely still a good purchase.

War

OK I have a bunch of each yes the peak that war mentioned is noticable on the new ones! I can't really say weather or not I like the old ones bette because they each sound different but the new ones are vey consistent sounding and if your plannibg on buying more i would go new!

Ive seen the vintage creme ones on ebay which also say mkII. and then theres a creme one which says md421'-N with bass roll off. whats all that about????

The vintage sellers claim that they sound better than the new.

I dont know after what ive read here, but I gotta say I´d prefer to get the creme cause it looks soooooo cooooool. the black one looks like someting from the inside of a herse (lying legnthways)

I thought I read somewhere that the output stage is different on the new 421 II mics. I've heard the old ones are better often, but they both sound good to me in use - I have a new 421 II version. Moon gel top tom head then use a 421 under the tom on the bottom head - great sound. If the old ones actually better, it would be nice to have them again since the new do sound nice. I also thought I read that the 421 II units are made at a better profit since things are now more automated whereas the old 421s involved more work done by hand. Supposedly, the 441 mics still require more by hand work. It would be nice to get some words from the Sennheiser folks about the facts on these two mics.