In looking for a multi-pattern mic for my home studio, I spotted the Studio Projects B3 on ebay which I subsequently purchased for $100.

My initial experiments with the B3 were as a figure-of-8 side mic in a M/S drum overhead configuration. Pairing it with a variety of mid mics, I felt that it excelled in this application giving a very detailed representation of the recording space. Employing the pad it handled loud drum sets without distortion, and as far as EQ, it rarely required more than an occasional low roll-off to sit nicely in the mix. I found the sensitivity to be less desirable on close-miked loud sources like toms and snare, as even with pad switched in, it could be overloaded.

Electric guitar amps sounded best in cardiod with the mic placed further back than the typical close SM57 position. The B3 complimented '57s and i5s very well on both clean and distorted tracks adding the right amount of "hi-fi" clarity to the dynamics' meat and potatoes tone.

On acoustic guitar I used it on the body (in cardiod and omni) with a SDC on the neck joint and was rewarded with a fantastic balance of attack and woodiness. The transients were smooth seeming subtly compressed in a good way. Once again, very little EQ or dynamics processing was needed to achieve the best sound.

On male rock vocals the B3 had a nice balance of lows and highs giving nice detail without getting too harsh or boomy. The cardiod proximity effect was pretty light, so it might not be the first choice on VO work. On some screamed passages I placed a '57 in precise alignment with the B3 and tracked both simultaneously which yielded a nice balance of guts and sheen.

The only tracks that didn't really work with this mic were loud female vocals. The peaks and valleys of the mic's response seemed to match the singer (a blues/rock belter) too well accentuating resonant frequencies in an unpleasant way. Even with extensive EQing it just never got good. Quiet breathy female vocals worked better, but not amazing.

The B3 also got duty as a distant room mic, close upright bass, and BV vocals with excellent results.

All in all, I'd say the Studio Projects B3 is the best bang-for-the-buck mic in my home collection (with the possible exception of the MCA SP-1: but that's another review). I'd recommend it highly to recordists with a tight budget that need a great-sounding workhorse multi-pattern mic.

My B3 sounded great on vocals, but I did not like it so much on acoustic instruments. It was slightly scooped sounding in the mids on stringed instruments.

My B3 developed a problem with a rumbling noise in the first year. The noise would go away for the most part after the mic warmed up. But even after warmup, the mic appeared to have more noise than my other mics. I could sometimes make the bad rumbling go away by fiddling with the pattern switch, so I suspect it was related to the switch.

I sent the mic back to the mfr for repair (actually Sweetwater did this for me, to their credit). On return from this service, the noise appeared to be fixed, but then it started up again a few weeks later.

The pattern and pad switches on this mic drove me nuts - they are not tucked away, so they constantly get touched and repositioned. Also, it was odd that one switch was used for both the pad and hpf. Your choices were flat or hpf or pad, but only one of these (e.g., no pad + hpf option).

In summary, a good sounding mic on vocals, but poor reliability. There was no rating field here for reliability/build quality, so my disappointment is reflected primarily in the Ease of Use rating, because getting rid of the rumbling noise was a pain each time I needed to use the mic. But also in the Features rating, in that, although the mic had a lot of features, the switches for these features were troublesome.

For very little money, this is an extremely versatile mic that can be employed in many situations.

Let's start with its many options. The front switch provides a choice of three selectable patterns: cardiod, figure-8, and omni. But, it doesn't stop there. You also have a second switch on the back which lets you choose a low cut or -10dB pad (the middle option is simply "flat" or "no low cut"). These provide you with six different possible configurations for the mic.

On vocals, it has an open and airy, detailed sound with the gold-sputtered 0.3 micron diaphragm. Anyone who has been recording with a dynamic will immediately notice the clarity. I would say there's a midrange bump here that works quite well for most people. Still, this can be a little forward for some, and it can help to EQ it out, or, alternatively, to keep your dynamic mic up and track both simultaneously, mixing them together to achieve the final result.

As a room mic on drums, it is excellent. You can hear the sizzle of the high hats to the deep resonance of the floor tom all with a satisfying transparency.

On acoustic guitars, you can experiment with the different patterns and mic placement to find a host of different sounds. It offers an accurate reproduction of what you hear in the room.

At the end of the day, this is a quality microphone that far out-performs its price point.