What Our Users Say | Press Releases

MA201fet

“The MA-201fets found their way onto every tracking session I had during the test period. They faithfully captured male and female vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, upright and electric bass, tenor and soprano saxophones, grand piano, bass clarinet, bass drum, and full drum sets (as overheads as well as room mics)… In every scenario, the MA-201s gave me the sound I was looking for — natural, open, and true. Value (1 through 5): 5”
Eli Crews - Electronic Musician

“If you were stuck on a desert island, what one microphone would you be willing to take with you? I’m obviously assuming that the said island was equipped with a recording studio packed with preamps and all of the other necessary gear……the answer.. the MA-201fet.”
Brian Threlkeld - American Songwriter

“David Royer's latest effort, the Mojave Audio MA201fet microphone, is a graceful, accurate, and well-priced workhorse condenser for the professional studio.”
Randy Poole - Pro Audio Review

 “…an under priced audio gem. The MA201fet can be thought of as modern day Neumann U47 FET …works amazingly well with drums and percussion… With female vocals it has a wonderful open top end while remaining very smooth and natural.”
Russ Long:  Pro Audio Review

“Over the past few years, Mojave Audio has established itself as a manufacturer of quality, affordable microphones with their MA200 (Tape Op #55) and MA100 (#62) tube mics. MA201fet is the third microphone in their line”.
Scott McChane - Tape Op

MA200

“It was immediately evident that this mic sounds fantastic. I really like the way it was smooth on the top and round on the bottom, and it really complemented (the singer’s) voice in a way that I had not heard before from other microphones of similar variety. Maybe it’s that JAN tube or the Jensen transformer, or maybe because David just understands electronics, as the components are the same as most other ‘affordable’ studio condensers, and yet the MA-200 sounds as good as microphones that are twice its price.”
Craig Schumacher – TapeOp

“I’ve had a chance to test a pair of the MA-200s in a number of situations, and the surprises were always pleasant. When paired with an excellent preamp, this mic is simply gorgeous. The MA-200 imparted smoothness to the cymbal crashes and was never strident or washy. The stereo image was very good, and the mics gave a very nice picture of the guitar without being boomy. What I like most is that when you hit it hard, the MA-200 gives you back some crunch. The plate-loaded tube stage rounds out transients nicely, giving it an almost ribbon-like quality. When you have a mic that can cover instrumental and vocal duties in this price range, you’re playing with house money.”
Kevin Becka – Mix

“I had a pair of MA-200's for my review period and I've been literally using them around the clock. The MA-200 is rich, warm, open and it works well with practically any instrument or vocal. Unlike so many of the modern tube mics that emulate classic transducers, the MA-200 is a beast of its own. It works in all of the same applications that I'd use a U 67 but where I almost always end up boosting the top end and cutting some low mids of the 67, I find that the MA-200 rarely needs any EQ at all. The Mojave Audio MA-200 is a wonderful sounding microphone that is well made, well packaged and unbelievably priced. It is a great consideration to any studio or engineer looking to broaden their sonic pallet.”
Russ Long – Pro Audio Review

“It’s easy to see that this mic is not your average large-diaphragm condenser (LDC). Its heft instills a sense that you are holding a solid piece of gear, reminiscent of a vintage European microphone. . The word that came to mind most often while using the MA-200 was silky, as the mic’s high-mids are present enough to give the source definition and a place in the mix, without any of the harshness or sibilance sometimes abundant in other LDCs .It often won out over microphones costing two to five times as much. A lot of readers might not consider a $995 microphone to be a “budget” mic, and in terms of sonic quality, there is absolutely nothing “budget” about the MA-200. In fact, the only thing “budget” about it is that you should make room in your budget to buy at least one. In this humble reviewer’s opinion, you would have to pay at least double, and maybe even multifold more, to acquire a modern or vintage microphone of similar quality from any other manufacturer. Anytime you don’t have to settle for an inferior product just to save money, you’ve found a good value, and the MA-200 is a very good value.”
Eli Crews – Electronic Musician

“We threw everything we could at the Mojave including male vocals, acoustic, cello, violin and tenor sax.  There was nothing at which the Mojave didn’t seen to excel. The Mojave elicited comments like ‘silky top end’, ‘warm in the low mids, yet greater clarity’ and ‘best sound overall’. This mic represents a leap forward in quality for this price point. Everything about the MA-200 and it’s accessories, power supply, shock mount, etc., speaks of quality. The mic is extremely versatile and built to last.”
Randy Poole – Pro Sound News

The MA-200 is a classic in the making and definitely a new asset in my mic cabinet. It makes an excellent, all-around workhorse microphone suitable for any application from vocals to backing vocals to acoustic guitars to pianos or string instruments.
Barry Rudolph - Music Connection Magazine

Professional Audio Magazine (in German)

MA100

With the glut of large-diaphragmtube microphones past and present in the marketplace, it is odd how smalldiaphragm tube mics take a back seat. I can think of fewer than ten, and two are vintage designs no longer manufactured, and one is a prototype I saw at NAMM—talk about untappedmarkets... So with that in mind we introduce to you Mojave Audio’s new small-diagram tube condenser, the MA-100.
Paul Vnuk Jr. - Recording Magazine

I’d describe the MA100 as a mic with a personality that is flattering to certain instruments with brash qualities. It tamed an oft-encountered acoustic guitar that has an overbearing upper midrange and balanced a big rock drum kit with large cymbals that likes to tear your face off. In these situations, and in others when recording instruments with better aural behavior, the mics operated like journeymen transducers, delivering a well-defined stereo image, frequency range and transient response. Having a mic this versatile come with two capsules for less than $1k ($795) is a steal. Mojave’s second outing is a must-hear.
Kevin Becka – Mix

I miked up my Taylor 514-CE and was blown away. The sound was amazing - it has everything good that the C-28 has except it’s quieter and it has more top end sparkle.
Next I put a pair of MA100s with the omni capsules to the task of recording piano and again I had fantastic results. I went on to use the mics to record mandolin, dobro, violin, cello, hi-hat, drum overheads and tambourine and was never disappointed.
I put the MA100s on toms and I was truly blown away. If there has ever been a magic tom mic then it’s the MA100. They require almost no eq and the sound is simply stellar. On my next tracking session I used them on kick (just outside the rear head) and on the snare and again I was blown away. I went on to try it on electric guitar and had good results, though my best guitar sounds were attained through blending the MA100 with the Royer R-122.
Russ Long – Pro Audio Review

By utilizing a tube circuit in the buffer stage, the MA100 is capable of handling high SPL and transient sources like snare drums and acoustic guitar with ease. It also mellows the mic a bit and helps reduce the obnoxious frequencies that can make things sound “brittle”. This makes the MA100 a great mic for any drum application –and it’s especially great on hi-hats! We found the mic reduced the “bite” of the hi-hat tone and was much easier to mix into the drum kit later. We did not have to cut the top end as radically as we usually do with other small diaphragm condensers and yet there was still plenty of the articulation we needed to here the stick tip on the cymbal. Since we had such success with the hat, we next put the mic up on an acoustic guitar overdub. The MA100 was a perfect fit for what we were looking for. It had just enough top end to get the pick strike we wanted and still maintained the mid range thickness of the guitar body. Next we tried the mics as a stereo pair on the piano. The MA100s ended up being very nice, capturing the piano very well. They got all the sound of the piano without feeling overly hyped or dull and boring and were surprisingly big sounding. We decided to try it on one of the most difficult instruments to record – the tambourine. With the MA100, we set up the mic a few feet above the arc of the playing and got a great sound right away. It was further enhanced when we switched the capsule to the omni and got some nice room to go along with the direct sound. There was no messy splatter – just good crisp tambourine that was a breeze to mix.  Finally, we tried the MA100s on the drum kit. This is where the MA100s really shined. Having a condenser on the rack tom captures much more of the overall drum sound and the Mojave’s really gave us a really strong tom sound that held up well in the all session long. It was especially great on capturing a driving floor tom beat we used,capturing the low end faithfully without becoming blurry. On snare drum, the MA100 really excelled as it brought out the crack of the stick while keeping the resonant ring of the shell under control. It became obvious that the quick response of the small diaphragm coupled with the tubes ability to handle the SPLs is a winning combination in a drum microphone. It certainly made the drummer happy as his drums did sound much more expansive and fuller. At around $795.00 each, the MA100 is an affordable, great sounding solid studio microphone that will greatly enhance all your recording needs. It is the biggest sounding small diaphragm condenser I’ve had the pleasure to listen to. I can’t wait to hear what Mojave comes up with next!
Craig Schumacher – TapeOp