Audix ADX-90 Clip-on Condenser Microphone

I like the form factor, small clip ons are great for drums.  A bit of trouble mounting on some drums, and the gooseneck wants to straighten out on it's on.

Build quality is fine, sound quality sucks.

Somewhat inexpensive but produces a sound that's completely unusable.

Short answer, I really don't like these mics.  Long answer...

Bought  a couple ADX-90's, as I've been  wanting to try some small condensers for toms and snare.  Had read some reviews that indicated the mics distort easily (some speculating that it's actually the gooseneck making the distorted sound), but I wanted to  give them a try anyway.  Bad idea.

I was eager to  try them.  Had a bit of trouble getting on clipped on to my old  Slingerland snare, it didn't fit the stick saver rims well, but I was able to get it to stay put with some fiddling.  No trouble on my toms with rims that sit higher, or on more modern rims.  This is about the  only good thing about the mics.

I always mic toms with  condensers (for recording) as I really like the added dynamic range,  detail, and smooth sound.  These mics do NOT fit that bill.  Set the  gain so the peaks were a little below clipping and hit record.  They  sound terrible, I'd be better off with a Radio Shack mic!  When  playing quietly they sound boxy at best.  I often play pretty hard, and  loud hits/rimshots distorted consistently, on both toms and snare.  Even with the gain set all the way down I got distortion, and not from the  recording itself.  The output level is fine, but the audio picked up by  the mic sounds nasty and distorted before reaching the mixer. On the  upside, off-axis rejection and isolation weren't bad.

It's apparent that these can't handle the Db's put out  by rock drumming, I'm baffled that Audix markets these as drum mics.   At quieter volumes they don't sound particularly good either.  They  might be ok on congas or other hand drums, or maybe hi-hat if you can  find a way to mount them.