Rob, I think I'm looking for the same kind of microphone(s) as you ... I've done a lot of forum-reading on the subject - resulting in my two cents worth of possible advice. Your recording-chain will probably only be as strong as its weakest link: If you don't have a 'good' sounding room, an expensive microphone could end up just revealing how bad your room sounds. Many people recommend initially applying acoustic treatment to your recording space. Then, it seems recommendable to check that your pre-amp(s), cabling, monitors, D/A or A/D converters etc. are 'good enough' for the rest of your signal chain, before buying expensive microphones. The most frequent advice I find is to practise mic-placement. It seems placement can enhance sound transduction better than badly used expensive equipment. But I think that puts you in the dilemma of not having microphones to practice placement with, because of not being able to afford the expensive ones, and at the same time having no experience getting the most out of less expensive microphones that need placing well ... As I don't have the capacity to buy and try many high-class microphones, I have gone for microphones recommended as useful on as many different instruments/genres as possible i.e. 'workhorse' microphones (= frequently/successfully used by reputable engineers). Hence, I own a Shure SM58, a Sennheiser e 906 and a recently acquired matched pair of Rode NT5 microphones. The idea being that I want to record guitars (amps/acoustic) and drum kits. The SM 58, which can be seen as an SM 57 when you remove the ball grille, has been used on snares and amps for years. I am learning a lot about placement with just the SM58. The e906 is used on amps and toms and has different transduction characteristics from the Shure. The matched NT5 pair are my first and only condensers to date. They can serve well for overheads on drums. I have used them as room mics for amp recording. I find they are good enough for many stereo live recording techniques on whole bands/orchestras. They can be used on vocals and on bass cabs. Acoustic guitar recordings often benefit from aiming two mics at different acoustically pleasing parts of the guitar (e.g. one at the neck, one at the body). So, for an amateur with little experience, untrained ears, a bad room and little time to seriously hone any notable sound recording skills, I get along nicely with my very basic introductory-level microphone "cabinet". The main aspect that helped me along was the fact that these microphones seemed to me 'easy to use' - I got promising results from the start. Most of my perfecting after starting has been through better placement. My 'ideal' collection of microphones would be full of expensive names/mics. But I'd have to save for exceptionally long to afford them, and then I'd be useless at employing them appropriately, for lack of experience and because I'd perhaps be too old. So, to start learning about placement, I chose affordable mics that have been recommended for many situations. I intend to extend my mic cabinet gradually in future by buying one large diaphragm dynamic microphone and another identical pair of dynamics, giving me a total of seven mics, requiring at least seven microphone inputs for when I attempt to fully mic my son's drum kit. Dynamics are often less sensitive than condensers, which can be an asset in a room that doesn't have pleasing acoustic characteristics and can help avoid a lot of cross talk from different parts of a drum kit or parts of a band. I think my approach of using microphones that are frequently used has the added benefit that these microphones seem to be sold in larger quantities, thus bringing their price down somewhat. The disadvantage is, that you may end up replicating sounds more than creating new sounds with new and/or expensive mics. If you can, buy as many of the best and most expensive microphones as possible. Maybe they're more fun, easier to use and far more acoustically pleasing to work with, no matter how badly placed - I'll never know - but I might yet learn how to get a run-of-the-mill microphone sounding quite good, just by learning where to put it?