The published frequency response is from 50Hz to 15kHz with a noticeable lift in a broad swath of midrange frequencies. My first test was comparing it to the Shure SM-57 dynamic on a Paul Reed Smith "30" head and cabinet amp. I placed the Halo in the same starting position I would use for the SM-57. I had both microphones plugged into two side-by-side mic inputs of a SSL G Series console.

Besides having more high and low frequencies, the Halo requires slightly less pre-amp gain for an equivalent recording level and is slightly more responsive to "peaks" than the SM-57. I found that for single note playing, solos, and standouts overdubbing in the studio, the fat tone coupled with good pick attack was a winner for clean guitar tones.

Back at my studio, I tried the Halo on my ZT Amps Lunchbox Junior amp for some quirky and distorted sounds. I pushed Halo (aimed slightly off-axis) into the mighty 5.5-inch speaker of the Junior and used my boutique RTZ 9762 mic pre-amp to record it. The Halo responded to repositioning just as any dynamic mic with the proximity effect working well to further fatten the sound!

Sontronics' Halo approaches the sound of a cardioid condenser with its low and high frequency extension and offers a good alternative microphone for recording electric guitar amps. It sells for $185 MAP and is covered by a lifetime warranty.