This mic rules. I bought it back in 2006 and I pro ably use it 98% of the time. Only need one mic on the kick. Low end is incredible. Works best for Rock / Metal. To me, it blows the D6 & D112 out of the water.

This mic is mounted permanently in my 20"x16" kick drum with a Powerstroke III batter head and a Kickport in the resonant head. The result is a deep yet focused thud that belies the smaller kick size, with hardly any EQ needed.
When we recorded a rock album last summer (https://harmonyandthehunter.hearnow.com/american-rock-n-roll), our engineer did not even bother putting his own high-end kick mic up - this baby did a great job.

For the price, this mic sounds great when a capable audio professional knows how to mix. Squeezed the best sound I have heard thus far out of my DW Performance Series floor tom.

This mic is beyond excellent, and the truth is it's only as good as how it is used.
Put this through an analog pre-amp and 4 band EQ and it will be able to duplicate
practically speaking any sound ever recorded. Compress to taste, fast attack, fast release low ratio.
It's that real. Heavy bottom, Crystal clear top end, and phat mid range gain.
808? It's in there, Bonham? It's in there. Of course the heads and tuning have much to do with it,
but as a low frequency drum mic, it simply is unmatched. I have one on my 14"x26" kick, 18"x22" kick, 20"x20"
floor tom and my 15"x18" floor tom. Superb low frequency reproduction. Equally outstanding on a 1x18"" bass cabinet.
I use 4 these, 4 MK4 overheads, and 11 E604's on my drum kit, and it's world class clarity, articulation, projection and
definition even at low frequencies, low cut sometimes helps out on the bigger drums.
Sennheiser gets it right.

Temple of Light
Rick A. DeNardo
Artist/S.Eng./Producer
Designer of sound.

I bought this microphone for an outdoor gig. It really surprised me how little EQ I had to do to get a good sound. Logan Kinsey told me it was a great mic...he didn't disappoint.
Thanks

When you look up bass drum mics and then filter by customer reviews, the Beta 52, AKG D112 and Sennheiser e602-II usually pop up in that order (I am ommitting many other bass drum mics in the list that I don't personally care for). Beta's are my go to for the primary, breathy boom of the bass drum that I put in the front bass drum head hole. D112's are what I use for the intenal mic pointed at the batter where the beater hits the head and though I paid $100 for each of them, I don't like them. As a possible D112 replacement, I bought an e 602-II to see if they were a decent internal mic, but it turns out, they are a believable primary bass drum mic. I put the e 602-II on a drum set that does not have an internal mic at a live venue and I am very impressed. It takes more eq'ing to get it to sound more like a Beta and the Beta is only $50 more, but it has some characteristics that are different and worth a little more tweaking.

I have been using this kick drum mic for over 12 years now. It came bundled with a very solid stand and cable. I also own an AKG D112, Audix D6, and a Yamaha Sub-Kick. I like how, with its telescopic nature, it is easy to maneuver inside a 4" porthole. Coupled with my Premier bass drum(s), the sound is consistently punchy, wherever I place it, with an apparent EQ scoop which works for me, although some may say it has that basketball type of sound, which I would say it does. For the price, I would say this is a solid buy, and a good mic to have at the ready. However, with bass drum mic's, the sound you get varies so wildly from mic to mic, I find it very hard to recommend one to anyone, plus, you never really know what you have until you get something in a mix with other instruments. Until I have used them all, I can't say what is the "best" kick drum mic, but I'd also say that, which is best varies from drum to drum, player to player, and song to song. All I know is I own three dynamic kick drum mic's, and this is the one I use the most, by a large margin.

This thing sounds great. One of the fullest kick mics around

This is a really good mic if you like punchy bass drums it's got a lot of attack but sounds really good overall I'd highly recommend this for rock or anything that requires more attack on the bass drums

Great kick mic.
Needs minimal EQ to get a great sound.
I use mine with a homemade sub kick , but you really could use just this mic and be happy.
It's far superior in sound than the top Shure and AKG models. I found with Beta52's and D112's , I always had to do a lot of tweaking to get a good sound. Not with the E602-II.

ive been using another mic for my kick but I needed a little more attack.
this mic does it all.
it definitely has low end but also gives me enough attack to clarify ever beat.
highly recommend this mic

Excellent gain before feedback, requires less time to EQ, has a wider frequency response range making it a more versatile low frequency mic, and beats Shure and AKG alternatives in the same price range in side-by-side comparisons.

Compared to the usual suspects for kick mics, this one excels at capturing the kick drum for what it really sounds like. Massive bass tone, enough top end to pick up the beater hit. Combine this with a nice condenser on the outside, and this mic pointed at the beater thru a ported reso head, and you've got the kick sound you've been looking for.

I have an AKG 112 inside the bass drum for the click and e-602-ll outside the bass drum for low end. The two together give me what I want. Don't use much EQ now because I not trying to so much out of one MIC.

Got this a couple weeks ago and was blown away. It really captures the punch and low end I had been looking for!

Fantastic microphone. Great response. Haven't used Sennheiser mics in over 30 years and now I remember why I loved them so much. My only issue is the included mic clip. It contains a threaded brass barrel that must be removed for use on a regular mic stand leaving a non-durable threaded plastic socket that will more than likely strip-out first time it gets crosss-threaded. Other than that, the true-to-life kick sound captured by this microphone is a game changer.

I'd been using another very popular kick drum mic that went bad and needed to be sent in for repair. In the meantime I thought I'd try something different and ordered the E602-II. Wow, it sounded smooth and punchy right out of the gate with no EQ'ing! My other popular mic came back refurbed and is back in service as a floor tom mic, while the Sennheiser retains the coveted spot residing inside the bass drum.

This mic perfect for the kick drum. Sensitive and easy to manage in the mix.

Some might describe this mic as an incredible value, given how the price compares to other kick mics. While that's an accurate statement, I think this is an amazing kick mic regardless of price. I was sold on this mic after I viewed Sweetwater's video where they conducted a blind listen-test between several different mics (you should check that out if you haven't already). The boom and punchy-ness of this mic stood out to me in that video. Now, having purchased one, I couldn't be happier. It works great in both studio and live settings. I'm currently using it on an 18" kick (Yamaha Stage Custom: on a riser) and it adds so much boom and body to the drum. Highly recommend!

I use this to mic my bass cab and it translates exactly what I'm hearing from my cab I use a Mesa Subway rig. It's also a great bass drum mic. Gave a lousy sounding acoustic kick a nice full and punchy tone. I use a QSC monitoring system. Excellent dual purpose purchase.

Let's face it folks, if you know how to use your gear, and have a good starting point with the tuning of the drum, almost any mic can sound great, provided you have enough outboard gear. The idea is to reduce the amount of crap you have to run your signal through in order to get a great sound... In other words, simplify. This mic does it and does it extremely well.

I Purchased an additional e602 II (I have one on my floor tom) for my kick to replace the B52 I had been using. Nothing wrong with the Shure mic, I'm just OCD about having everything match. Having said that, this mic exceeded my expectations as a kick mic. I do not port my front head and I do not add any additional dampening in the kick, just what is made into the heads. Currently I have the stock Ludwig head on the resonant side and a Remo P3 on the batter side. This combination with this mic just rocks! My sound engineer agrees. His words, "very similar to the B52 but more fat bottom end, less eq-ing, and just the right amount of beater slap, even through a non ported front head (I prefer non ported resonant heads on my kick as it gives better tone and more bottom end beef). I have owned and/ or used, Audix D6, AKG D-112, AKG D-12, Sennheiser MD421, EV RE-20, Beyer Dynamic TG-X 50 (arguably the most low end of any mic @ 17Hz), and I find the e602 II to be the easiest mic to get a fat sound with tons of tone (or not if that's your taste) on the market today.

Great price for an amazing mic.
It's just what I was looking for to begin recording at home.

It's a great mic. Amazing low end, I use it on my kick and my bass cab and on both it sounds amazing.

Well, I was a bit worried as the first one did not work correctly, probably a loose wire internally. However, Sweetwater sent a new one out right away. Some of the mic's I've tried in the past didn't live up to the hype. I purchased the e602 II to use on my 16" floor tom and I'm NOT disappointed! This thing just kicks the walls down! I've never heard such low end from a 16" before (I usually have 18" floors to get that sound). There are plenty of great mics out there to use. I've owned Audix D6's (nothing wrong with them) and Shure B52. For the money, less than either Audix or Shure, this mic us everything it's said to be. Looking forward to getting two more (one for 18" floor tom when it arrives and one for the kick). Highly recommended, best $... I've spent on music gear. Now to try it out on the kick!

Received quicker than expected. Item exceeded my expectations. Great addition to my studio mic arsenal.

I had this mike mounted up inside my kick drum. It has HUGE low end presence, more so than any other kick mike, but little beater click, even with lots of EQ. I would maybe recommend this for miking a front kick drum head, but not as your primary kick drum mike. It also sounds EXCELLENT as a floor tom mike - very natural sounding. I imagine it would good for miking bass cabs as well.

Consider this a pure personal preference review. I have no issues with build quality etc. I bought this mic hoping it would serve the role as a "inside" kick mic used in conjunction with a LDC on the outside. I was hoping this mic would get the snap and attack of the beater. Again, pure personal preference, but I just hated the sounds I was getting. I tried as many placements inside the kick as I could. Different angles. Different distances from the beater etc. Even with lots of eq experimentation I just never got a sound I liked. Seeing as I now had a mic I really didn't know what to do with, I threw it in front of a bass cab. Totally blown away! I used to mix a DI and mic plus eq compression etc. on bass cabs. Now I pretty much just throw the Sennheiser e 602 II in front of the cab and leave it at that.

I bought the 602 II almost a year ago and finally got around to seriously using it today. Running it through a Tascam UH7000 into my laptop (running REAPER). I had to mike up my bass rig (MXR M81 Bass Preamp, SWR Stereo 800, Ampeg SVT810E).

The first thing I noticed when getting levels was that placing this mike is super easy- you can clearly hear sonic changes as you move it across the front of the speaker cone. This mike really makes it easy to get the instrument (bass rig, in my case) to sit in the mix.

I needed to capture what I call my ultimate "Lost Child of Doug Pinnick and John Entwhistle Tone" (courtesy of a DIY Compressor driving a Boss OC-2, into a guitarPCB Guitar/Bass Driver DIY, and finally into the above gear), and this mike easily gave the track the heft, punch, presence and edge that makes this kind of tone come alive.

I'm sure that this thing is a great mike for the kick, but if you need a seriously Neve-like bottom end for recording a bass rig, this is an awesome go to!!

BTW, shouts out to Justin Rix for helping the transaction go smoothly (and for the lastest additions as well!). The crew at Sweetwater are what true customer service is all about!

The 602 replaced a 20 year old D112 that always sounded boxy to me. Great improvement over that 'industry standard' mic. I also like that it's streamlined enough to get inside a small hole in a reso head, which was another fault of the D112. Very happy with the sound I'm getting now although I still mix it with a bit of a BFD3 bass drum sample to get a super punchy sound.

Finally got a chance to mic up my bass cabinet with this mic. Wow. I had my 1974 bassman 50 pushing 2 Weber bass15 speakers and this mic running through a Heritage audio '73jr into the preamp bypass of my Audient ID22. Previously I have been using a DI into the '73 jr and using amp emulators. That was a good method, but with this mic I have a next level sound. My old DI recordings sound thin in comparison. Now they sound like a bass ought to. Huge and Vibrant, with a greater sense of space and musicality and realism. I may be ahead of you with my gear collection, but this mic is the real deal for recording bass cabinets and may be a good place to start...

I use them on toms when I want some rock beef ..I have 421's too but I end up using the 602's more for rock .. For faster tempo songs I like it better than my B52 on Kick

What is there to say? It's one of the industry standard kick mics. Sounds great and has plenty of punch.

We've tried many mics on bass drums. The e602 II simply sounds the best right out of the box. We use very slight compression and no EQ, and the sound sits perfectly in the mix.

I use it live, and have experience with all the leading models available.
Beta 52 - great low end, but tubby. However, killer combo with Beta91a.
D112 - sounds like cardboard box. I run out of EQ with this one with some kicks.
D6 - fantastic as a single mic. Owned and loved.
602 II - bigger low end than D6, better with closed jazzy kicks as well, more broadband high frequency pickup - you can select where to boost. It's an upgraded D6 as I see it.

You can now get away with starting your sound check with channel 2 if you're in a rush.

There's still some 250-300Hz you would sometimes want to clean slightly, however miles away than most mics.

The most important element is the kick drum itself...If the player has good touch..and the drum sounds great than any pro grade mic will do its job within its own limitations...this mic has excellent gain, nice overall tone and the bandwidth required for a solid representation of of a great sounding kick...I don't know what the other reviewer is talking about when he says it will make you think you are better than you are, as if he knows a secret the rest of don't....But I do know that with a clean well tuned PA and a well played and tuned kick drum this mic sounds wonderful and is great deal as we'll..

This mic sounds HUGE. It has such a pure and natural tone to it that can probably make any kick drum sound great. The low end is massive and really doesn't need any EQ, if so, very little. Thanks Sweetwater, and thanks Sennheiser for making quality products.

Found a great mic at an affordible price! So far I have used it with two different bands, (R&B band with an 18" kick and Rockabilly band with a 14" kick). Straight plug and play deal with both bands. Little to No EQ and your set for awesome sound.

I have to give a shout out to Aaron and the Sweetwater crew. I ordered the mic monday evening online. Aaron called to verify on tuesday morning and i hand the mic in my hand noon Friday. Took it out that night for its first gig. Couldn't be easier to order gear through Sweetwater!!

good kick drum mic. yup. good mic.

Solid sound, solid construction. Amazing kick mic even with out EQ. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a tight low end with out that hyped type of sound. Well worth the money!

This mic will make any cardboard box sound like a rock kick drum. But be careful, because if you put this on a great sounding kick, you will probably be taking that drum, and the drummer, down a notch or two. This mic compliments modern tuned PA systems and will lie to you by letting you think you know how to get a good sound. So if you don't want to use your ears and talent, this mic will give you a slightly above average, generic sound that most people want to hear.

As a PA system tech, I have the opportunity to read up on and at times experiment with new gear for our house band. I orriginally ordered the kick pack compilation with the intent of only utilizing the stand for the existing D112. The drummer and I (having used the D112 for years) were slightly reluctant to using the Sennheiser. However, after one night of playing, we were both sold on it's response, tone, and especially it's consistency in sound reproduction at different dynamic levels.

i have used this for a month about, my school was having a horrible musical and i started talking to the guys that came in to mic it up, they let me borrow it when i told them im using a st55 condenser on my bassdrum, this mic outperformed everything i ever put on my bass drum, it is quiet the mic, works awesome with the firepod pre amps