Live Acoustic Mic -- which one?

[Matt Brown]

Will be performing an acoustic gig coming up at a very small coffee shop. There may be a lot of people packed in, as there's going to be free coffee, and it's in a university town during finals week. I'm going to rent a mic for the occasion to record the performances, and I'm not sure what mic to rent. Price isn't really an issue. This is for recording the performance only, not broadcasting or amping it. The performance itself will be completely acoustic, no wires or amps or mics.

Any suggestions off the top of your head for a great mic that would be ideal for this situation? What type of mic would be ideal? And, perhaps, what kind of preamp would you suggest?

Here are a couple lists of rentable mics I'm browsing through:
http://www.audiorents.com/rental/14/...crophones.html
http://www.gearfordays.com/tubemics.htm

I have some experience with studio mics but have virtually no understanding of what mics are considered best for live situations, especially for what might be a loud, close quarters coffee shop environment.

[albee1952]

I would consider getting 2 mics and use one for the PA(and EQ it any way you need to for volume without feedback) and the other for recording Off the top of my head, the 414 would be a good recording mic with the AKG 460 a second choice. For the PA system, either or the 535 but plan on getting it close in. Now if the guitar has a pickup as well, then just use that for the PA(but record both if you have the inputs).

[Craig F]

451 come to mind
414 is good

What are you going to record to?
could influence mic pre choice
also you could consider extra mics so if one dies or just doesn't match the instrument you've got a backup

you could go Gambler style with a C12VR

[Barnabas]

Are you recording your voice and an instrument? If so, I'd put a different mic on each. The instrument you are playing will determine which mic. Your vocal range and style will dictate which vocal mic.

Can you record two tracks (vocal and instrument) and then mix them together back home?

What are you using for the recording?