Well, you're talking about 2 different animals here... considreing that nowadays you can get some decent mics for little money, I would suggest for public performance, get something like a Shure SM58, and for the studio, you have a lot of choices... There's the Rode NT1, NT2, Studio Projects C1, B1, B3, Audio Technica 3035, Oktava MK319...

while on the subject of the studio, do you have a pre-amp? What board are you using?? If you don't have a board, you gotta consider budgeting for that too... A decent one will cost you about $200... So, considering a 58 will cost you about $100, a lot of the mics I mentioned above could be had for $200 or less, and a pre-amp or board for $200, you'll be in yor budget ballpark.... Hope this helps..

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