Reddit mentions of Weller WP25 Professional 25Watts/120V Soldering Iron

I've gone through about a half a dozen of the $5-$15 radio shack irons before I finally decided to spend the money on a nice one. I had no idea what I was missing!

There are a few types. The cheapest one is just a hot pencil. You plug it in and it gets hot. It's not adjustable at all - it just gets up to whatever level of power it draws, regardless of the work it's doing. Typically they cycle between not-hot-enough and way-too-hot for whatever the job is. :-)

The second-cheapest kind is the same thing, but with a little selector switch, so you can switch between low and high. I think one of mine was 5W/15W. Same as before - it's a power level, not a temperature.

Third type is the same thing, but with more adjustments. You can vary the heat more accurately, but it's still only by power level, not actual temperature.

The good kind is the kind that measures its own temperature and tries to maintain it. You can turn the dial to the temperature you want, and no matter what the work is, it will heat up as needed to maintain that temperature.

I have the WESD51 (Digital display, adjustable temperature). It was expensive, but I got a good deal on it (only $10 or so more than the analog version). I was really sold on the temperature controls, and it makes a huge difference.

You'll have to carefully read specs to see if "Adjustable" means adjustable POWER or adjustable TEMPERATURE. Some irons will even say that they are adjustable temperature, but really they are just a hot-cold knob that adjusts power.

I shouldn't recommend a specific iron, since the only ones I've used are the terrible $5 ones and the WESD51, but I've heard good things about the WCL100. It seems to have decent reviews. If you can't justify the $80+ for a temperature-controlled iron like the WES51 or WESD51, look into this one, since it's only $40.

EDIT: I take that back! I should have listened to myself and NOT recommended it. As soon as I read the reviews I discovered that you can get a constant-temperature iron for around the same price! Something like This 850F or this 750F. In short - do your research! Temperature controlled is key!

ANOTHER EDIT: The work I'm doing is generally through-hole components and similar small electronics. I leave the temperature dial at around 700F most of the time. So if $80 for a true adjustable-temperature soldering station is too much to swallow, save money by getting a constant-temperature iron at the temperature you want, instead of getting a shitty adjustable-wattage iron.

If you want a station, there really are two which are the standard:

1. Weller WES51
   http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station/dp/B000BRC2XU
   
   
2. Hakko FX 888
   https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11704
   
   If you want just an Iron I would get a Weller Wp25, 30, or 35 depending on how hot you desire.
   http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WP25-Professional-25Watts-Soldering/dp/B000B63BTU
   
   
   
   The radioshack Pro Line actually looks quite nice at $30(on sale for $20 this week)
   http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=15772146
   
   Very good deal and nice quality, downside being they only sell one type of tip and it doesnt come in different wattages.
   

Grab a soldering iron, practice on some junk boards and try and replace the potentially failed capacitors yourself. It wouldn't be hard at all and at least worth a shot. This video walks through the generic steps. Just make sure you get a decent iron. Anything in the Weller pro series should work.

Agreed. I did okay with my $20 radioshack firestarter, and couldn't be happier with my $35 Weller WP25. I can even solder soic no problem. Get the st7 tip ($5.) Get solder wick. Get solder flux. Build your own stand.

Spend the other $50 on components like there's no tomorrow.

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WP25-Professional-25Watts-Soldering/dp/B000B63BTU
disclosure azide_0x37 has a major weller boner

Okay are you listening? Let's take a pause. Let's take a long pause for a minute and listen to the ceiling fan.

You are leaving some stuff out of your approach. You have 2 mics. You ask about the 2 mics. FYI I do not know anything about Rode mics, but I have seen some good reviews of them. Where I am going with this is that I do not know what medium you are recording to, but you left out pre-amp, preamplifier, what you plug your mic into. There is about a hundred different preamps and they all sound different. The preamp probably has more to do with your question than does the mic. Some preamps breathe fire. Some preamps sound dull and flat and make you want to walk in front of a bus, at least if you care about the life of the sound. My approach to dealing with this, and I do not know if this is for you, is to get my mic pre from an analog console. For example, I have what I would call acceptable-level mic-pres in the following consoles: Soundcraft Delta, Ramsa 8210A, and Crest GTx (big heavy thing), oh and also rack mount Crest RM18x or whatever the fuck it is called, original kit built in Paramus, NJ. Analog consoles are CHEEP. I paid a little over a thousand dollars for all of these consoles together- can you dig it? Although there was a little shipping involved for a couple of them. I have driven 500 miles round trip to get a console, practically a give away. There are megazoid tons of available analog consoles. Now, that is probably not for you. For one thing, you have not invested in the vehicle to haul one. You probably will not spend 14 hours searching out these consoles online to even see what I am talking about, so I am probably wasting my time talking to you. The only way I know to go it better for input is with rack-pack lunchbox component pre-amps, would probably have to spend $8k for a basic set up. Otherwise, there are some rack unit preamps that might be useful for you, for example, RME makes an 8-banger preamp unit, shit like this. But I can do something pretty close with a used console that costs me $200. Thing is, though, I know how to buy consoles and I know which is which and what they do. I am not guessing. But yes, I have put in the shoe leather.

There are a lot of ways to skin a cat and it not strictly about money. I am guessing you are plugging in you mics directly to a prosumer, what I call music store gear interface. Well, let me tell you something, I would blow out my brains with a pistol before I plugged a mic into one of those preamps, but that's just me. Even though there are college educated marketing people telling you how wonderful they are.

If you want to entertain yourself about making high quality recordings, you need to take a keen interest into wtf you are plugging the mic into. As far as the mics, one baseline would be an SM81 (condenser) for acoustic guitar and an SM7 (dynamic) for vocal. Beware of sizzly cheap ass large diaphragm condenser microphones. Your SM57 should work fine as a general purpose vocal mic or for electric gtrs, snare or toms.

>I don't feel that I can spend the 300 bucks

You may be in the wrong business. I usually start with stuff that costs $10k or even $20k (with consoles) and reverse engineer it from there. I have bought plenty of used gear for 5 cents on the dollar of new cost. There is so much renewal of gear and mountains of second hand stuff. Also, you could just get a job somewhere where you can play with the stuff and take stuff home. I have worked in 2 music stores and it served me well.

As far as paying for instruction, there is so much free information online. Go watch Dave Rat's videos. Ask questions here and other places. Recording a couple inputs to sound good is not a big deal, but you have to have real preamp(s). The cheapest way for that is with a second-hand mixer/ console. Recently I sold a Yamaha PM-1200 32x4 mixer (big thing 4' long, 100 lbs + a separate power supply), I cleaned it up, did a real nice job and then I sold it for $300. It really had good sounding mic pre's in it. The EQ was pretty useless AFAIC, but the pre's, very useful. They were phat. They were hot. I plugged a condenser mic in, and some headphones, and it was like you could hear the corners of the room. It was alive. It was also probably a $12-14,000. mixer when new. And it was damn pretty when I sold it. It was damn pretty because I cleaned it up. I took it in out of respect because I knew only I would set it up for its next voyage.

You also need good soldering equipment to be able to make up your own wire. This is basic to anyone who wants to "record." When you reformat your gear you do not buy cables, you make them. Get a Weller WP25.

Soldering iron, mic pre, mics. Hopefully you can find some talent worth recording. Now go have yourself a fucked up day. CU L'8ter.