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The Neumann U87 was the microphone you had to have a few years ago or you really weren't a proper recording studio and while they don’t have that stranglehold any more they are still a very good quality vocal mic indeed. The fact that they were adopted by the BBC gave them some great exposure and they appeared in some of the iconic photos of the 60s and 70s in front of the big pop stars of the day.
Fairview has three U87s, all the same model except one has the captive lead. They are really good microphones obviously but ironically they aren’t the quietest mics around and if you are doing something that’s very dynamic if you aren't careful they can introduce noise in the quiet passages. When I discovered this I was quite shocked though really it's not a problem as long as you have a decent mic pre with plenty of gain available. The great asset of the mic is that you can use it across a wide range of things and it's one of the most faithful mics we have in the studio. I've used it on everything from trombones to singing bowls and you pretty well get back what's going on out there. It's always my first call for a vocal mic as they usually sound pretty good straight away and they hold their integrity throughout the session by which I mean that even as other tracks get laid the sound seems to hold its own. If put up a U87 for the vocalist and I don’t like the sound of it or there is a problem, that’s really unusual and I guess that it might make me a bit lazy as I tend not to be as adventurous as I could be with vocal mics. With the U87 you know what you are going to get. It's pretty flat really and if you've heard the singer in the room and you put the mic in the right place it's a foregone conclusion that you will get a decent vocal take. The things it doesn’t really do very well are distorted guitars as they can sound a bit peaky and though I use them as drum overheads up high they aren't as focussed as the KM 84s.
I know that they are about £1500 to buy new but you can still pick them up on EBay and the likes for well under a grand and if you want to own one classic quality vocal mic then you really should look at them" JS .

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