Andrew Jones published this very excellent article, “Getting Connected With Contact Mics” on wavereport.com. It is a terrific introduction to contact mic technology and application, full of great videos and photos. Near the end, he makes some mic recommendations. Here is my favorite section:
“If you’re like me you want to go and make the best piezo transducer microphone on the market, the Cortado MkII Balanced Contact Mic! This thing is cool on so many levels: 1) It’s BALANCED! 2) It’s a soldering kit! Soldering is fun! (though you can also buy it ready-to-use… I guess, whatever) 3) It features its own pre-amp that’s designed to match the impedance of the microphone giving you the best quality sound a piezo can give.”
We agree.