Bill Stunt Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 There is an informative article in the March issue of Recording Magazine that charts the family history of the classic microphones from the AKG C series. Lots of good information and great pictures. Of particular interest to me was the rundown of the various versions of the C 414. It's a great read. Got me thinking about a somewhat enigmatic pair of AKG mics in my collection. A few years ago I saw and ad in a local buy and sell website for an AKG C 5600, a mic I had never heard of. Intrigued, I got in touch with the owner who turned out to be an accomplished and successful songwriter who was winding down his demo studio and met with him to look at the mic. Actually mics as it turned out...he had 4 of them all in near mint condition. I did some research but found precious little information or user experience online. Seems like a bit of a ghost microphone. These were the only substantial mentions I could find. https://www.vintagemicworld.com/html/Mic of the month January 2017_AKG_C5600.html http://www.coutant.org/akgc5600/ Turns out they were designed to be road-worthy versions of the 414, albeit a 414 with only a single cardioid pickup pattern. I cherry picked the two I thought looked and performed the best and negotiated a very reasonable price. They aren't the quietest mics but they have very low sensitivity, very high max SPL and 2 HPF settings which is useful when setup on the grill of a amp cab. That's where I mostly use them but they are also great on drums. I like them on the toms. I haven't tried them on horns yet but I suspect they'll be great. I'm curious to hear from anyone who has come across this mic. I'd love to hear your experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Never encountered this one. I had a couple of slightly off the beaten path AKG mics, a pair of D224e - a dual capsule dynamic mic with the treble capsule in the usual place and the bass capsule back in the body of the mic. Mono output only and while they sounded good they didn't sound so good that I had to keep them Somebody else's fun now. Will be interesting to follow this thread! Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Stunt Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 I used AKG 202 dual capsule dynamic mics quite a lot when I worked in broadcast. Very tight card pickup which was really helpful in a lot of situations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Vnuk Jr. Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 Bill, Have you ever compared these to an actual C414? Quote Editor - RECORDING Magazine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Stunt Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 I have. The 5600 shares sonic DNA with a 414 but its not a dead ringer. It's not a overly bright mic. It has the nylon ring capsule. To my ears it's closet relative in the 414 range sound wise is later run versions of 414 EB. It's a quality microphone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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