AKG Review: C1000s

History: 12 years playing guitar, 8 years teaching, 6 years of live sound engineering, 6 years professional recording.

Purchase: I picked up two of these units for $350 CAD [actual retail price of these here in Canada: $275 each]. I picked them up cause I was fed up of owning a great acoustic guitar and not being able to capture the awesome tone.

What I Like About This AKG C1000s: The natural sound of this condensor mic is it's best feature. Not hyped, not weak, not bassy... what you hear is what you get. The price tag is worth it. A bonus are the presence boost adapter and the hypercardiod adapter. The mic comes in a beautiful silver [aluminum?] case, and includes a mic clip, a windscreen, and the above mentioned adapters. Another notable feature is the ability to run off of a 9 volt battery or phantom power.

What I Do NOT Like About The AKG C1000s: Not alot of gain, I have to really get my mic pres running hot to get a good signal. Which is good, unless you a] want a really clean signal or b] have a cheap/crappy pre. Also the adapters for the presence boost and hypercardiod pattern change are dangerous-feeling to apply and remove, due to the capsule being so small and fragile.

AKG C1000s Quality Rating: The construction of the unit is awesome. A large metal cylinder, heavy-guage wire mesh covering the capsule, perfect printing on the mic itself, it is a beautiful unit. The only thing I don't like is how bad it feels using the included attachments.

Review Summary: No other small diahpragm mic in this price range is a better choice for drum overheads, acoustic guitars, and other acoustic instruments where the clarity of a condenser is required.

Rating of this AKG product: 5

This AKG C1000s Microphones Review Submitted By: Andrew

Review Date: 2005-12-21