AKG P170 Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphone

Product Reviews

I like the AKG P170 I got from Vintage King. Of all the project studio condenser mics I have, this is by far the best. I have several small and medium diaphragm cardioid condensers and this is the one true condenser mic I have. And the only one whose sound I like at all. The others at similar price points are something that has a permanently polarized condenser and seem more brittle to me and are cold and more bright than I like. These AKG P170s are more neutral and are very sensitive and not as noisy using the same interface and pre-amp. I build classical, flamenco and steel string guitars and I wanted mics to record sound samples and songs on for sharing on social media. I am learning about both single mic and stereo recording techniques. This AKG P170 is well suited for classical and flamenco guitars, I haven't made up my mind about it for steel string guitars, though. I'd like to get a ribbon mic or two and some other more expensive condensers to try. Vintage King was a great source for this mic, I got it quickly and perfectly packaged - they treated me like the king. I bought this mic based on the article linked below in Classical Guitar Magazine "Recording Classical Guitar: Sage Advice from Engineers John Taylor, Norbert Kraft, and Ricardo Marui" by Blair Jackson from the from the Summer 2018 issue of classical guitar.
https://classicalguitarmagazine.com/recording-classical-guitar-sage-advice-from-engineers-john-taylor-norbert-kraft-and-ricardo-marui/

By LarryA on September 28, 2020

I like the AKG P170, I certainly like it the best of all the inexpensive small and medium diaphragm cardioid condenser mics that I have. it is a true condenser mic (which most at this price point are not but are something like an electret condenser or permanently polarized something) and has the best sound over the other "project studio" condenser mics I have. It doesn't nearly have the brittle and noisy sound that the competing (price wise/market wise) small diaphragm mic I have does. It still sounds quite bright to me and I want to get some >$500 dollar small diaphragm mics when I can, as well as some some ribbon mics because I like the warm sound I hear better on recordings made with those but I also want to get different pre-amps than my interfaces have. I'll probably upgrade my interfaces as well when I do this. I wish that that AKG had a similar model to the P170 with an omnidirectional pattern, so I could experiment with A/B more not just x/y and ORTF. I build classical, flamenco and steel string guitars in my home workshop and I bought these to record them based on the article in "Classical Guitar" magazine that I linked below, since I had no experience with condenser mics or recording, only with live performance. I'm glad I bought the AKG P170s. My flamenco guitar building maestro in Spain, who also records albums and performs and builds guitars and uses social media frequently and he likes the AKG P170 as well. The mic is definitely well suited to flamenco and classical guitar but I want to get some warmer sounding mics and I want to be able to experiment with M/S and Blumlein so I need a figure 8 mic pattern too. I think this is a great mic to learn with, since you can experiment with placement and you can afford a stereo pair. It sounds quite good and is a true condenser in comparison to price and market competitors. I think it is a good buy (at the same price as an SM57) and one can certainly afford to learn about condenser mics that way.

https://classicalguitarmagazine.com/recording-classical-guitar-sage-advice-from-engineers-john-taylor-norbert-kraft-and-ricardo-marui/

By Larry A on September 28, 2020

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