I produced a song for a friend in a studio here in Sweden a couple of days ago, and the engineer used a AKG C460b on the hihat. I absolutely loved the sound of this mic (on hihat anyway) and I'm thinking about buying one for my own studio. I looked on the AKG website, and I noticed that this mic is no longer in production. It looks like it have been replaced by the C480B. Are there any differences between these two mics, or will I be satisfied with the 480?

Jim Williams mod 460s sound much better than 480s(to me)..I think stock, the 460s are noiser than 480s.

teddy

Ok. So less noice. Anybody else have experience with these mics?

I´ve heard a few recordings from a studio where c480b was the ONLY mic used on all instruments. Drumkit, bass, guitar, vocals. c480b on everything. I have to say that those are among the best sounding recordings I have heard.
The mic seems to be very transparant and neutral.

If you want colour and hype, its not a good choice though.

When the C460 came out (years and years ago), I seem to recall George Peterson's review in MIX saying it was a great hi hat mic. But I don't record hi hats, so I can't confirm this.

What I've found it useful for is:

brass ensembles
female backing vocals
rear surround pickup

The C460 preamp doesn't overload gracefully. Sometimes that's cool, but mostly it isn't. The C480 preamp reputedly fixed that issue, and caused many folks to develop a new appreciation for the CK61 capsule.

Conventional wisdom seems to be:
1) If you have a C460, get Jim Williams to modify the electonics.
2) If you don't, buy a C480 instead.

David L. Rick
Seventh String Recording

I remember using a pair as overheads a few years back. I really liked them. Much better than the re-issue 451s in this area (those are just too damn bright, even the originals as well). They were on loan so I had to give em back regretfully. Always thought about picking up a pair if I saw some available. Great mics.

I've used the c460b a lot and owned one. It's a solid mic that can work in tightly on a hat or sound quite big even for a voice. The capsule is on the large side for a pencil condenser class.

The c480b was a hotter mic though I've never used one. It's the exact same capsule with a different preamp.

It's not the most open sounding mic but if you liked the sound of it I'm sure you'll like the c480b.

They're fairly common on the used market. You could always buy one (or two) and send them to Audio Upgrades for the mods.

I used to have 3, but since my pair of Neumann U64s are back in action, I sold a pair of the AKG's to a fellow gearslut.

I'm not sure if the pair I use is a "b" or "c" but I know that ours have the CK1 capsule from the original 452, and they sound great. I use them on acoustic gtrs all the time, and a lot on drums.

Steve

I have a really clean AKG C460B up for sale if theres any takers.