This is a very nice mic, true to the AKG reputation, especially for the price. While nothing extremely special, the mic does very very well on acoustic guitar (especially in stereo), drum OH's, etc. It functions great as a catch-all LDC. Vocals through it are very passable. I find it reassuring there's a molded "Made in Austria" on the bottom of the case; they very much sound like it. A quality AKG product, especially for the money paid.

I actually bought this microphone because it came in a package deal with some closed back headphones, which I needed for tracking. I figured if the mic sucked at least I'd have a pair of headphones. Much to my surprise, the microphone is really decent. I've used it on just about everything, and it's done an admirable job of capturing all of it well. Percussion, wind instruments, electric gtr cabs, acoustic gtr, vox, even ambient sounds. This unit also has a relatively low noise floor. It exhibits less noise than my preamps when cranked.
This microphone is also solid, and built very stoutly. a good thing for working in tight spaces like I have to often. The included mount isn't perfect, but it gets the job done. If you make sure to secure the mic solidly in the mount it will not slip out.
Also the -10dB and the bass roll off switches are a big plus. I find I use them often, when otherwise I might just have to fiddle with better mic placement for certain situations. Perhaps that makes me a lazier engineer, but it works!

I've been using this mic for 10 years now, and it's never ever had any problems at all, and only not worked on a few things, none of which I can recall right now. It has good sensitivity, good off axis response, and is to me very transparent for the couple hundred bucks I think I spent on it.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that this mic will be sticking around while I upgrade my more expensive mics in my locker for something better.
If you need a good all arounder, this might be it. Incredible for the money, really. Even if it broke right now, the cost of ownership would break down to less than 30 dollars a year.

Honestly, this sounds as good as some other mics I have that set me back 4 figures. AKG did well with this one.


I should add that I barely use the headphones I was initially enticed by to purchase this thing. Go figure.

This mic kills on djembes and dumbeks. Also surprisingly good on classical guitar. Also can be amazing on some male voices (not mine). Sounds somewhere between most condensers and dynamics like an sm7b