Apex Electronics 460

Muso on and off for 20 about years and buy,sell and accumulate some gear too.
Have recorded a bit, usually in front of the mic, not behind the desk.. leave the tweeking to those passionate about it.

Took this valve mic around to a mates studio where he had AKG c414 , some expensive Neumann (on loan) and some other mics. side by sided the top end mics with this one, then went intoo the cbbooth with him to listen back. It really held it's own with the others. They were woth a small fortune. He looked at soem sort of frequency chart/ graph things a/b ed the mics a lot and was very impressed, couldn't believe the price I paid, It was around about $200 US.

Apex 460 Wide Diaphragm multi-pattern tube condenser microphone $175.00 New on E-Bay.
What can you say about a mics whose appearance would startle most pop-divas?
At about 10??? long and shinny as a new nickel, this through-back to the 1960???s came packed in a modern and ready to go anywhere polypropylene injection molded foam lined case along with a PSU, 50ft. cable and a foam pop-filter.

Hooking it all up and getting the formable sized mic on a stand with its elastic suspension shock-mount took only minutes and comparing against an Audio Technica AT-4033 and an AKG 451-CK-1 using my speaking voice showed the APEX460 to have a bit more mid-band presence with an extended upper end air. At first, I thought I???d have a problem with the APEX not having a low-filter or pad but not at all. The mic got ballsy loud without any feedback when set in the cardioid pattern and climbing right on top of it didn???t cause any added proximity-effect, popping plosive or sibilance. It was very well behaved for a large diaphragm voice over mic and the windscreen wasn???t needed for any speech or singing that I put the mic through. It more than held it own in my first round of testing.

I???ve used many vintage-Euro AKG???s Neumanns and Sennheiser, and my share of Beyer Dynamics and I???ve read of many modifications that can be done to the NADY and APEX mics by using hand-select Peluso caps and better transformers. I???m sure upgrading the tube-(when it burns-out) doesn???t seem like a bad $35 investment either.

I???ve read on the Internet audio forums of improper circuitry designs, nosey tubes, and poor quality control in these cheap AKG-251 Telefunken U-47 clones but for being a well under $500 mic I???ll have to give the APEX 460 two big thumbs up.
It???s build well-enough and it sounds like a step-up from the entry level Shure Bros, AT, Electro-Voice and CAD/Astatic garden varieties as well as most of the U-87 FET copies that I???ve run across.

Now, how can I convince my wife that I need yet one more Ribbon and two more pencil mics???maybe dinner at Ruth Chris!

been playing for 50 years. recorded when i was a young boy and finally as an aging ,hard of hearing guy finally getting a chance to record again....just started again 2 years ago. have a korg 16 xd all in one recorder and send that mix to the alises masterlinks through the mackie hr824's and their matching 12" sub.

the 460 is a tube mike with different patters( the usual). used on over heads, vocals, acustic guitars, room miking.... a local top notch recording studio in the area was using them and they came in pairs in a case for 500 so why not. for the money get them.....