AKG C 414 B-ULS and C 414 XLS comparison on acoustic guitar

Kalapuikko

Kalapuikko

Kuru
Mar 5, 2008
75
0
6
Finland
I'm recording acoustic guitar for children's program and quickly tested couple of mics. I thought that I'd show the difference of two different models, if someone would be interested. The C 414 XLS is the newer model with digital switches, and the ULS is the older one with slide switches.

Clip:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3603462/414xls 414uls test ac gtr.wav

0:00 ULS, 00:34 XLS, 01:05 ULS ja 01:18 XLS.

As you hear the takes are not the same since I wanted to place the mic exactly at the same position. It's about 20cm from the guitar pointing at the 12th fret slightly angled towards the body.
 
The ULS is much better imo. The XLS sounds like a cheap condenser with that weird high end spike.
 
The difference between "0:00 ULS" and "00:34 XLS" was big and I preferred the ULS because it was more stabile, but the last clips were pretty similar. The difference could aswell be different mic position and a better performance so hard to say if there's a big difference. Based on these clips I'd choose ULS for this instrument.
 
Thanks for doing this. I actually have both mic's and never bothered to do this. I made the dumb assumption of believing they were the same.
Thanks for proving otherwise.
 
Listening now this was surely not very scientific, as it's pretty audible how the playing position has moved between the clips, but it does show the hyped high end of the XLS compared to ULS. After this test I ended up using XLS in a better position for a song that had lots of other stuff going on, so it sat the mix better. After that I did one where the guitar was the main instrument and there the ULS was clear choice.

Thanks for doing this. I actually have both mic's and never bothered to do this. I made the dumb assumption of believing they were the same.
Thanks for proving otherwise.
Click to expand...

You're welcome!
 
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