In my VERY limited experience with the AT4060 (which I own and am evaluating right now), I'd say no, the effect is not pronounced. The sound is large, warm and detailed. It sounds... well... expensive.
Since I'm a newbie, I was surprised to learn that the tube is in the body of the mic (duh); I had thought for some reason that it was in the power supply. The mic itself gets quite warm after being on for an hour.
In listening to the mic comparison CD from 3DAudioinc.com, all the Audio Technica mics they recorded have a similar quality that I like very much, and the differences among them seem to reflect their price (that is, I would rate them in the order of 4060, 4050, 4047 and 4033). Only the 4060 is a tube mic.
From the list of mics I liked most out the 49 on the disc (selected during repeated blind listening tests), I crossed out those that were too esoteric or expensive for me to consider. What remained were mostly not tube mics, but then the CD was released before the latest offerings from Rode, Studio Projects and others were available.
The presence or absence of tube electronics didn't seem to be a deciding factor in what made a mic sound good. For instance, to my ears the Neumann M147 and M149 were among the worst-sounding mics on the disc, which surprised me a lot, since I was predisposed to think they would be among my favorites. Price was definitely a factor, however, and the mics I finally short-listed are all mics you would recognize (including
the Shure KSM44, AKG C414B-ULS,
Earthworks QTC-1,
BLUE Mouse, the four Audio Technicas mentioned above, and the Neumann 87ai, which is actually out of my price range but still made the list). And yet we've all read instances where various recordists have really NOT liked these mics under certain circumstances.
There were other mics that sounded great, but aren't necessarily things that I can either afford to try or could find locally, including
the Coles 4038, an awesome
DPA 3541, and offerings from Manley and Soundelux, among others. All the vintage mics are thousands of dollars over my budget.
So if part of your question is, do you need to buy a tube mic to get the best possible sound, I'd say the answer is no.
The only two reasonably affordable tube mics on the sample disc that I really liked were
the Audio Technica AT4060 and the GT
AM62. I didn't find a lot of companies carrying the latter, but it sounded great on this disc.
The biggest surprise of the disc was how well the $80 Shure SM57 sounds in the company of these heavy hitters. It doesn't have the delicacy, fullness and emotional immediacy of many of the others, but overall it sounded better than some mics that cost 20 times as much, and it was always musical.
I'll be interested to read what more experienced recordists have to say in response to your question.
With kind regards,
Mark H.
