Does Anybody Like the ADK A 51?

crawdad

crawdad

Dammit, Jim, Shut Up!
I'm curious if anybody owns one or uses them. I've read some of the hype. Did a search, but didn't really come up with much to specifically answer the question. if you have one, how would you compare it to other LD condensers in its price range? My intended application is for male voice. Thanks for any insight you might be able to pass on!
 
I have one adk 51ST (three patterns: cardioid, omni, fig8).

If you want to hear how the mic sounds I have two songs up where I used the adk to record the vocals (in fig 8 pattern) at:
http://figuresfromhere.iuma.com
the two songs at the top are the ones that used the adk mic...the other ones were recorded with an akg c3000 that I traded with my dad to get the adk (which btw is much much much more nicer and versatile/useable than the akg).

I hope this helps you!
:D

/Jonas Hagberth
 
I've got a pair of the A-51's...

...and I like them a lot. Mine are the Type III's, sequentially numbered. I use them a LOT on male vocals-they're a lot more neutral than my C1. Great mics for the money, and OUTSTANDING customer service. The elastic bands on my shockmounts were getting pretty limp, and I broke the tension screw on one of my shockmounts. I e-mailed ADK, an within the hour, got an e-mail back from Larry Villella, the president of ADK. The replaceement parts were sent free of charge the next day, and I had them 4 days later.

Larry seems to be a great guy. We exchanged several e-mails, and he was very honest and straightforward.

I expected a form letter and got the big cheese.

Get the A-51. For the price, it's a great piece of equipment.

I'll try to get some samples up in the next few days-I've got some good stuff with acoustic guitar and male vocals.
 
Thanks so much guys!

Jonkan--I listened to both tunes on your site. Thats some real interesting material. By any chance, was the ADK used on any of the drums? I liked what I heard on the voice, but I wanted to turn up the track a bit more just to really solo that voice! Good band. Those drums were especially grand sounding!

H2oskiphil--So you have the type III's I see. I think the newest version is a composite of those and one other version. I'd love to hear a sample or two, but don't want to put you out on this thing. One thing I will say is that I am looking for something that sounds full but without a lot of hyped hi mids. My voice is prone to sibilance and an overly bright mic can sometimes drive me crazy. Imagine trying to learn how to sing s sounds in a totally new way! even using a de-esser!
 
yeah, the adk was used on the kick too actually---..the oh mics were:
drumroll.........
mxl 603s. :)
Most of that drumsound comes from the mxl mics and the psp mixpressor, which I used quite much on those tracks. I found that careful positioning of the oh mics coupled with some "heavy" compressing of the oh mics gave me the sound I was looking for. The funny thing about those drums are that they sounded pretty much like crap in real life (very old skins on everything except the snaredrum). Me playing the drums definately helped aswell. *grin* :D

All things considered Im very happy with this little adk mic, its one helluva mic considering what i payed for it (200$ apr) and even without considering the price tag, I would say its a very good and definately usable mic. It actually compares very nicely to the more expensive "classic" alternatives ive heard so far. And the multiple patterns dont make things worse either. If possible I would like to compare it more extensively to other cheap alternatives, like the Studio Project mics. But right now I dont have any money at all (Ive been two months in africa), so a direct comparison will have to wait.
 
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