Ill go into a little more depth on what im using
my AT4050 on.
Basically what ive found is the AT4050 works on things very similiar to the AKG C414. The difference is i feel the AT4050 is a little more open sounding. It has a little more of the whooly airy sound to me. Not too much to make it extremely colored, but just comparitively. I consider the AKG C414 tight and punchy which is why i like to use them as drum overheads for rock type music. But for Jazz, country, a little more acoustic feel type of music i like the AT4050s a little better for drum overheads. Kind of opens up the sound.
At the moment ive got one of mine set up as a bottom snare mic with the AKG C414s and set overhead. I probably would have had it just the opposite for what i was doing and having the AT4050s as overheads and a C414 as underside snare mic but this is the one thing that i have found conflicting with the AT4050s. They do not work with Old School Audio Preamps. I have no idea why. The L models and the C models dont work at all with the mic. And the A's work but are very inconsistent. The Old School Audio Preamps work for everything else just fine, but the AT4050 does not match. Why? I have no clue. So i originally set the AT4050s as overheads but had to switch in the heat of the moment to get the session up and going.
It would have worked a little better to use as underside snare mic if it had a hypercardiod pickup. Xstatic showed the C414 underside in hypercardiod technique with the session he was up for. It worked awesome. Keeping the kick drum isolated can be a pain.
Next is for acoustic guitar. I havnt used it much as a main mic for acoustic guitar but im sure it would do well. Normally the times ive tried it is a close small condenser with the AT4050 over the shoulder to pick up the warmth. But i have used the AT4033 numerous of time on main acoustic gtr mic with great results. Can be a little tubby and boomy with that mic if you get it to close, but about a foot to a two feet away from the neck usually works well. And the AT4050 should be a much smoother mic than the 4033 for this application.
Ive also heard some horns done by the 4050 that Xstatic did a while ago and they were great. Funny im a trombone player myself and i havnt even tried it for that yet.
So basically, it is very versatile in general. Even as a secondary gtr amp mic works great with a 4050, ive seen that plenty of times. But thats really where it shines is its versatility. Its not one of those "this is the best mic ive ever heard on acoustic guitar" kind of microphones. Its the "i can slap this mic on anything and get good workable results" kind of mic. So perfect to have in any mans mic collection.
