[bilco]

Well, I have had some experience with them and it has been a little more positive.

I was in charge of the sound at a church we attended for over 10 years and had lots of dealings with wireless mics by Shure and Audio Technica. I love Shure mics in general, but that wireless mic was a constant source of frustration, picking up communications of planes flying nearby, static, chirping and it was just fragile. That is really odd, because every wired mic made by Shure that I own or have used is built like a tank and very reliable.

The AT wireless mic was sturdier in construction, much less prone to interference and just more reliable for the 3 services per week, every week, that it got used. My only beef with it is that it ate batteries up really fast. If I put a brand new 9 volt in it for the Sunday AM service, it would probably make it through the Sunday PM service, but the Wednesday night service was really iffy. I always took the battery out immediately after each service too. Other than that, the AT wireless was a much better mic than the Shure.

I had one of the earlier battery powered condensor instrument mics back in the '80s and it was a little harsh, but very reliable and sturdy.

I had one of their Midnight Blue battery condensor vocal mics a few years ago and it cut through the mix in a club really well. I ended up giving it to our guitar player and he uses it every Tuesday and Friday night. It works fine, especially on his voice which needs a little bump in the highs to cut through the mix.

Recently I rented an AT 4033 to try as a vocal mic and I liked it better than most of the other LDCs that I have tried. It was kind of plain vanilla sounding, but it seemed to be built well and a LOT of country and bluegrass groups use it live.

I have had the AT 4047 recommended as a smooth, less zingy version of their 40XX series that I want to try.

AT mics have the buzz of being semi-pro among some of pro engineers on the forums, but hey, I am a semi-pro at best, so what the heck.

I think you are not giving them a fair shake by judging the whole line based on the few cheap ones you have tried. Their quality control is better than many of the cheap chinese alternatives and they are highly recommended on many of the audio forums by Project Studio engineers that are way more experienced and talented than I am.

I look at the AT line and I look at the Shure line and I am not convinced that they are ripping off Shure's designs. The fact the mics you were given are a battery powered omni condensor suggests to me that they are not one of their top of line models and that they are small diaphram condensors, which are generally pretty good for instruments, but not very flattering for vocals.

Stephen at Mojo Pie and otek at The Womb both like the AT 40XX series as good, reliable workhorse mics.

I don't have anything invested in defending AT, I just think if you search around, you will find that the big boys don't use them, but plenty of Project Studio and Home Studio users do use them and think highly of them.

On the other hand, I completely agree with your comment about the SM57 being a reliable and versatile tool. I can not say enough good things about the SM57, SM7b and SM81.

bilco