AKG Perception 200

This is AKG's budget condenser. It comes with a shock mount, a low cut switch, and a DB decrease switch. AKG recommends it be used for vocals, guitars, and an in general instrument microphone. It's supposed to be quite versatile for studio and even live use.

OVERALL OPINION

I've owned this mic for years. It was one of my first condensers and I choose it for the value. I have used it in many situations so I will comment on each use individually.

Vocals - The 200 is a very honest mic. If you are not a good singer, it will butcher your vocals. The 200 is almost accurate to a fault. Every little breath and tick comes through over the recording. I found it does better with vocals in a full mix than a 1 or 2 instrument recording. It seems to like female vocals better for some reason. If you want a transparent vocal mic that you can go back and edit to taste in your recording environment, this is a good mic. It doesn't have any "magic vocal sauce" though. At this price you aren't getting anything amazing.

Acoustic guitar - It's okay. Not great. You are better off with an SM81 or something of that style. If you are really gifted at mixing, it's doable, but I could never get a good strum sound with this mic.

Bass drum - Amazing. Put it in the sound hole, turn the DB cut on, and listen. Awesome kick sound. I've used it live too and it works great. In fact I swear by it for kick. My drummer wears in ear monitors to hear his kit and he loves how his kick sounds with this. Won't use anything else.

Piano - If the piano is good, then I give it an A. With some pianos it's a dud. Just depends. There are better mics for this application but in a quick and dirty live environment it will do the job.

I've abused this mic over the years and it keep on kicking. I think I would buy another if only for the kick drum use. I'm not a big fan of it on anything else. For certain voices it's great. Not so much on mine. For guitar and piano it's just so so.

The AKG Perception 200 is a discontinued model of a large diaphragm condenser microphone designed for use the recording studio rather than for live shows.<span> </span>The Perception 200 has a standard cardioid polar pick up pattern form.<span> </span>It also does have a good amount of features for a cheaper microphone, as it has both a bass roll off switch and a -10 db pad.

OVERALL OPINION

I’ve only used the AKG Perception 200 a small amount of times in the last year and a small home studio, but feel that I’ve gotten a pretty good gauge of what the mic is capable of and what it isn’t.<span> </span>I’ve used the mic for a few different purposes, including for recording vocals, and as a room mic for electric guitar.<span> </span>I didn’t put it too far away from the guitar amp, just about three feet to get a bit of wetter signal.<span> </span>I definitely liked it better for the latter application, as I felt that although the mic comes in pretty clearly, it lacked the depth that I would want in a solid vocal microphone.<span> </span>Having said this, the mic will get the job done in a small studio setting, it just isn’t up to par with many other microphones out there for this application, and based on the priced I really wasn’t expecting it to be, and you shouldn’t either.<span> </span>If you take the AKG Perception 200 at face value as a budget condenser microphone, it will definitely take you long way.<span> </span>AKG knows what they are doing when it comes to microphones, as they’ve done it for years and years.<span> </span>If you’re looking to assemble a small home studio or want to add to the collection in a cheap way, definitely see if you can scope out a used AKG Perception 200, as there should be plenty of them out there.

It's your standard large diaphragm condenser with bass roll-off and a db pad. It comes with a shock mount and a hard case, which is cool.

OVERALL OPINION

I really would like an AKG 414 or something along those lines, but I'm not rich. The dude at the music store told me to try this for recording my vocals (I had been using a plain old SM58) and it made a huge difference. I'd still like a 414, but instead of saving up for one I decided to buy two more of these, to use for drum overheads (where they also excel). The one thing I've been a little disappointed in is their performance recording acoustic guitar, but that may be my fault, as I don't really know how to mic acoustic guitar properly and my guitar itself is pretty bad.

The AKG perception 200 (name was changed to 220, so look that up instead if you are researching this mic) is the middle of the road large diaphragm condenser mic in AKG's budget or home studio line of microphones. The mic is extremely cheap for the sound quality. I won't say that this mic sounds great, because quite frankly it doesn't, but it's a big improvement over the cheaper AKG 120. This mic has a larger capsule size, which I think helps contribute to the sound of this mic seeming to be a little fuller and warmer. It still can tend to sound a little tinny or harsh, such as when you are recording a female vocalist, but overall it's not too bad. The mic is pretty versatile, and will do an okay job capturing most sources. The transients on this mic are surprisingly good and realistic sounding, I would say even better than the Perception 170 which has a smaller diaphragm. This mic also has more features which increase its value. It comes with a nice aluminum carrying case to protect it, and it also comes with a spider style shock mount. Also helping to eliminate bass rumble is the switchable high pass filter that you get with this. The filter is generally a plus, however I really feel that it starts cutting lows at too high of a frequency, so that unless whatever you're recording is really and truly bassy and boomy, your signal will just end up sounding flat and empty with no body. You can't change the cardioid pattern on this mic, so you don't get the added value that a switchable pattern mic can bring to your studio.

OVERALL OPINION

My friend has this mic and I have borrowed on numerous occasions when I was doing mic shootouts on a few instruments. At less than $200 the mic is a pretty good starting point for the home studio that wants to invest beyond an SM58 in their microphone selection. You will definitely want to get a pop filter with this mic, because for some reason it seems overly sensitive to plosives when you are close miking a vocalist. The price is low and the quality is a little better than average, so this mic is a pretty good value. At this price point this is definitely one of the better condenser mics out there. AKG is a reliable company too, so these mics are definitely built to last.