AKG 451-E
A phantom-powered small-diaphragm condenser that ate 2.8 milliamps and earned its keep on tympani, drum overheads, and off-stage chorus pickups.
Overview
The AKG 451-E is a phantom-powered condenser microphone. The most concrete thing the period record establishes about it is electrical: it draws 2.8 mA. That number shows up in the letters column of a 1971 recording magazine, where AKG's own A. Brakhan, manager of AKG Products at North American Philips, walked readers through a circuit for running the 451-E off a 50-volt supply. The arithmetic is laid out plainly. An effective series resistance of 10 K ohm plus two 6.5 K ohm resistors in parallel totals 13.25 K ohm. For microphones drawing 3 mA, the drop comes to 39.75 V, leaving a 10.25 V operating voltage, which is what the 451-E wants. For mics drawing only 0.4 mA, the drop is 5.3 V, leaving 44.7 V. That's enough to run F.E.T. condensers that need a nominal 48 V. For anyone patching one into an older console, the 451-E is a light load and tolerates the sag that comes with dropping resistors.
The same correspondence has a more practical note for the working engineer. The 451-E can be phantom powered off any standard 24 V B+ supply found in most consoles, using two 4.7 K ohm dropping resistors, and at that point the current consumption is 2.8 mA. Swap in a pair of 6.8 K ohm resistors and the draw rises to 5.5 mV. That flexibility is why the mic turns up in so many period session credits, often on consoles that predate 48 V phantom as a universal standard.
Physically, the 451-E is a small-diaphragm condenser with a screw-on capsule system, the CK-series heads. The recording press of the early 1970s refers to the mic by its full pairing: "AKG C-451-E/CK-1 cardioid condenser microphones," as Recording-Engineer (April 1972, p.38) described a pair deployed for a large off-stage chorus and vocal booth setup. The CK-1 is the cardioid capsule. The CK-9 is another head that shows up in the classifieds. The body and the capsule are separate purchases, and on the used market they often travel separately, so a buyer needs to check which head is actually included before assuming a cardioid.
In the same 1972 session account, the 451-E handled off-stage chorus pickup, where a pair of them made the job easier than whatever had been tried before. In a later session breakdown, engineer Ed Greene describes a straightforward drum setup, one 451-E above the kit and an EV triple-six on the kick, and separately notes a 451-E on tympani. Tympani and drum overheads both reward a mic with fast transient response and the headroom to sit a few feet off a loud source without choking. Engineers didn't reach for a large-diaphragm condenser for those spots in 1972. They reached for something small, and the 451-E was on the short list.
By the early 2000s, AKG had reissued the design as the C 451 B, and the company's advertising leaned on the original as the benchmark. Mix (March 2002, p.6) ran endorsements from working engineers comparing the new mic to the original. One, Chris Dietze of Clear Sound, said the reissue sounded closer to his C 451 EB + CK 1 microphones than anything else he'd heard. That's a comparison to the EB variant, not the 451-E specifically, but AKG's own marketing used the 451 line as the reference point to sell its successor.
The documented record does not give a production run, an original list price, a frequency response figure, a sensitivity rating, or a self-noise number for the 451-E itself. The 1975 classified in DB-Magazine (October 1975, p.51) lists an "AKG C-451E/CK-9 SYSTEM; never used" at $375 or best offer. That's a used-market asking price, not a manufacturer's list, and it's attached to the CK-9 head rather than the CK-1. It tells you what one seller wanted in 1975, not the mic's original cost. Anyone chasing a 451-E today should verify the capsule separately, because the body and head are interchangeable across the CK line and the head is where much of the value sits.
The mic sits in a family that includes the C 451 EB and the later C 451 B reissue, and the naming is confusing. The 451-E, C-451E, C 451 EB, and C 451 B are not the same microphone, and period sources are not always careful about the distinction. The 451-E is the original phantom-powered body, the EB is a later variant, and the B is the 2001 reissue. Anyone reading old session credits should assume "451" is being used loosely unless the writer specifies the capsule.
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