AKG C 414comb
The square-grille original that started a condenser dynasty.
Overview
"Comb" refers to the perforated comb-style grille on the earliest C 414s. It sits in a squared-off headbasket, unlike the rounded capsules that came later. Collectors look for that grille first. It is why the model reads as its own object and not just an early serial number in a long production run.
The dating has a real discrepancy. Mix (September 2004, p.130), covering the then-new C 414B-XLS, dates the "original C 414 Comb's birth" to 1971. It describes the model as a studio standard that AKG subsequently upgraded, optimized, and refined as better electronic components and advanced manufacturing techniques became available. The available fact sheet carries no production years for the comb itself. So 1971 is the period source's claim, not a confirmed start date. Treat it as the best anchor available.
What the Manuals Actually Say
Reception and the Long Upgrade Path
The most useful period assessment is also from Mix (September 2004, p.130). It framed the C 414's whole history as continuous refinement. Since the comb's 1971 origin, AKG upgraded, optimized, and improved the studio standard's specs and feature set whenever better components and manufacturing techniques allowed.
EQ (August 2004, p.73) adds a technical detail on how the family was voiced by the XLS generation. There is a roughly 2 dB rise in the mids and highs beginning around 2 kHz, with an additional 2 dB peak between 5,000 and 6,000 Hz. The same piece notes that all switching - filter, pad, and polar pattern - was handled on the body. Switch indicator LEDs helped users keep the mic on-axis during distance miking. It also dates the previous major change to the model line at 1993, and calls the XLS the first revision since then. None of that is a comb measurement.
Both the Mix and EQ pieces confirm that the C 414 family could be bought in matched stereo pairs — a practice that goes back to the platform's professional-studio roots and remains one of the reasons pairs of early C 414s command attention today.
Owning One
The archive's authoritative material for this model is lineage documentation, not a service manual. Anyone buying should check capsule condition, grille integrity, and originality of the comb-style headbasket directly. The published record here gives no parts list, no frequency response curve and no sensitivity figure to check against.
What can be said with confidence is that AKG itself treats the C 414comb as the reference point for everything that followed. For a microphone built at the start of a fifty-year platform, that is a more meaningful endorsement than a spec table.
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