AKG D-1200
A dynamic mic with a pattern selector and a reputation for snare drums. The D-1200 is the working musician's AKG that most reference books forgot.
Overview
The D-1200 is an AKG dynamic microphone that lived a busy working life without ever becoming a collector's trophy. A Studio-Sound (May 1983, p.21) AKG price sheet grouped it with the D12, D190, D310, D320, D330 and D202. The clearest description comes from a period AKG range listing, which pitched the D-1200 as an "improved D1000 with extended frequency response and pattern selector." So it is a refined version of an earlier AKG dynamic, and its distinguishing feature is a switchable polar pattern.
The pattern selector is the detail that keeps surfacing. A contemporary report on AKG's PA and microphone lineup noted that the selector switch used in the current D1200 series was also carried over into a newer model, which offered a flat response and extra bass response. That means AKG thought enough of the switch to reuse it elsewhere in the range. On a dynamic microphone aimed at stage and studio work, a pattern selector is unusual and useful.
Working players show best what the D-1200 was used for. That's an endorsement from a touring act rather than a spec-sheet claim, and it lines up with the "pattern selector" description: this was a mic you could shape for a specific source.
A separate letter column from the same publication recommended a D1200 for snare drum as part of a sample AKG drum-miking package, alongside a D12 on bass drum, D224s on cymbals and D2000s overhead. Taken together, the D-1200 shows up as a utility dynamic that players reached for on guitar cabinets and snare.
Documentation on the D-1200 is thin. The published AKG range listing gave its price as "N/A," and there is no confirmed production span or specification set in the available material. What survives is the range description, the pattern-selector detail, and the contemporary accounts of how musicians used it.
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