Audio-Technica AE5100
A large-diaphragm pencil condenser that studios and touring engineers both reached for. It also quietly did snare, hi-hat, and overhead duty on some very loud stages.
Overview
The AE5100 is a large-diaphragm, end-address cardioid pencil condenser. It was part of Audio-Technica's Artist Elite series, a seven-microphone lineup that also included four handheld vocal mics, a side-address cardioid condenser, and a dual-element kick drum mic. Audio-Technica positioned the whole series for live sound professionals and "other discerning users," in the words of product manager Mike Edwards. The AE5100 was the instrument-mic entry that carried a condenser capsule into places condensers don't usually go.
The capsule is a permanently polarized condenser element. Audio-Technica rated it at 20 Hz - 20 kHz with a maximum SPL of 148 dB (1 kHz @ 1% THD). Those two numbers tell most of the story: full-range response on one end, and enough headroom on the other to sit a few inches off a snare drum hit by someone who means it. Like the other condensers in the line, the AE5100 carried an 80 Hz high-pass filter at 12 dB/octave and a 10 dB pad. The pad is the switch you reach for before close-miking anything loud. The filter keeps stage rumble and proximity boom out of the way. According to Pro Audio Review (January 2003, p.14), the AE5100 was priced at $379 when the series was introduced.
The AE5100's form factor is what set it apart. A large-diaphragm condenser in an end-address pencil body is a compromise. You get the diaphragm size and output of a studio condenser without the side-address body that makes placement awkward in tight live situations. Pro Audio Review (January 2003, p.14) described it plainly as "a large-diaphragm, end-address cardioid pencil condenser," and noted that the instrument mics in the Artist Elite line were "all quite different from each other." The AE5100 wasn't a rehoused vocal mic. It was its own design.
On Stage and in the Studio
The AE5100's reputation was built less on the spec sheet than on where engineers put it. Its top end was clean enough to render transient detail on a delicate acoustic instrument, which is not the first thing you'd expect from a mic marketed to live sound.
The mic also turned up in some genuinely loud company. That's a serious signal chain to hang a $379 condenser on, and the people choosing it could have used anything.
That's a different job from close-miking a snare, and it suggests the mic's neutrality held up across a wide range of sources.
Living With One
The AE5100 is a working tool, not a collector's piece. The 10 dB pad and 80 Hz high-pass are the two switches that matter in practice. Engage the pad before you put it near a drum, and engage the filter when proximity effect starts to muddy things up. The 148 dB maximum SPL rating gives real headroom, but the pad is there for a reason.
The end-address pencil form factor makes it easy to place in tight spots, like between cymbals, over a snare, or on a hi-hat stand, where a side-address large-diaphragm body would be in the way. That's the practical advantage the AE5100 has over a studio condenser pressed into live service.
Parts and service are the usual Audio-Technica story. The company has a long track record of supporting its microphones, and the AE5100's capsule and electronics are not exotic.
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