Alesis AM-11 (1999)
A large-diaphragm condenser with a "Class-A FET" badge, and the sound to match.
Overview
The AM-11 is not a synthesizer, despite what the filing cabinet might suggest. It's a side-addressed, fixed-cardioid large-diaphragm condenser microphone. It was one of three models in the GT Electronics AM Series that Alesis brought to market in the fall of 1999. The AM30 and AM40 were the slim front-address siblings aimed at instruments and guitar amps. The AM-11 was the vocal mic of the trio, and at $399 it sat at the bottom of the AM Series price ladder, well under the AM30 and the $799 tube-driven AM40. EQ (September 1999, p.50) described the launch as a collaborative effort between Alesis and long-time vacuum tube manufacturer Aspen Pittman. The AM Series was Alesis's push into microphones, alongside its existing lines in digital multitracks, mixers, amplifiers and monitors.
The AM-11's electronics are built around Class-A FET topology rather than a valve. The idea was to get as close to a valve signature as solid-state allows while keeping the ruggedness and modest power requirements of a FET design. Studio Sound (October 2000, p.?) put one through a session with a male pop vocalist and reported an immediate warmth in the low midrange that it likened to classic FET microphones. The capsule is a 1-inch, 6-micron gold-evaporated Mylar diaphragm on a brass backplate, and the quoted frequency response is 20 Hz to 18 kHz at ±1.5 dB. That 6-micron diaphragm and the absence of any high-frequency extension trickery mean the top end rolls off slightly. Studio Sound found it ever so slightly closed in, but never strained or unmusical.
Two switches sit on the body: a high-pass filter and a pad. The rolloff is a 12 dB/octave high-pass fixed at 80 Hz, and the pad is a -10 dB attenuator. GT's literature made a point of the "active pad" design, claiming it reduces preamplifier gain without lifting the noise floor or adding distortion. Maximum SPL is rated at 140 dB, which is high enough that the pad is more about taming hot preamps than protecting the capsule. The mic ships in a hard case with a stand mount.
Owners think of the AM-11 as a character mic, not a neutral one. Studio Sound noted that proximity effect can turn some voices from warmth into gravel and finally into mush if you get too close, and that the mic seemed to suit some voices better than others. It's also a large-diaphragm side-address design, so it wants a proper stand and a bit of distance. Collectors and engineers who've kept theirs tend to reach for it on sources that benefit from that low-mid weight. It's not the mic for a string quartet.
The AM Series shipped as a seven-model line by the time the catalog pages were printed - AM11, AM30, AM40, AM51, AM52, AM61 and AM62 - with the AM-11 as the entry point. Production years beyond the 1999 launch are not documented in the available material, so treat any specific end date with suspicion. Original list was $399; street prices and current used values are not documented here.
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