AKG Siemens SM204/23 C12 Tube Microphone 1950s

Here is a holy grail of incredible sounding and rare tube microphones.

These quotes sum it up well--

"A Siemens SM204 is basically a C12 with a beefier transformer and a different cathode biasing scheme, and needless to say, it's bit of a dream."

"It's rich in all the right ways and incredibly three dimensional, it also seems to have more headroom and softer peaks than other C12's I've worked with. It actually sounds more like an elam 251 than a C12 to my ear”

This mic has been one of my treasures for many years, tackling any vocal with an ease and beauty seldom witnessed by even a 35 year studio engineer such as myself. She drops jaws with tone.

The mic features the Rohde & Schwartz V2545 transformer, the original shallow dish k12 capsule, original N12/23 Power Supply and all original connectors grace newer mic cable (Redco TGS-M7).

I had this mic internally set to cardioid long ago. If you want, for an extra $800 I have a pattern selector with cable but you'd have to have a tech switch the mic back to bias to the pattern selector. I prefer cardioid and way less hassle and hookups, and I personally wouldn't change anything about the way this mic sounds.

I think it's closer to C12 than 251 but the larger transformer balances the top and bottom in a 3D way. A more 3D, better balanced C12. Words don't do well in this level of detail.