The KU5A, AEA’s latest addition their range of modern ribbon mics is certainly an unusual beast. First off, it’s an end-adress design that doesn’t require an external pop-shield — vocalists can sing directly into the grille. AEA say this is because the ribbon is the most protected of any in their line-up. Also unusual is its supercardioid polar pattern, as opposed to the usual figure-of-eight that one expects from the genre. Because of its this, it makes it possible to get a ribbon sound on a drums, voice or guitar without as much bleed.
As much at home on the stage as the studio, the KU5A features a one-pole (6dB/oct) high-pass filter that rolls over at 283Hz to tame the low-frequency hump caused by proximity effect. Active electronics additionally mean that the output is hot enough to work with virtually any audio interface, and keeps down self noise. It’s an intriguing offering, to be sure and we can’t wait to try one out. It will be available for an introductory price of $999.
Hear it in action here:
