I have no idea what I saw, either. :shock: But a reasonable deduction, there are four settings and four attributes (not sure that's the right term) of sound the mic can 'pick-up'.....now, with that said, it must be one special vintage mic to be worth $900. :::admittingnoknowledgeofsuchthings::: :wink:
Thanks for posting the vid, Jeff.
$900 is cheap for a good vintage mic. The AKG 414 is an excellent all around mic. Nothing really sounds bad through it, although with my pair I have found that they don't sound amazingly stellar with all that many sources. Some of the first versions that had the C12 capsule (which was the basis for some great tube mics before the solid state 414 was released) are said to be magic, but they are difficult to find and very expensive. Usually by now someone has pilfered the C12 or else it's just worn out. But in general, the value of the 414 is their versatility. While I have mics that will sound better on any given source if I spend the time to audition them (and most of them cost more than $900), I know the 414s will sound good, so I can grab them and go, whether for a vocal, a guitar (acoustic or electric), drum overheads, room mics or what have you. I agree with Sal, the AT 4050 is an excellent alternative.
If you want to see high prices on mics, check out the Neumann U47 or U67s. $3000 is a bargain for a functional U47. They were made in the day when a lot of hand work was involved, so while they mostly sound great, some of them are just magically delicious. You can see them above $10k sometimes for a really good one.
The crazy thing is that 35 years ago, when I started getting interested in recording, you could get the old tube mics for a song. U47s were routinely around $100-150. No one wanted the antique tube models. Sort of like when I got my '67 Starfire bass for $275.