This Sony C55AC is in perfect working order and comes with an original C55AC flight case, clip, and proprietary windscreen. No dents or dings, but it does have some typical scuffs that would likely come out with a little tlc.
The Sony C55AC is a solid state small diaphragm condenser microphone that went into production in the 70’s. The C55AC is the the same microphone as the C55p, but operates on batteries instead of phantom power, has a longer body to accommodate the batteries, and actually has a higher capsule polarization voltage which gives it a better signal to noise ratio.What makes the C55 unique is that it uses a “capsule positioning system” that allows you to change the angle of the capsule by turning the little knobs on the side of the mic to make it front-address, side-address, or anywhere in between. This comes in handy when close-mic’ing drums which these happen to sound quite good on. Sliding the down the part of the body with the Sony logo on it reveals a high pass filter switch and an 8 dB pad switch. The C55 has a pleasant presence peak and nice low end extension making it an incredible workhorse in the studio - it sounds great on everything from close drums to overheads to acoustic instruments or guitar amps.
Ocean Way Studios has more than thirty C55p’s in their mic locker - Allen Sides believes it to be one of the all around best microphones ever manufactured (see last image).
The C55AC can be modified to accept phantom power pretty easily (John Peluso has modified a half dozen of them for us), and sounds identical, but leaving original has its benefits aside from the cost of the modification - they will work with vintage preamps that don't have phantom power, will continue to work if your phantom power ever goes out, and has less circuitry that can become faulty. What's more is that the C55AC can run for over 500 hours on a single 9V battery!
