Here’s a Sony tube microphone that you’ve probably never heard of: the Sony C16a. We’d never heard of it either until seeing it in an amazing 1992 Studio Sound Magazine article about the history of Sony mics, which you can see in the photos. A few years later, we miraculously found one in Japan and now use it to record music.
The C16a was made for a short time in the late 50’s right around the time that Tsushin Kogyo changed their name to Sony (old logo era). We’ve never seen another one, so it’s likely that very few were ever made. Once the mic arrived at the studio, I couldn’t help but notice the uncanny resemblance to a classic American microphone from the same era - The Altec M150 Coke Bottle with 21D capsule. Not only do the two small diaphragm omni capsules look nearly identical, but both mics also have a tapered body, use a 6AU6 tube in a cathode follower circuit, and have their output transformer and other audio electronics housed in their power supplies. The C16a uses the CP2 PSU, the same supply used with the C37a, C17b, and C19b of that era.
The mic has a wonderful mellow sound reminiscent of the other Sony tube mics we’ve used. While we haven’t put it side-by-side with the Altec Coke Bottle (yet), we did use it to record every instrument of our new microphone jingle “My Microphone” (written and performed by Lewis Rogers). You can hear how that sounds at the audio player below. Reach out for the original multitrack stems to hear it solo'ed on each instrument.
