MICROPHONE OF THE MONTH MARCH 2024

Echolette was a German firm which, since the mid-fifties, developed and sold electronical equipment meant for musicians. The firm tried to bring studio technology to the stage and translate the demands and wishes of musicians into sturdy technology that would survive the often rough conditions of transport and live shows, but would offer the best possible quality at the same time.

The company's first product was a tape-echo machine, made bij another German company: Klemt. It brought musicians the tricks of the studio, and became famous as Echolette-Klemt. More tape machines, amps and speaker cabinets followed.

In the sixties, Echolette rode the wave of the Beat music; for their German tours, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys all used Echolette Vocalist-units. Hans Bauer, Echolette's boss was convinced that when the beat-craze was past, musicians would stil need lots of his products and he expanded sales further to France, the UK and the USA.

The microphones the firm sold were made by AKG, like the Top 12, mic of the month January 2022, Beyer and Sennheiser, although most had a different styling.

This month' microphone, the ED 911 was launched in 1976, as top vocal microphone of the Echolette product assortiment. It was a dynamic cardioid with pure seventies looks, and a Sennheiser 'MD 409 style' capsule, made extra shock resistant with a rubber ring, and a broad double isolated handle. The design resembled that of the Neumann KMS 85, from 1971.

It was very insensitive to feedback, and had a frequency range of 80 - 16.000 Hz, well suited for vocals, and according to Echolette also perfect for horns and speech.

The ED 911 had a lenght of 215 mm with a diameter of 40 mm; about the same size as the Sennheiser MD 431 vocal microphone. It was a lot heavier though, weighing 410 grams, compared to the 431s weight of 230 grams. It was priced at 330 Mark, about a third less than the 431.

The large size and the holes in the top must have been the reason it got nicknamed the 'Grenade', since it did resemble German 'Stiel' (handle) grenades.

The microphone sounds pretty good, but Echolette's popularity had diminished since the sixties and the microphone never became really popular among musicians. In those days many performers just used the microphones of PA companies, which were mostly Shure SM 58s and AKG D1000s and D330s. So you won't find many of these heavy beasts nowadays, but they do have something attractive.

After 1981 Echolette went out of business, although a number of products were since then sold as Dynacord.

Many more types feature in my book Witnesses of Words. More information about that can be found at www.witnessesofwords.com