A recent post I made at Gearslutz on the AK47:

The AK47 is a serious mic. We've been using and testing two of them here for the last few months. I highly recommend it. Smoothing out grit in voices is one of the things the AK47 does best. The AKG 414's can do that, too. 414's have long been a vocal weapon for singers who sound gritty on 87's.

The AK47 [ or Pearlman or Peluso ] through a Pacifica is gonna give you butter-smooth vox. BTW, the Pacifica will also help smooth out the grit on your 87.

We've used the Pearlman TM-1 and different Peluso 22 47's, and they are excellent mics. Recommend them all the time. We're finding we prefer the AK47 on more applications. The Pearlman and Peluso's give a bigger sound than the AK47. And that's exactly why we like the AK47 - especially in denser mixes. [ The more neutral Pelsuo 22 251 also takes up less space. ] The AK47 doesn't take up as much room in the mix, and can be easier to work with in the context of more modern music. And the AK47 has this warm fuzzy sheen in the mids. If you want a bigger sound for use in less dense music where the vocal is featured, then the Pearlman or Peluso would do the trick.

November 2006 review at http://www.studioreviews.com/telefunken-ak47-m16-review.htm

"For perspective, the high end mics I've really liked on my voice? InnertubeU87, U87i, U67, M149, Manley Ref Black. This is noticably darker than those. I'm not sure that I'd say I prefer it to those. But, if we look at the things that have worked OK on my voice in it's price range? AT 4060. SD U95. 2247. MojaveMA200. It hangs in there well, and is certainly the richest/warmest there."

Would you say it has then a similar dark sound as the 4060 or it it even darker? You can hear all the main 4 series mic's here. http://www.audio-technica.com/cms//94191e1fd14f6418/index.html

Darker by a LOT. I don't know what the clips on AT's site sound like, but the 4060 is most compareable to a U87i, IMO.

Which is a mic that while it is very rolled off in the "tippy top"...is quite brash between say 5-10k.

I currently have a 4060 with a NOS Mullard in it...it's noticably darker than stock, FWIW.

But, I think al lot of it depends on how you define dark...big warm bottom is how some define it...some by a rolled off top...these aren't mutually exclusive. but either one alone can lead people to refer to them as "dark"...

Interesting reviews and both these mics appear to be winners based on the read. Other than the tranny, I wonder what makes the AK47 different than the Apex 460,as I was told it employs the same ALCTRON capsule?