Everyone's favorite Latvian microphone company is going to be storming Winter NAMM 2009 with a radical-looking pencil condenser, the JZ Microphones BT-201. While the mic has nothing to do with BT of POP! fame, it sports a striking design that'd make even the most eloquent of public speakers stutter. Man, who doesn't love a BT-stutter joke, huh?

The BT-201 ships in a set that includes four swappable condenser capsules, each with a different pickup pattern. The four available capsule options -- cardioid, omni, open cardioid and open cardioid with pad of -20db -- make the BT-201 a very flexible small-diaphragm condenser for a very reasonable price ($635.00 US; the padded capsule is an optional extra). The capsules attach via magnetic coupling, making switching pickup-patterns quick and easy.

JZ Mics recommends the BT-201 for both studio and live applications, as the metal housing and low self noise make it both road-rugged and studio-quiet. JZ also seems to think the BT-201 makes good elderly-engineer-bait, as evidenced by this picture:

JZ Microphones offers a shockmount for the BT-201 for $104.00 US, and you'll be able to nab a matched pair of BT-201s for $1349.00 US. . . which is more than the price of two BT-201s. Perhaps I did the English-Latvian conversion incorrectly?