What exactly is the difference between a preview and an official introduction? We have no idea. This particular mic -- the Mojave Audio MA-101fet (MSRP $595 USD )-- was "previewed" at the 127th AES conference, but is now being officially released at Winter NAMM.

The 101fet is basically the small-diaphragm version of the MA-201fet, which in turn was designed as the solid-state alternative to the MA-200 tube mic. You could also consider the MA-101fet to be the solid-state alternative to the MA-100. Or you could just think about it as a mid-priced pencil condenser that's gonna outperform most of its competition.

Mojave Audio microphones are designed by David Royer (you'll recognize his name from a certain line of highly-regarded ribbon mics). The MA-101fet is designed for all the uses you'd expect from a pencil-condenser, i.e. drum overheads, pianos, acoustic instruments, choir overheads, etc., but the mic was also designed with exceptionally high headroom, making it a great choice for loud sources. You'll want to experiment with placing this guy in front of cranked guitar amps, snare drums and toms. Mojave's press announcement also recommends the MA-101fet for use in foley and sound design applications, tracking "gunshots, dragsters, and explosions." Sounds fun.

The mic comes with interchangeable capsules for cardioid and omni pickups patterns, and boasts the following specs (again, from the Mojave Audio press announcement): " frequency response of 20 Hz-20 kHz +/ - 3 dB, a sensitivity rating of -40 dB (1 volt per pascal), with a distortion rating of less than 1% @ 120 dB SPL (-15 db pad off) and less than 1% @ 135 dB SPL (-15 dB pad on)."