>If it works for you with your mics, I can't argue, of course. My AT853's will definitely distort when run without the mod. Just recently I taped a choral program with unmodded AT853's thinking I wouldn't need the mod and >got one instance of horrible distortion when the chorus hit the loudest note of the program.
How were you running the AT853's? You said un-modded but was it through a battery box or directly into recorder? Are they terminated into a 1/8" mini plug or 3pin mini xlr's?
The only way I would run them unmodded myself was with the AT8532 modules which are 3wire and 9V to each mic, I have run those for over 15 years.
I did a comp running 2 of the same rigs but one with the 8531 (1.5V) modules and those would distort while the 8532 (9V) wouldn't. And I also ran the same comp running one rig with the 8532 9V boxes and the other with just the mod and had no issues with either, the mod rig handled the stack taping just as well as the powered rig.
As a side note, the mod doesn't always end up being 4.7K, can also be 3.3K or some even 2.2K depending on mics and recorder.