AKG c414 problems.. please help

Hey guys, for the past couple weeks my AKG c414 mic has been giving me some serious issues.. Im not sure what the problem is but it shorts out randomly when high volumes are applied and then makes weird robotic noises that are hard to describe. It also seems much quieter than it used to be… almost like it lost 20db of gain when its working.. The audio it does pick up is faint and hollow sounding. Occasionally with some light smacking it goes back to full volume and sounds clear but only for split seconds here and there…

I have tried it on all cardioid patterns and they all seem to have the same problem.



I know it sounds like a cable issue from what I have described but

It is not the cable as I have tried all my other mics and they all sound loud and clear when plugged in… I have also tried several different cables to no avail.



Any reason or idea as to what or why this has happened and what I need to do to fix it?

AKG c414 problems.. please help