In 1976, AEA began servicing ribbon microphones, and by 1998 they were manufacturing 100% of the parts for the RCA 44. They decided to release their version of the 44 and thus was born AEA Ribbon Mics.

AEA is a family-owned and operated business in California. Wes and his colleague, Bob Gerbracht, founded the company in 1964. Since then, AEA’s mission has always been to build professional tools that faithfully capture the essential aspects of exceptional recordings

In 1976, when General Electric bought RCA and closed down its microphone division, AEA began servicing these legendary ribbon mics that Wes had learned so much about during this period. They have continued to make ribbon microphones in the RCA tradition to this day, manufacturing all their products by hand in the USA.