Electro Voice "A" or "B" designation mea

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StandbyCymbalist
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Electro Voice "A" or "B" designation mea

Post by StandbyCymbalist » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:45 pm

I just picked up an EV 257B, NOS in the box off ebay. I can't find out what the A vs. B designate. Is it just so you can buy two A(s) or B(s) and have a matched pair?? Are A(s) closer to spec? Thanks folks
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Post by Mane1234 » Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:16 am

What you got there is an all purpose dynamic mic. They don't make matched pairs of those. It's pretty much an EV version of a Shure 57. I used to have one several years ago. Not bad. Stick it in front of an electric guitar amp or someone's mouth and see what you get.
Of course I've had it in the ear before.....

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Post by StandbyCymbalist » Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:52 pm

Thanks for the info. So EV "A" and "B" aren't for matching pairs, so what does it mean? I used a friend's beat up 257b and it blew the doors off my sm57 for vocals, so that's why I picked it up. I find it transparent on vocals and very smooth on acoustic at the 14th fret. I still prefer my re-15 though, cause it sounds so early-Dylan. (I know it's not what he used)
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Post by top_ape » Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:48 pm

EV's model names have been weird and (at least seemingly) arbitrary from the beginning. For example:
RE20 = PL20 (along with a bunch of other mics where the RE and PL models differed only in paint color)
BUT then, the PL10 is not at all an RE10. The RE10 however is basically an RE15. The RE11 and RE16 are close cousins, as is the DS35. The "PL" equivalent of the DS35 though, is the PL95 ... which is the same as the PL95A iirc.
The 660 is the same as a 660a with a different finish...AKA the PL6
The 635 is an entirely different mic than the 635a (though I believe it was the precursor).
Starting to make sense?
The 664a is NOT a 664... it's a 660 with a stand mount!
But then the stand mount version of the 676 is the 674.
It doesn't make sense.

The only thing predictable about EV (at least vintage EV) nomenclature is how unpredictable it is.

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Post by lancebug » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:01 pm

top_ape wrote:EV's model names have been weird and (at least seemingly) arbitrary from the beginning. For example:
RE20 = PL20 (along with a bunch of other mics where the RE and PL models differed only in paint color)
BUT then, the PL10 is not at all an RE10. The RE10 however is basically an RE15. The RE11 and RE16 are close cousins, as is the DS35. The "PL" equivalent of the DS35 though, is the PL95 ... which is the same as the PL95A iirc.
The 660 is the same as a 660a with a different finish...AKA the PL6
The 635 is an entirely different mic than the 635a (though I believe it was the precursor).
Starting to make sense?
The 664a is NOT a 664... it's a 660 with a stand mount!
But then the stand mount version of the 676 is the 674.
It doesn't make sense.

The only thing predictable about EV (at least vintage EV) nomenclature is how unpredictable it is.
Well done. That's about the most succinct summary of the whole EV naming conventions that I have heard.

Anyone got and RE38 they want to unload?

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Re: Electro Voice "A" or "B" designation

Post by Andy Peters » Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:45 pm

StandbyCymbalist wrote:I just picked up an EV 257B, NOS in the box off ebay. I can't find out what the A vs. B designate. Is it just so you can buy two A(s) or B(s) and have a matched pair?? Are A(s) closer to spec? Thanks folks
EV's nomenclature is kinda like what HP used to do with test equipment. The first release has just a model number. The second release would have an "A" suffix. The third release would have a "B."

In most cases, the changes are cosmetic or because they improved the mechanical or assembly or something. I have a pair of EV 308s and a 308B and they sound pretty much the same, but I am told that the shock mounting was improved on the "B" version.

-a
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Post by StandbyCymbalist » Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:00 pm

That makes sense. I looked at EV's website among other places and couldn't fig it out. At least now I'm not leery of EV's B mics, and like I said I love the sound. (The oversized flattop grille is sweet too)
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Post by Andy Peters » Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:36 pm

StandbyCymbalist wrote:That makes sense. I looked at EV's website among other places and couldn't fig it out. At least now I'm not leery of EV's B mics, and like I said I love the sound. (The oversized flattop grille is sweet too)
I use a 967B on the lead vocalist of a band I mix live. Works great!
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Post by percussion boy » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:32 am

top_ape wrote:The RE10 however is basically an RE15. The RE11 and RE16 are close cousins
For some odd reason, I was thinking that the re10 was a not-quite-up-to-spec re15, the 10 being originally priced lower for this reason, like stale baked goods, Likewise the 11 and the 16.

Does this ring a bell at all?
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Post by tonewoods » Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:04 am

percussion boy wrote:
For some odd reason, I was thinking that the re10 was a not-quite-up-to-spec re15, the 10 being originally priced lower for this reason, like stale baked goods, Likewise the 11 and the 16.

Does this ring a bell at all?
Yeah, but who knows if it's true...
The folks at EV were never even able to shed light on all of this....
Last edited by tonewoods on Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by top_ape » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:04 pm

percussion boy wrote:
top_ape wrote:The RE10 however is basically an RE15. The RE11 and RE16 are close cousins
For some odd reason, I was thinking that the re10 was a not-quite-up-to-spec re15, the 10 being originally priced lower for this reason, like stale baked goods, Likewise the 11 and the 16.

Does this ring a bell at all?
Yeah, my understanding is that's true - sort of. It's not that it's a lesser mic, it's that the capsule didn't match the RE15 frequency response close enough to be called an RE15. The idea was that if they tested all of them as they came off the assembly line, they'd choose only the closest matching ones as RE15s in order to ensure consistency.

Also note, the RE10 and RE15 look pretty much identical in pictures, but the RE10 body is slightly shorter - so they're definitely NOT exactly the same mics, just same capsules and 95% same design.

In practice nowadays this is all pretty much moot though, since all these mics have been around and each has had a different set of experiences and they've all aged differently. I have a bunch of them and every single one (even the same model) sounds different - sometimes close, sometimes not even in the ballpark.

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Post by top_ape » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:21 pm

The RE11 is the one that seems to stand out as sounding the most different of the 4.

In general I think of the sound of these mics as being a huge wide smooth bulge in the midrange, often with a fairly extended but sweet top end. The RE11s I've run across always seem to give the impression that that midrange bulge has a much sharper, more resonant Q, making it behave differently and useful on a different set of sources.

The DS35 fits in here too, AFAIK it's an RE10/11/15/16 except without the Variable-D system. In practice these are really consistent, unlike the others above (maybe because the lack of VD means the internals are much more closed off to the elements? - I have a couple and they're all pretty much interchangeable). Their sound is more like JUST the mid bulge, along with a somewhat workable proximity effect. Still cool mics but not nearly the amazing vocal mic that my two "good ones" (a 15 and 16 with the lower grill missing) are.

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Post by tonewoods » Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:44 am

I have an old blue book here somewhere, and it's amazing how much these REs went for back in the day....
Like over 300 bucks in 1970's money??
That's what I remember anyway....
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