Any regular here knows I'm an obsessive when it comes to old dynamic mics--pro mics that can be found cheap used and which sound great for home recording. I just discovered a pitfall of some of these old timers, though.

Especially on the ElectroVoice Variable-D mic designs there is often foam packed into the housing. The old-timer's tip for the RE-15 and RE-16 is to get foam out of the way of the capsule to improve clarity. However, in at least the PL-10, the capsule/transformer assembly is wrapped in a foam surround that holds the mic in place in the housing. And like old 60's-70's era foam often will, the foam in my mic went bad.

Generally crumbling foam is a bad thing. (If you have an Ashly SC-50 compressor, get the foam out from inside the top lid before it sheds all over the circuit board.) A non-functioning mic is also bad, especially if it's a bit of a premium piece on the used market. You can probably leave the mic sealed without opening the case and the foam remenants will more or less serve the functional purposes. However, there might be a better way.

It took some wrangling with EV/Telex's customer support, but they did right by me. My mic is no longer in production (it's been maybe 20 years even?) so they did not have the exact foam insert sheet, but they sent me one that looks like it would have gone to an RE-10/15/16. (Just speculation.) And they sent it for free. Works well enough to get me back up and running.

Oddly, I think some foam in front of the capsule might be part of what I like about the PL-10 sound - seems like more top on it than there used to be, so I'll be shuffling the foam around. [Edit: Yep, that seemed to do it, and still enough foam to secure the assembly. A kludge, but not a completely inelegant one.]

Bear

Bear...we seem to share a love for the old EV stuff...not just the RE, but the DS35 is also a KILLER mic with similar foam issues.

and thanks for the tip on the SC50s...I've got 4 of them, and took your advice...

As for the crumbling foam - if the foam is still intact (as it is on most of my RE16s and RE11s) would you recommend leaving well enough alone until it does start to disintegrate, or take pro-active steps to remove it now?

You can get along with crumbling foam in those EV's. I don't know for how long, though. I'd suggest seeing if tech support will help you out so you can nip it in the bud for at least a few decades, and so long as old EV product is still supported.

I wish they had just told me what the dang material was--I'd be happy to by my own sheets of foam to cut to fit without bothering them and without being dependent on them.

Bear

Bear,

It can vary a lot from mic to mic. We have some Peavey Celebrity dynamics that we love for live use outdoors. They are ball mics and there isn't even a memory of foam in those mics. They still work great, not particularly poppy, good proximity effect, strong mids.

A friend has one of those fifties Shure Elvis mics that they've reissued. I worked on a cable for it and got it working but it has a foam problem. And without the foam the capsule rattles around in the case. So this mic won't really be fixed until I take the case apart and put some foam in.

I've been thinking about using some cut up foam windscreens. Should work???

I'm pretty lucky with the foam in my EV mics. Some of them look really ratty but they've still got ok foam.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry

i am a big big fan of dynamic mics as well!
i think they are to often over looked many newcomers.
i have always had really good response and service from EV, i love-'em among my favorite manufactures of the dynamic mic!

It seems that EV is a bit of a rare bird since it seems to do some of its classics the old way instead of modernizing to the "Mk II" or whatever. At the same time, they develop new and great products--both affordable stuff, and stuff like the alternative offering of the RE-27 as a professional-line update living side by side with the classic RE-20. I wish more stuff had stayed in production, sure, but they do a good job of it.

Bear

agree!
at least the RE-16 is still out their!
i have not had a chance to try the RE-27, just how different is it then the REE-20?

Reportedly a bit brighter and of course hotter with the neodymium magnents. Ty Ford's review mentions the flexibility of the bass and treble roll-offs on it--you can get it sounding in the range of the RE-20, the SM-7, and the MD-421. I'd like to own one. The price point that Heil is hitting, though, a PR-30 or PR-40 is more likely in my future.

Bear

i will most likely get one.