Members mparsons Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 Hey everyone, I saw the EV PL80a 3 for 1 sale at MusiciansFriend and was immediately tempted. I know EV has a really good name in music, but this mic is new I guess because there isn't a whole lot of information out there about it. At $50 per, hypercardioid, the EV name, and with what little reviews I have seen for it being very positive, I am anxious to give it a shot. Has anyone here had any experience with this microphone? I tried the search function, but it didn't give me any results for PL80a or PL80. This is for rehearsal and possibly live use, if they're worth bringing to gigs. My band is heavy/symphonic metal, and we use operatic female vocals, so having a lot of gain before feedback is crucial. We've got 3 vocals (male lead, male backup, female lead), too, so that's another reason why the deal is so appealing. Currently our PA is more than enough for rehearsals, though I honestly don't know the specs or details, aside from a mixing board with more than enough inputs and enough power to get everything we need over the drums. We're running guitars through my laptop, bass has a stack (and PA reinforcement), and kick drum through the PA, so practice volumes aren't too excessive. Currently we're using SM57s on vocals, and while they're good, I'd like to get a bit more clarity and isolation. Having more volume before feedback for the female vocals would be good as well, and we have rung the room out with EQ and are placing the mic to avoid feedback issues as well. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 I have several of the original mics from the 1980's, they work well but may be unrelated performance-wise to the new model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopyle Sound Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 That's a great deal, cheaper than I can get them from EV. They are nice mics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gomer Pyle Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 I have used one of the originals on my live vocals since the late nineties. It's a bit more full sounding on my voice than the 58 I had used for 20 years. It listed for 182.00 in an early 80s music catalog I have, Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chickentown Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 there are some testimonials on youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flanc Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 My wife won one on the Facebock EV "mic a day" promotion. Ironically, she was already using an EV ND 767a. From a look and feel perspective, the mic has a nice weight to it and feels like it has build-quality. It also has a more slender fuselage / body that makes it easier to get in and out of a mic clip. I like the Sennheiser EXX mics but the fatter body can be difficult in certain mic clips. The look of the PL80a is reminiscent of a Shure Beta 87 with a more snub-nosed capsule. The sound is very good. For rock style (lips on grille) singing, it has a proximity effect (noticeable, not extreme) similar to the EV ND 767a but does not have the presence / brightness of the ND/767a. Eq'ing the 10-12khz range can make the mic's sound very similar. I found them to be equally "hot" with the gain knob in roughly the same position. The GBF was also very good as I run my wife's monitor pretty hot without a chirp of feedback. But, if found the same to be true with the ND/767a and the beta 57 as well. So, I didn't take the time to compare it to all the vocal mic's in the locker, but I find it very similar to the ND/767a (a good thing IMHO) with better looks/feel and not as much presence (easily added back if desired). IMHO a very good value mic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gdawg55 Posted December 3, 2009 Members Share Posted December 3, 2009 That's a great deal. I bought 2 of these from our good friend Mike and both of our singers have switched to them exclusively. The PL80 is a very clean and present sounding mic and has good resistance to feedback. I really like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mparsons Posted December 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 4, 2009 Thanks everyone! I'm looking forward to purchasing my trio, then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mparsons Posted January 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 I received the mics for Christmas and was able to demo them. Compared to the SM57s we were using, these are a big improvement. Much more clarity, gain before feedback, and intelligibility. Also the proximity effect feels a lot more controllable -- it was very easy for me to close in/back off of the mic to get my lower and higher vocals to sound even. So far, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 funny, i won one too. it's a decent mic, not sure it sounds like the original, at least by memory, seems more aggressive. built nicely. $50..most definitely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 The original was not "agressive" IMO, though it was not laid back either. JR probably has a better description. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dogoth Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 The original was not "agressive" IMO, though it was not laid back either. JR probably has a better description. EV made so many vocal mics over the years (I was perusing their archive site to remember what I had :>). The mics I remember owning in particular were the RE-11, BK-1 & the PL78 (I rebought a BK-1 recently because I liked them so well and I still have that old RE-11 (it still works but it's in my "dead" mic/micparts box because the top half of the windscreen is held on with electrical tape)). I do remember using some of the dynamics mics from the PL line (I don't think they were ours though) and marveling over their feedback resistance (since the bulk of our mic locker was 57s & 58s all of the EV mics beat them hands down in this respect). Did you say $50 per mic? Go and buy several of them now! B&K sells them for $149 so that's a steal. From what I remember of the PL line they were nice clear (not too high end hyped though) mics. I'd bet you'll like them a lot. $50 Woah great deal!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members davidplasti-k Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 I bought three of these and put them together with the e835 and shure sm 57 in the last four live sound events and I was very impressed. No feedback on very high levels of volume and they where close to the monitors plus the vocals where very clear. They come in a nice suitcase and right now is a top seller. My engineer told me that he liked more these mics for soloists, the sennheiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members davidplasti-k Posted January 8, 2010 Members Share Posted January 8, 2010 I hope this, buy one get two free sale lasts for a little long,The people on EV definitely want to compete with the e835, 58 and M02 with this price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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