Comments on: Electro-Voice PL33 Review

By: TomVette

TomVette — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 13:41:46 +0000

Bass drum mics are important. Many low costs mics have poor definitiion and a lot of boom. This EV PL33 mic delivers good tone and definition and while it may not carry the prestige of a top of the line Audex or Shure it delivers the sonic goods of clear definition and attack with tone, punch and dynamics. Highly recommended.

By: Stephen Millar

Stephen Millar — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 23:58:04 +0000

Background: I bought this PL33 to mount permanently inside a jazz kick drum which has the front head intact. (using a pipe clamp and some elastic bands, like a home-made kelly shu) I was attracted by the medium weight and size (2 inch diameter). Anyway, it sounds so good I bought another one for my main kit, and sold my Beta 52.
Sound: Other mic’s in this price range have a peak around 100-125Hz, which is too high for kick. The PL33 peaks around 60-80, which is perfect. (Same as the B52). The upper peak isn’t as extreme as the audix or shure, which I like. Heavy metal drummers looking for ‘click’ may prefer the audix, or you can use this mic with an EQ boost at 4K. I’ve played a few larger gigs with my rock kit where the engineers were initially hesitant to use my built in mic, but they tried it liked the sound. I’ve used the mic without any additional EQ and it sounds great, or it can be tweaked if desired. Never had any issues with noise or distortion – just clean, solid kick drum tone.

By: wes

wes — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:53:13 +0000

Very easy and fairly quick. Mics came as described and sound great!! My Band THE SIRENS ARE CALLING have started using them to record our album!!! Thanks Again!!

By: Rob Chismar

Rob Chismar — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 04:54:06 +0000

Bought two and one didn’t work. I contacted EV only to be ignored completely. I am concerned the other one may stop working right when I most need it. Sure is a sexy well built mic on the outside.

By: Dok

Dok — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 05:19:36 +0000

It took a while before I decided to get this instead of any one of the other microphones I was considering. I was looking for a microphone that is unique (bandmates do not own) and inexpensive and, also, a microphone that is not available in my country. Just like you, I read reviews — as many as I can find. But this unpopular mic doesn’t have a lot. I read one negative review somewhere about this mic having a design defect, that it distorts with vibration (he has his mic clipped to the rim). I figured, I wouldn’t want this or any of my mics to vibrate while I record the drums so I thought it wouldn’t be an issue for me (I plan to investigate this someday if it is true). I was specifically searching for a mic that would go outside my kick drum. I was already happy with my mxl a55 inside and all I needed was either an inexpensive condenser mic or a dynamic kick drum mic. But the reason I was buying another microphone was because my at2020, which already sounded great outside my kick drum, is now broken. I thought, if I bought another cheap condenser mic, it might not last a long time, just like my at2020. So I went with dynamic and narrowed down my choices until I decided to get this. I needed one that will capture the low end and this goes as low as 20Hz, more than my mxl’s 30 Hz. High frequencies captured by this mic is only up to 10Khz. Mxl goes up to 15 Khz so that’s covered, although I did test the pl33 inside the kick drum and it has all the high end it needs. The ‘click’ attack of the beater is, for me, usually 3khz and 6khz, those are the frequencies i boost when needed in my mixes and I’ve been mixing my music with less painful high frequencies lately anyway so I don’t care about the ‘hype’! 🙂 finally, this was the most inexpensive mic in my list, it’s an electro voice, it sounds perfect for my needs, and the fact that it looks sexy is a welcome bonus! I’m happy and now I can go on with my life.. After I purchase a pair of mxl cubes!! :)) Hope this helps you. Just wanted to add a quick review for this seemingly unpopular microphone. Btw, I always use a tunnel for my kick out mic so I can bring the mic farther away and not get a lot of bleed from the rest of the kit. I hate how my mix sounds when I have to put a noise gate. I do it at the source as much as possible.

By: Joey

Joey — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 08:58:47 +0000

a decent mic I think which picks up low end really well without the exaggerated high mids of say a D112. Unfortunately I get a loud ground/ earth hum sometimes when using this mic and only this mic