Electro-Voice PL-80
A computer-designed vocal mike that ended up in Steve Perry's hands — and, per the manufacturer, on Crystal Gayle's mic stand.
Overview
The PL-80 was Electro-Voice's bid for the working vocalist's microphone, and the company did not launch it quietly. Its suggested retail price was $199.95 — a serious ask for a handheld dynamic — and the pitch leaned hard on a design process E-V called "fast Fourier transform" (FFT), which the company claimed let its engineers predict how the microphone would sound in a live environment while it was still on the drawing board. Whether or not the acronym sold any microphones, it made for a distinctive story in 1980: here was a vocal mike marketed on computer modeling rather than the usual hand-waving about "studio quality."
The build reflects the price. The body is aluminum and diecast zinc, and the grille is a dent-resistant Memaflex screen — a combination E-V pitched squarely at performers who knock their mikes around. Modern Recording (November 1980, p.25) relayed the company's claim that the PL-80 was "the microphone every vocalist wants," and repeated E-V's line that the dent-resistant materials would keep the mike looking new while others aged — advertising copy, to be sure, but it names the exact design priorities the company built around.
The tonal target was a crisp high end with a modest bass boost, tuned — per E-V's own materials — to enhance a voice without papering over its character. That is a more opinionated voicing than a flat-response design, and it explains the microphone's reputation in the field. Mix (1984, p.125) described the PL-80 as a vocal microphone computer-designed for real-life use, a precision instrument that enhances the performer's voice without compromising vocal quality — again manufacturer language, but the consistency of that description across years of E-V advertising tells you what the mike was for.
The PL-80's most famous association is with Journey. E-V presented Steve Perry and the band with a plaque carrying a gold-plated PL-80 — serial number 00001, the first production unit off the line, engraved with Perry's name — during a tour stop at the University of Notre Dame, near E-V's Buchanan, Michigan headquarters. The company also ran a campaign featuring Crystal Gayle, who was quoted insisting the PL-80 was the only mike she would use. Take endorsements for what they are, but the Perry plaque is a nice piece of documented history: the first PL-80 ever built went to a rock star, not a museum.
For buyers weighing one against the obvious alternative, the British press put it in select company. Electronics & Music Maker (via a period column by Ben Duncan) recommended auditioning the PL-80 alongside the Shure SM58 when upgrading from uneven vocal mikes, ranking the E-V above the Calrec CM654D and below the SM58 on cost. That is a useful independent signal: the PL-80 was treated as a legitimate step up in vocal clarity, not a curiosity.
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