Electro-Voice RE-1000
A single-pattern, no-frills condenser that Electro-Voice pitched as serious studio performance at a working-musician price.
Overview
The RE-1000 is a true condenser microphone with a single supercardioid pickup pattern, and the first thing that stands out in the documentation is how deliberately stripped-down it is. Electro-Voice's own distributor literature describes it as a flat-response, low-self-noise design built around an externally biased transducer, with a transformerless output and a noise floor quoted at 14 dB. There is exactly one internal control: a 12 dB-per-octave bass rolloff at 130 Hz. No pad, no pattern switch, no response-curve toggles. What you get is what you get.
That single-mindedness was the whole point. Electro-Voice positioned the RE-1000 as a more affordable sibling to its top-of-the-line RE2000, and the company's stated intent, per EQ (April 1997, p.110), was to offer serious performance at a reasonable price. The suggested list was $928, and the mic shipped with a stand mount and a hard-shell case. Period coverage of the NAB show floor confirmed the design brief: the RE-1000 was described as a "true" condenser with transformerless output and a low noise level, intended to carry over many of the RE2000's strengths at a lower price.
The physical package is slim and flat, and the review literature is candid about the trade-offs. Period review coverage praised the mic's ruggedness — noting it could survive consistent live-performance abuse by brutish sound crews — but dinged the included plastic stand adapter as functional rather than generous, especially given that competing large-diaphragm condensers shipped with swivel mounts. The same review flagged the missing pad as a real limitation for live and field work, where some preamps and portable mixers have no pad of their own. For studio use, the reviewer conceded, most consoles carry a pad on the channel strip, so the omission matters less.
Sonic character is where the RE-1000 earns its keep. A period roundup of eight large- and small-diaphragm condensers found the RE-1000 the most faithful of the large-diaphragm models tested — closest to a "sonic mirror" of the source — though it also noted a slight tendency toward a sedate, mellow quality. A rock tenor's high crescendo came through transparently but without the piercing edge that brighter condensers would have captured. The reviewer called it an excellent tool for smoothing jagged edges, such as squeaking frets on an acoustic guitar, and reported good results miking a violin at roughly two and a half feet, hovering about a foot over the strings and angled toward the headstock, with no added processing and the bass rolloff left off. The verdict on the flip side: if a strong, visceral impact is the goal, this is not the mic for it.
The internal two-stage pop filter is worth calling out because it is one of the few "extras" the design does include — it tames explosive breath blasts and wind noise without an external screen. Electro-Voice also offered an optional shock-mount, model 325, for situations where mechanical noise creeps in. Phantom power is the operating requirement, and the manual frames that wide compatibility as part of the mic's flexibility for both recording and sound reinforcement.
Collectors and working engineers tend to encounter the RE-1000 in two contexts: as a budget entry into the RE2000 family's sound, and as a durable utility condenser for project studios. The period advertising was enthusiastic — Electro-Voice's own copy called it "a monumental breakthrough in studio condenser microphone performance and value" — but the independent reviews are the more useful guide, and they land on a consistent picture: accurate, polite, tough, and short one pad control. Prices on the secondary market vary with condition and whether the original hard case and stand mount survive; the plastic adapter in particular is the kind of part that goes missing. Buyers should confirm the bass-rolloff switch functions cleanly, since it is the only internal control and the one most likely to see wear.
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