Electro-Voice RE200
A true condenser in a small body with a presence lift you can hear across a crowded mix.
Overview
The RE200 is the end-firing odd one out in Electro-Voice's first family of true condensers. The RE2000 and RE1000 are big side-address studio mics. The RE200 is small and front-address, built around a capsule assembly borrowed from the RE2000. E-V was insistent on the point: this is a true externally polarised condenser, not an electret. The company's period advertising hammered the "True-Condenser Technology" line in the pages of EQ (December 1996, p.94) and EQ (March 1997, p.96).
The design brief was clearly utility rather than prestige. The RE200 is small and finished in a neutral fawn-beige, which Studio Sound (March 1996, p.31) noted makes it easy to keep out of frame in video work. That same report described the capsule as based on the RE2000's design, and pointed out the deliberate voicing: a continuous presence rise meant to help a source cut through a dense mix. The spec sheet calls that rise "gentle." It isn't. As Studio Sound measured it, the response sits roughly 7dB up at 7kHz - 8kHz relative to the 1kHz reference. Anyone expecting a flat measurement mic will be surprised.
That presence lift is the whole personality of the microphone. It's not a clinical accuracy tool and E-V never pretended otherwise. The same Studio Sound review noted the inherent noise floor runs several dB higher than the RE1000's and sounds brighter and less neutral, though it stopped well short of calling the RE200 noisy. The verdict was "still a quiet microphone." You give up some of the RE1000's refinement and get a mic that flatters anything needing bite. In the Mix (December 2004) touring rig rundown for Neal McCoy, the RE200 turns up on brass, overheads, cymbals and hi-hat.
The RE2000 carried a dedicated high-grade power supply and a permanently built-in suspension mount. The RE1000 shed those to hit a lower price. The RE200 sits at the compact end of the same family. It's a phantom-powered true condenser, and the capsule assembly descends from the RE2000 rather than the cheaper electret designs that dominated the project-studio market when it appeared. E-V's own advertising framed it as equally at home on "warm, orchestral nuances" and "crisp, fast transients." That's marketing copy, not an independent verdict, but the fast-transient half of the claim is borne out by the presence peak.
For anyone buying used, the practical picture is a small-format condenser that rewards close work on sources with too much midrange congestion. It is not the mic to reach for when neutrality is the job.
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