Electro-Voice RE50
An omnidirectional dynamic built around a shock-mounted zinc chamber, the mic that made handling noise somebody else's problem.
Overview
Electro-Voice's own documentation calls the RE50 "the ultimate news gathering microphone." The engineering behind that claim is specific. A high-mass zinc acoustic chamber sits integral with the head assembly, shock isolated inside a machined aluminum outer case. Every part of the transducer nests inside another, so the head assembly is nearly a solid structure. That's why it survives being swung around on a news set without the element rattling loose. Handling noise, clothing rustle and even cord shock get decoupled from the element, and mechanically induced noise drops away in a way that omnidirectional dynamics of the period generally didn't manage.
The element is a self-generating dynamic. No battery, no phantom power, which is why it ended up in so many field kits. Frequency response runs 80 Hz to 13,000 Hz, described in the manual as broadcast range. That's not a hi-fi curve. It's a speech curve. The documentation also says response stays consistent with distance, so working close to the lips doesn't produce muddy lows. Sensitivity is listed at 1.6 mV/pascal, and nominal impedance is 150 ohms. The manual notes this matches 50-, 150-, and 250-ohm inputs, with the line balanced to ground and phased.
Physically it's a substantial piece: 197 mm long, 49 mm at its maximum diameter, with a 25 mm shank, and 269 grams on the scale. The finish is semi-gloss black and deliberately nonreflecting, so the mic can sit in frame on camera without throwing a highlight. The grille is designed to bounce back into shape after a knock. A four-stage pop filter keeps dust and magnetic particles off the diaphragm, and an integral windscreen and blast filter handle wind noise, excessive sibilance, and the plosive "popping" that ruins a take. The magnetic circuit is nonwelded and uses Alnico V with magnetic iron, and the built-in connector is similar or equivalent to the Switchcraft A3M. A black stand adapter ships in the box. The optional accessories are the 376 charcoal windscreen, the 379-1 black and 379-2 red windscreens, and the 422A desk stand.
DB Magazine (November 1970, p.43) ran the RE50 alongside the RE85 under the banner of "quiet microphones" - mics that, in the advertiser's phrasing, "aren't microphonic" - and quoted a $120 list price with normal trade discounts applying. The same campaign appeared in Recording Engineer (September 1970, p.36), which likewise listed the RE50 omnidirectional dynamic at $120 list. Both pages are Electro-Voice's own advertising, not independent measurement. The pitch is consistent with the engineering documentation, though.
The RE50 name gets used loosely. The manual specifies the RE50/B, and the RE50 line has spawned distinct variants over the years. Anyone buying used should confirm exactly which version is on the table rather than assuming the specs above apply across the board. The documentation here describes the RE50/B specifically: the zinc inner case, the machined aluminum outer, the 150-ohm balanced output, the 269-gram weight. Those are the numbers to check against a listing.
This is a working microphone built for live broadcast, handheld, in the weather, on deadline. The design choices (the nested transducer, the shock isolation, the bounce-back grille, the self-generating element) all point at durability. It doesn't need phantom power, and the documentation suggests it was built expecting neither that nor careful handling.
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