Electro-Voice RE-20
A broadcast-standard dynamic microphone with a reputation for flat, uncolored response.
Overview
The RE-20 is a dynamic cardioid microphone built around Electro-Voice's Continuously Variable-D design. The company claimed the design virtually eliminated the proximity effect that plagues nearly every other cardioid. In practice, a vocalist can work the grille closely without the low-end bloom that normally comes with it. Broadcasters and studio engineers came to rely on that. The finish is what the manufacturer called Fawn beige Micomatte. The case is machined from solid bar stock, with shock mounting and electrical shielding built in rather than bolted on.
Electro-Voice rated the RE-20's frequency response at 45 Hz to 18,000 Hz. It billed the mic as having the widest, most uniform response curve of any dynamic microphone, with characteristics comparable to high-quality condenser mics. A built-in pop filter handles breath and wind noise. A bass tilt-down switch gives some rumble control. The cardioid pattern is described as very uniform, with off-axis response almost as flat as on-axis and maximum rejection tailored to typical boom and stand use.
In the studio, the RE-20 did the work of a condenser without the condenser's complications. It carried a two-year unconditional warranty against malfunction from date of purchase, which Electro-Voice described as unmatched in the industry.
Name studios adopted it. Glen Glenn Sound put the RE-20 through days of experiments and actual sessions at its new scoring Studio M. It was pitted against every type of musical instrument and submitted to critique by the musicians themselves. When the room was finished, almost four dozen RE-20s from the first production run were on the booms. According to that same account, the microphone was often used where an expensive condenser had previously been the automatic choice. The account calls it a significant advance in microphone design, with wide-range, peak-free on-axis response and transient response said to rival any studio microphone regardless of design.
Engineers kept reaching for it on sources that reward a clean, predictable pickup. It shows up constantly in the back pages of trade magazines.
Electro-Voice later extended the concept with the RE27N/D. It combined the RE-20's Variable-D design with the company's N/DYM rare-earth magnet technology and added three switchable filters. By that account the RE-20 had become an industry standard in broadcast production and recording, and the Variable-D concept it pioneered was still considered world class two decades on.
Similar items on eBay
No exact EMT RE-20 listings are live right now — these searches show current EMT and similar vintage synth gear on eBay:
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.