AKG D 320 B: Anyone know this old mic ?

Reilley

Reilley

New member
I heard this described as "20 years old and better than the Shure SM57" but I can't find much information about it. If anyone is familiar with it, I would appreciate some advice as to what the critter is like.

Thanks you.
R
 
I believe Richie Monroe has one. I'm sure he'll be here to tell you more about it anon, but in the meantime you can look at this :)

 
Thanks, Mark. Unfortunately, I'm not very technically inclined, so these could be the specs for a Boeing 737 or a Black & Decker chain saw, I probably coundn't tell the difference - although I admit that the picture certainly looks like a microphone !

Nonetheless, I have filed the specs, in case I decide to own one.

Maybe Richie will know the approximate value of these things, as well.
 
You got that right, Mark7! I do indeed own one, and I like it a lot. Not only is it a very good stage mic. It actually replaced a lead vocal track done with a B.L.U.E. Kiwi on the current project. I would post it up, except for the fact that it is a George Gershwin cover.
I think AKG built that series to go head to head with the mid level kickass dynamics, especially Sennheiser MD421. You should take what I say with a grain of salt though. I use AKG dynamics because I invariably sound like shit through SM57's and SM 58's, including Betas.
Yes, it does sound better (on me) than a SM58, but so does a D770, D790, D880, D690, or any other AKG dynamic.
In any event, D320B is a lovely dynamic- good on cabs, good on snare, good on vocalists who like that sound.-Richie

P.S- approximate value- about the same as a new SM58. They were close to $300 new, but are very little known, and therefore get no respect. I stole an auction on ebay and got mine for $65. That's a very good price. $80-$85 would be middle of the road, if the mic is in good condition
 
Thanks very much, Richard Munroe.

This kind of question is always problematic to answer, but..... if you'd care to have a go, what IS "that sound."

..and what is your voice like? Mine, for example, is very slightly nasal, which I think tends to restrict lows, unless you work at it.
 
I own a 320 (and a couple of 310's as well) - got them in excahnge for some money owed to me. I've had them for several years.

I compare the 320 to an SM58 with a litlle more "shimmer". Not really a hyped high end, just a little more "pristine". They certainly are a nice looking mic. I doubt that they are a durable as a 58 (I never really tried to beat the 320 up).

I like it for guitar cabs & snare - as a rule I like the 58 more as a vocal mic (although neither a 58 or a 320 would be among my top choices).

I was beginning to think I was the only person to still own one of these!!
 
I just lucked out on one for $60 used in a store. Came across this thread trying to find out more about it, and would like to add that it's heavier than many, but has a wonderful balance and taper, which makes it just curl up in my hand. It also has a 3-setting toggle switch (I know next to nothing about mics) which is helpful if you have a lot of variety in your voice like me.
 
Yo Scratchangel! Now there's a blast from the past! Well, I've learned a few things in the intervening years, but most of what I said I still endorse. I still own the mic, and it is still one of my go-to mics for whatever you would use a dynamic on. As far as that switch at the bottom, my experience says that if you never turn it on, that will be a wise choice. Yes, it's as durable as an SM58, probably more so. That weight that one poster referred to is the milled steel body, which aside from making it a pretty good blackjack, gives the mic the lowest handling noise of any handheld mic I've ever used. Mostly, for a stage mic these days, I use Shure SM7b, but that D320B is the main snare mic, and a backup live vocal mic. I've certainly gotten my money out of it.-Richie
 
Great mics, I have a D330 a D320 and 2x D310's, full set. They would have been very pricey when new.

I used to use them on drums when doing live PA work, they are indistructable unlike the sm57 that falls apart with 1 hit.

I did use the D330 for lead vocal for a while but cos all the other mics were SM 58's the fold back eq was not quite right when the sends were mixed, out front sounded fine.

I still sometimes use them in the studio for percussion and extra drum mics, even on guitar cabs sometimes for something different.

Cheers

Alan
 
Reilley said:
I heard this described as "20 years old and better than the Shure SM57" but I can't find much information about it. If anyone is familiar with it, I would appreciate some advice as to what the critter is like.

Thanks you.
R
Click to expand...
I bought two if these in1985 for about $45 each. I hadn’t used them much until recently and I love them. I mostly play flute and other wind instruments and they sound fine. I still don’t understand what the switch on them does yet, but I’m looking that up now.
alt=
 
The switch if for a bass rolloff. You have two levels of reduction, -10 and -20dB/ octave at 100Hz.

Its a hypercardiode mic, fairly low sensitivity at 1.4mV/Pa and 290Ohm.
 
A nice mic. Like most of that vintage from AKG, a bit character-less. They seemed to go for flat and truthful sounding, when others were trying to make voices sound better. They might be good stage mics now, where people don’t like the Shure sound?
 
It's actually a very nice mic! First, I must disagree that it is a flat sounding mic- it's anything but. There is a +5 dB boost at 5k. But what is nice about the 320 is that extra high end is quite silky for a dynamic vocal mic. For a rock singing in a loud band that still uses wedges, it's hard to do better. The HF rolloff is *very* dramatic, so if that's what you need it sure works. But you're cutting -10dB or -20dB at 100Hz respectively. Also, these mics are built like tanks- AKG did monster drop tests and abuse testing to evaluate the multi-layer suspension. For the same reason, these mics have incredible rejection of handling noise and bumps. Good stuff that you can still get cheap, if you can find one. But I didn't have any luck picking any up for $60. These days it looks like $150 is more the going rate, and I went ahead and grabbed one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top