Any experience w/ AKG D3200m?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard Monroe
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Richard Monroe

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Well, we had a tough year with blown steam pipes, dead vehicles, etc., so I haven't been able to do any big purchases lately. We're in "make do with what you have" mode. I've been doing a 12 part radio play for a paying customer (woo hoo), and the large number of channels and lack of isolation has necessitated the use of a bunch of dynamics. All but one are not ideal. OK, SM7B was made for it, I own *one*. Yes I know- MD421, MD441, RE20, etc. would be really cool, but- see above declaration of poverty. I've pressed into service everything from SM57 to a D112 (which is not bad for some voiceovers, BTW), to D770, which shines in that role.
So, I had $100 to spend from a Christman present, and I saw in the case of my local GC, a D3200M tripower tagged $99.99. I asked to see it, and it was banged up pretty good (bad roadie, bad drummer). I asked if they had one in the box, and sure enough, they did. The guy didn't know his mics well, and I think the used one had been priced correctly, but tagged as a new mic in error.

List is about $260, street price $180, $99.99 didn't seem bad, and I'm looking for vocal dynamics, so I grabbed a new one. Initial impressions- it has that Neodymium AKG dynamic sound, and is hotter than hell! Compared to say, the SM7, I had to turn the Avalon way down, or use higher impedence settings. It has excellent gain before feedback, and needs a little EQ to sound good on my voice. I actually needed to boost highs around 3K. Proximity is very linear but well defined, perhaps the best feature of the mic. It can be used as a tool for what I'm doing, but I'm thinking it may shine through the PA. I haven't set that up yet.

I'm one of the few people around here that uses AKG dynamics, but I wondered if anybody had any hands on experience with this puppy. Came with a nice airline case. I know I didn't get screwed, because if I don't like it, I can ebay it for my expenses and at least break even. Any clues?-Richie
 
Bump- Isn't that interesting? 14 looks, no answers. I could ask about obscure Peluso mics, or discontinued Nady's, or whatever, around here, and get plenty of comments, but I ask a question about a current, top of the line AKG dynamic, and nobody has anything to say. Well, if I learn more, I'll pass it on. I think AKG produces some of the most underated mics in the world, especially their dynamics.-Richie
 
Are you sure it's not a 3700? I've never heard of 3200, the 3700 is dc'd and the 3800(refered to as a tri power) is really nice and needs little gain compared to the big dogs you were talking about. Not as full bodied as an sm7 or re20 but a good bit above the rest of the pack I found.
 
Any experience w/ D3800m?

Duuh, Kenny, my bad. D3800- can't read or type late at night. Yeah, it's a tripower, convertable to switch or wireless. I don't know where I got 3200 from.
And yeah, it's by far the hottest dynamic I've used, in terms of output. It's a definite *turn the PA down*. Thanks for the correction.-Richie
 
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