Has anyone ever heard of a Peavey PVM 520 i mic?

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BobbyBalow

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Are they any good? just wondering if anyone has heard of anything about these. Quite expensive from what I have heard...

Thinking about using it for kick drum/ guitar cab miking for the studio. Anyone know how they sound?
 
I have one of these mics, and it's great. I don't know where you heard it's expensive, because it's not - I bought used on eBay for less than $100.

There is also the 520tn. I dunno what the difference is, if any.

I own or have owned EV RE20, AKG D112, Senn MD421, and many other fine microphones. But the 520i is what I choose for tracking bass drum. I would think it would do fine for guitar cabs as well.
 
They have a neodymium element, like the Shure Beta series, so they have a truer transient response. Excellent vocal mic BTW.

Chris
 
The Peavey PVM-520i

I purchased a used Peavey PVM-520i from a small music store in the middle of nowhere while on a road trip to see Our Lady Peace in New York. It came with a foam and hard shell locking case, wind screen and custom mic clip. I paid $120 which seamed to be a great deal for a high SPL, large diaphragm dynamic microphone. At the time I only used a AKG D112 ($199) on kick and bass cabinets.

I placed my AKG D112 and the PVM-520i back to back in my studio to hear the difference. Surprising enough I started using the PVM-520i on all my studio kick drums because the AKG lacks high end pop and slap of the beater head. The PVM-520i had more presence, high end and feel while keeping the low end under control.

I recommend this mic for any budget studio or live application that wants professional quality. I don't recommend any of the other PVM mics. Once in a great while look on EBay. Other owners of this mic don't like getting rid of them because the PVM520i is our undisclosed mic that surprisingly out performs more expensive mics.

I current run live sound for many bands around Buffalo, New York. I surprise other professionals with this mic often. I know you will be surprised too. :)
 
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I would not recommend this mic for vocals because the PVM-520i has a large lower frequency response and would make recorded vocals muddy and mono-transit. The use of a large diaphragm condenser mic will have a better frequency response and a truer representation for vocals.
 
GodzillaMB said:
I would not recommend this mic for vocals because the PVM-520i has a large lower frequency response and would make recorded vocals muddy and mono-transit. The use of a large diaphragm condenser mic will have a better frequency response and a truer representation for vocals.
Click to expand...

"mono-transit?" That's a new one on me.

A mic's low frequency response does not necessarily make it unsuitable for vocals. Other mics with huge low-frequency response include Beyerdynamic M88, Sennheiser MD421, RCA 44 and 77 - all nice vocal microphones. I've not found the 520i to be bad for vocals, although I've only used it once for that since I have a bunch of other mics I would choose first.
 
---"mono-transit?" That's a new one on me.---

Yea. sorry about that word. It's one of thoughts words you use with your friends and the rest of the world thinks your nuts....
Basically mono-transit means one purpose for getting somewhere. In this case I meant that the frequency response seams to be tailored to a kick drum or low sounds. Example - The increased frequencies of a SM58 shines and brings presence to vocals, where the PVM-520i shines when placed on a kick.
 
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