I have found another microphone from our old audio production days, the AKG D320B (1980's)
Good on cabs, snare and vocalists, although on stage use/hand held might be tiresome because this is quite a heavy microphone.
Very well considered vintage, aimed squarely at the likes of the Sennheiser MD421 market with its great mid range dynamics. Many performers prefer this mic over the "standard" choice of a SM57 or SM58
AKG Dynamic Microphone
Model: D320B
Released to the market in the 1980's
We had this microphone in the "mic cupboard" until the early 2000's and then upon closing of our audio facilities, it has been in the storage units ever since.
Frequency response is 80 - 18,000 Hz (1.4 mV/Pa)
Hyper Cardioid pattern
Max SPL: 128 dB 1% THD or 156 dB 3% THD
3x Bass rolloff settings using a tiny switch recessed into the body
250 Ohm Z
Floating microphone element design
Hum bucking coil
Passive bass roll off selection switch (3 settings) effective up to 100Hz
1 = 0dB
2 = 10dB
3 = 20dB
This is achieved using an internal inductor (L) and each setting does NOT alter S/N across the 3 switch positions.
Microphone design provides side source sound without colouration and high rear rejection - very good for feedback control.
Nickel plated diecast zinc metal body
Hardened steel "safety basket" head
Industry standard XLR male output socket
Dimensions: 185mm long x 53mm diameter (head)
340g weight
NOT INCLUDED:
Microphone audio lead is not included
No stand clip
No box is provided
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Very good - no physical damage at all
NO damage to the steel safety grille head, this microphone has not been swung around hitting anything in it's path! That would not be a good thing anyway, this is one VERY SOLID (rugged) microphone and if you got hit by a performer swinging the mic, you would certainly know about it!
Body is excellent, just a couple of very small marks AND two engravings made for security reasons - one engraving is on the first top ring and the other is on the body, near the XLR connector. Both are not very noticeable.
The body has stamped (not decals) into the metal:
AKG
D320B
and
AUSTRIA LOW IMP
Inside the safety grille/head is very clean, BUT THE INTERNAL POP FILTER HAS BEEN REMOVED (FOR HEALTH & SAFETY REASONS). The new owner will need to fit a replacement liner, this is a fabric/foam liner.
CMI in Victoria are Australian agents for AKG, they MIGHT be able to help with a new liner or fashion one yourself to suit the head - it won't be as good as an original AKG filter/liner but it will help to keep the water vapour away from the microphone element.
The old liner was removed because this microphone has been used a lot in our studios (not on stage) and over the years it gets a build up of water vapour "gunk" from the artist. Particularly in these days of Covid-19, I decided to remove the liner and also clean the whole top of the head with steriliser.
This microphone is now absolutely "bug free" and stored within sealed plastic.
TESTING:
Although this microphone has been trouble-free in the past, for one last time I plugged it into a mixer here and played vocalist! (not a good one)
Plenty of audio from the front, side lobes drop off quickly and nothing from the rear - nice clean, clear audio.
The bass roll off switch lever is tiny but easy enough to operate while using the mic, very effective and noticeable drop off between position 1 (no bass roll off) and positions 2 & 3 - very handy if stage feedback is an issue. I could not notice any difference to the mids/highs, only the lows are affected.
Nice microphone, fully operating and quite an interesting mic to experiment with.
