Peavey PVM38 and PVM38i

[dadroadie]

Hi to all,
Can anyone advise me of the difference between a Peavey PVM 38 and a Peavey PVM 38i?
I have a chance to get one of the PVM 38i and was wondering if it's a good microphone for general vocal use .
Any other applications that it would also work on?
Would I be better off picking up a PVM 22?
Thanks in advance to all on this great forum!
Regards dadroadie

[Bartman]

I believe the PVM 38i is the newer version, but even at that, it is still a 20+ year old microphone. Things wear out, especially vocal mics picking up everyone's moist breath leading to internal corrosion. There is one listed for sale on Reverb.com for $14.95, and another for $14.99 so I would not pay much for a used mic of that age.

The 38 is well suited for male vocals, as it has good low-end response. The 22 has a little bit crisper/cleaner sound and is good for male or female vocals, but likewise the 22 is also a very old model, and used prices for them are around $25.

[studiodtk5]

Generally the issue with older microphones is the foam elements drying out or the rubber isolation elements getting hard. Also, solder joints can give way. The capsules can fail, but are generally good.

It all depends on what you are looking for from the microphone. If you are looking for different tonal characters, go for all kinds of variants. If this is strictly sound reinforcement reproduction, I would go for reliability. Then I would just stick with new microphones, CM1, PVM44, PVM50.

[dak]

Generally the issue with older microphones is the foam elements drying out or the rubber isolation elements getting hard. Also, solder joints can give way. The capsules can fail, but are generally good.

Older electret microphones have various failure modes of the membrane itself, and then there is the elephant in the room in the form of leftover batteries inside (older ones tend to predate XLR connectors and phantom power). Every microphone type can also suffer significantly from corrosion depending on storage conditions, but of course battery acid is one of the uglier pollutants.

But like with lots of old gear there's fun in playing around. And "vintage Peavey" is probably more representative for the sound of the time than "vintage Neumann" and without much of a collector's premium.

[studiodtk5]

You could be correct on your assessment. I am speaking exclusively from my experience with a fairly large quantity of older microphones. I don’t have any Peavey electret condensers that have a failed element. Not that they can’t fail, I just don’t have any that have. I have repaired various solder joint issues within the microphones. As well as suspension and foam issues.
I am not aware of any Peavey microphones that have internal batteries other than wireless transmitters.
Peavey vintage microphones can be fun to mess. You can get into a generally good quality vintage microphone at a very inexpensive buy in compared to EV, AKG, Altec, Sennheiser, etc. but you have to be prepared for some potential refurbishments.