AudioChainsDB
Electro-Voice

PL33

microphone

$149

Used market: $115*

Manufacturer datasheet

Specifications

5 of 7 values have a recorded source
Connectors
XLR 3-Pin Male·
Has Built In ADC
no·
Transducer Type
Dynamic Moving Coil✓
Sensitivity dBV
-66✓
Output Impedance ohms
150✓
Phantom Power Required
no✓
Connection Architecture
XLR-Only✓

Expert Audio Engineering Commentary

Tonal Profile

Supercardioid neodymium kick-drum microphone from the PL line. Electro-Voice prints the sensitivity in both scales - 0.5 mV/Pa and -66 dBV - and the two agree exactly, which is what a specification row should look like.

Gain Staging Advice

-66 dBV/Pa is the quietest microphone in this batch: 10 dB below an SM57, 4 dB below an Audix D6 and 13.6 dB below an ND76 from the same catalogue. It is designed for the inside of a kick drum and nowhere else. Ask it for a voice at 30 cm and you will be at the top of a budget preamp's gain range with its own noise floor in plain hearing.

* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~77% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026