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Scott Dorsey Scott Dorsey is offline
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Default New Shure mics vs. old

Nil wrote:
I have both an old Shure SM-57 and SM-58 left over from my college rock
band in the '70s. I never liked the sound of them on my voice (they
sound dull to me), but they do have the advantage of being practically
indestructible. I've heard them used by lots of other people and they
sound just fine for a stage mike. I've always assumed that those mics
just don't flatter my particular voice, though I've also heard that
they were finicky about what preamp they were used with, so maybe I
just didn't pair them well.

But then I read recently (on the Shure web site, I think) that they had
actually redesigned the mics a few times over the years (different
transformers, maybe?) and that new ones don't sound like the old ones.

Does anyone have more information about that? I'm wondering if it would
be practical or useful to "upgrade" them or buy new ones, or if it will
make any difference at all.


SM-57 and SM-58 haven't changed, except that the consistency has improved
and they moved production to Mexico some time in the late 1980s.

Fletcher and a few others claim that the sound of the US-made ones is better
than the sound of the Mexican ones, but I could never tell the difference
really.

The SM-57 and SM-58 have the same capsule inside, but sound totally different.
I find the SM-58 dull because of the foam ball, but the SM-57 is a remarkably
useful mike.

Now, there have been a lot of variants on those designs, such as the 556
and the Beta 57 and so forth, but they aren't the same.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."