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First off....
I would like to say hello, as I have been visiting the electrical forum for a little while now and have found some really great information pertaing to alot of my personal interests. Everyone here seems very open minded and likeable.
However, I'm getting a sense of a general hatred for the sm57 on this board. I personally have an sm57 and use it exclusively to mike my guitar amp. I've tried other microphones on my cabinet, and to be honest with you, I think the 57 holds up quite nicely in comparison. Granted, I've never had the luxry of sticking a Royer in front of it (I'm strictly a home enthusiast with a limited budget), but I have stuck a few different mics in front of it, yet still prefered the 57.
I know alot of people on this board are seriously into mics, and this is definately the place for it, but don't you think it's getting a bum rap around here? It's a definately a mic for the little people, and for them it speaks loudly. Doesn't that deserve some kind of merit in itself? Does a general consensus in one place mean it really is shit? Rick Rubin used a 57 to record alot of Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic...that album sounds pretty good to me. If this were his studio's site I bet you would have opinions that lay on the extreme opposite spectrum of general opinion about this microphone (and I mean absolutely no disrespect Mr. Albini) .
To me this microphone is alot like a first lay. You'll most definately have better ones after it, but it still holds a special place in your heart. And then when you think you've moved on, you meet her again, have great sex and remember why it was you liked her in the first place.
P.S.
I love the spell check feature.

hey hiya ksounds.

i would say that a lot of the arguments you put forward about the SM57 are akin to speaking about McDonald's. it's everywhere, it's popular, it gets the job done... i've used them a bunch over the years, and i still use one today to mic my rack tom.

but i've picked up a handful of mics over the past year or two that do much better on my guitar and bass amps. an example would be the SM7. love what it does with guitar. and vocals. kills the SM57 at both. it's a lot more expensive. but, i'd say, well worth it.

i think if you read every thread about mics, and every thread that mentions the SM57, you'll find a thread somewhere where folks give examples of mics that are similarly priced or even cheaper that they have found to be better. i don't know exactly what thread it was, but i definitely remember its existence, if only vaguely.

out of curiosity, what kind of amp(s) are you talking about micing here? and what other mics have you tried that you didn't like as much?

I have a twin reverb. I've tried an Oktava mk319, blue bluebird, 58 and a studio projects b1. There are many I would like to try, and I must say I've developed an extreme case of microphone envy after reading a few of threads on the board, but I find it counterproductive to live in that world, as it's unatainable to me right now...so I try and get the best with what I have. The blue was definately the best of the condensers I've tried. It was tight in the same way a 57 is. The rest seemed less defined. I've yet to really experiment with mic placement using a condenser...and I certainly do not claim to be an engineer. It might be a bit nieve on my part, but the 57 is really easy, and with an rnp, sonically pleasing to my ears.

I'm with you. The SM57 is unfairly maligned. They last forever and they sound pretty good for the money. A staple of home recording. Now that anyone can buy a condensor for 60 bucks, the 57 will probably get slammed by a whole new crew of home recordist types.

My guess is that if probed, most people here would actually "hate" it because it's predictable and boring. Most people here (I think) that there's no such thing as a "bad" mic - they just sound different.

People have used speakers, headphones, lavalier mics and toys to record, so I can't believe that anyone truly believes 57's suck, unless they are being contrary. I prefer Wustof over Henckle knives, but Henckles don't *suck*, you know?

I believe the thing about the 57 that makes people hate it so much is that its become ubiquitous in the recording and live sound realm. For whatever reason, across the board people assume its THE mic you must use on guitar amp. People buy that mic partially because they are too lazy to investigate other possibilities and paritially because it has stood the test of time as being a durable and fairly decent sounding mic. Its usually the first mic people learn about when told to purchase an instrument mic. I don't think the mic is worse than any other mic, its just different. Because the mic is so common, everyone recognizes the sound. I also think part of the reason everyone looks down on it is because of the classic "I am more punk rock than you" syndrome. In other words, "everyone uses that mic so I won't because I am different."
I use that mic because I bought one when I first started to record. Would I buy another one now? Probably not, but it gets the job done!

The 57 gets a bad rap for recording guitar amps because it often sounds not so great on such sources. Take a look at the SM57's frequency response chart, and it's easy to see why:



Basically there's a big ramp headed up towards the 5K region, just where many guitar amp speakers begin to roll off.

Being a person who plays guitar, I have spent a lot of time (and money) getting my electric guitar / amp sounding just the way I want. Along the way I have tried different guitars, different amps, various pedals, pickups, strings, picks, etc. The last thing I need is for a mic to come in and poop all over that.

The 57 is still not crap though, and has its bang for the buck advantages.[/b][/i]

I also think part of the reason everyone looks down on it is because of the classic "I am more punk rock than you" syndrome. In other words, "everyone uses that mic so I won't because I am different."

Hey 909...good point. But seriously, is there a microphone that's more punk rock than the 57?

I also think part of the reason everyone looks down on it is because of the classic "I am more punk rock than you" syndrome. In other words, "everyone uses that mic so I won't because I am different."

i think people look down on it b/c it sucks

of course decent records have been made with sm57s on the guitar amps or snare drum or whathaveyou.

and it's entirely possible that it will be uniquely suited to some particular kind of source. i don't know what that would be, but it's possible.

it's still a shitty mic compared to a half-dozen other mics you could buy for 200 dollars or less

the beyer m88 completely destroys the 57. the beyer 201 completely destroys the 57. i'm not a big sennheiser 421 fan, but it's better than the 57. i don't know the model numbers of the cheaper e/v mics that destroy the 57, but they exist.

these mics can be had used for as little as a couple hundred bucks each. that might be twice as much as a 57, but it's a small price to pay for a big jump in quality.

the great thing about 57s (and 58s) is that they are cheap, incredibly durable, and predictable. i think they are useful in small clubs, especially, where the same PA gear is being used every night, in the same room, and a lot of the room sound is gonna come from the amps and drums anyway.

because 57s lend the same crappo sound quality to everything you put them on, people are lead to believe they are versatile, and i suppose by definition they are, after a fashion. but a 201 kills it on snare, an m88 kills it on vocal or guitar or bass, a 421 kills it on toms, etc. etc. there's nothing a 57 does on anything that one of these mics doesn't do a whole lot better. i would put an m88 on anything that one might mic up w/a 57.

at the time the 57 was first developed, it was a breakthrough, in that it was a truly sturdy mic that did the basic job a microphone is supposed to do. nowadays, it's been surpassed in quality and equaled in durability many times.

it's a tribute to shure that they developed this mic that is very hard to break and have capitalized on it to the degree that they have. people have gotten used to it, and the company has loaded up on money as a result. good for them. but you can do a lot better.

shure makes a number of very good mics. i actually think the 57 and 58 have hurt their rep among more discerning users. i know plenty of people who pigeonhole the entire line based on those two sound-transforming devices.

tmidgett wrote: i would put an m88 on anything that one might mic up w/a 57.

I can recall a/b-ing an SM57 and an M88 on a particular Marshall amp and finding the M88 too bright with not enough body.

I think the SM57 has a noticeable sound which people feel comfortable to record with because they are so familiar with hearing it on recordings. I've found that sometimes it sounds good on Marshall amps because it accentuates certain frequencies which give it more of the same character.

I still agree that they are pretty shit though.

for what its worth, i just replaced my three sm57s with audix i5s and i feel the audix to be far superior on every sound source. they cost 10 dollars more.