sm58 or beta 58?

[Grant Bunter]

As always, budget is tight.
I'm working towards having PA ready for a local outdoor festival in October. 500 people plus, but not rock type volumes required for the bands I've booked.

I've got desk, FX, DCX, DEQ, Amps and a bunch of cabling already. I have a plan to hire foldback as I don't think I'll have the time/funds to build and buy extra amps required. I have EQ for foldback sends. I can hire a snake.
I've got a pair of T39's (I may yet build another pair), plus 2 x DR250 kits ordered.
I've sourced DI's.
I mulling over ideas about drum mikes, and with what I have already I reckon I have other instrument miking covered.

That leaves vocal mikes.
I'm inclined to use shure mikes. I have one SM58 so far.
I'll need to buy more.
So lol SM58 or beta 58 with it's better rejection?

Thanks in advance...

[BrentEvans]

Neither. 58 is an old friend and standby, but much better values for the same money exist. In a dynamic mic, you have the Audix OM3/OM5 (great feedback rejection and cutthrough tone), also EV ND767 is popular on lots of stages for its rejection and super low handling noise. My personal favorite right now is the Audio-Technica AE4100 which has lots of sparkle for great intelligibility and a nice pattern for vocalists.

For punk kid bands.. Behringer XM8500. Looks, feels, and sounds mostly like a 58. Costs $20 so when they smash it on the concrete by the cord, you don't have to cry too much.

[Grant Bunter]

Brent, thanks for your thoughts.

It seems that you can get much better pricing in the US, a quick search on the local e-bay and non ebay stores shows all except the OM3 (which is a little bit more than a beta 58) are significantly more expensive than the beta58. The AT is around double the price of a beta 58.

Add in shipping from overseas and potential savings disappear.

Good call on the behringer, no kids punk bands on the lineup but well worth remembering...

[BrentEvans]

Also check out the Sennheiser 835 (can't believe I forgot those). Those sometimes come in three packs at a discount (here anyways) and sound better than the 58, and have proven to be just about as durable.

[Grant Bunter]

Also check out the Sennheiser 835 (can't believe I forgot those). Those sometimes come in three packs at a discount (here anyways) and sound better than the 58, and have proven to be just about as durable.

Thanks again Brent!
Hmmm yep I can get them locally for $99 off da bay with free shipping ($25ish less than new sm58's). The 3 packs are only US based it seems, which is a shame, and save me like $15 after postage with the warranty hassle.

So you'd definitely go with them over 58's?

Edit: Is there any "not your usual recognised live vocal mike" stigma attached to the 835's? I don't want to buy something that may be outside a rider if I get other work out of the rig...

[Haysus]

Im a believer in best tool for the gig. Old stand by is standard 58 but small stages picks up a lot of noise. Any Audix mic for a small loud stage. Beta 58 for jazz or blue grass.

what style music do you play?

[BrentEvans]

The 835s are pretty well accepted over here. they are the standard capsule on sennheisers wireless systems. I like them better than 58s for most vocals.

[Grant Bunter]

Im a believer in best tool for the gig. Old stand by is standard 58 but small stages picks up a lot of noise. Any Audix mic for a small loud stage. Beta 58 for jazz or blue grass.

what style music do you play?

Thanks Haysus,
Our band play blues/soul/classic rock/retro.
Since I'm only just starting in PA, of course what I get I want to cover our band too. I won't be buying 20 mikes though lol, well not straight away.

The acts I've been talking with and look pretty set at this stage for the festival are:
jazz duo, contemporary 4 piece band with originals, contemporary country 4 piece band and Vocal contemporary trio ("Sons of Summer" for anyone from the Nashville area, Clint (who I toured with over here for 18 months) & his wife Jules Crighton and another). The stage for this is the trailer off an 18 wheeler. PA for this is my main focus at this time.
The two local schools will do some choir material as well.

I'm used to seeing beta 58's generally with a couple of local install rigs at venues we play at.

The 835s are pretty well accepted over here. they are the standard capsule on sennheisers wireless systems. I like them better than 58s for most vocals.

Thanks heaps Brent.
Sounds like they are just the ticket then.
So I bought three...

[Benj Ross]

I dont know where peavey is at over there, but the PVM 22 and PVM 46 are pretty fantastic. I have been surprised by the Peavey mics. I did not expect them to perform as well as they have for me. I tried them because I am a dealer for them, but they stay in my mic case with Shure, Ev, Etc because they are good. Dont hold their value either so used could be an option.

That being said I am with brent for the most part. If you have to go with the shures get the Beta 58s. There is always a wall I seem to hit with how good a sm58 will sound. Rugged jack of all trades etc and so on, but I dont like the sound of them. I have been pretty happy with the Beta 58s though.

Benj

[Grant Bunter]

Thanks for responding Benj!

Always good to hear about other options, and if you deal Peavey you should have a fair idea of their product.
All listings on local e-bay are international and over the top price wise.
Best price I could find for them online locally was $30 more than the EV's.
For now I've gone that way, gives me three EV's and an SM58, enough to kick off with.
If someone really requires headset type mikes, I have my own SM10A (plus 2 others that need some attention, better get onto that)...

[Chris_Allen]

This highly blurred image shows some of my mics:

Shure SM58 Beta (which decided to detach it's capsule and die)
T-Bone MB58 Beta (http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_mb85_beta.htm)
Shure SM58
Sennheiser E845

Of all those, I find T-Bone is the best all rounder but I use the Sennheiser as I find it suits my voice better.

I think Shure have lost their path and are still generating sales on what used to be a good, competitive product.

I wouldn't be afraid of buying cheaper copy products - the t-bones lasted longer and sound better (subjective) than the SM58Beta with more use and came with a better case at 1/4 the cost. I still use them now as the main microphones. The only issue I have is that some singers hear the brand name and believe it sounds better.

If I had to buy branded, I would always buy Sennheiser over Shure. I liked the 815, 835 and 845 but they are the only ones I've had. I've not had any real experience with EV mics.

[LelandCrooks]

+1 on the 835's

[Gregory East]

I have used my Behringer XM8500's on a few gigs, nobody has complained. Anyone is welcome to bring their own, if they are all that serious. They seem to be hotter than real 58's and a bit brighter. Best buy ever, next to the bfm's.

[slavedave]

Will add support for the Behringer xm 8500. For bread and butter vocals it has performed very well for us so far, and they are very affordable. You don't get the name (and possibly the spare part inventory) of the SM58 but it is so reasonably priced that it is (almost) disposable.
Another mic that we have started using that fits our appllcation well is the AKG D5 dynamic mic (they do a C5 condenser). It has a very tight pattern and proprietary technology that aid in feedback rejection in problematic venues. We use this as a main vocal mic for our worship leaders in a very reverberant, tricky gym and it has given us more than enough gain before feedback to allow us to hear the vocals like we never heard before. I picked mine up for about 45 pounds on ebay. One thing about the mic is that you have to roll off a lot of lows for male vocals since you have to get pretty close to the capsule for best results (almost "on it" if you know what I mean). I guess this is the proximity effect kicking in, but if you move off mic even a little bit your gain plummets. No such tweaking on female vocals so far though.

[AntonZ]

+1 on the XM8500. T-Bone mics are amazing value for money, too.

I have three Superlux Eco 88 mics. At €8 each (six of them go for €48) they can be used for kiddie noise bands. I use them on events at my kids' school. I would use them on a stage where I'd have reason to suspect gear might "disappear". And have used them in my band several times. Mostly for backing vocals. Our lady lead singer once had a nasty feedback issue with her own mic, gave her one of these and she happily sang all night and sounded fine. Didn't tell her the mic she praised was €8.