Shure sm58 alterative?

Teetonetal

Need a new mic as I left mine at the gig last night and it's gone... Is the sm58 still the goto mic? Anything better? 

simonk

Was there anything you didn't like about the 58?
I'm a big fan of the Audio Technica AE6100 which suits me nicely. The Audix OM5 and OM7 are also impressive.

Teetonetal

Not really. Just looking for options.

Kebabkid

You could try the Shure Beta 58A. More expensive but better to many people's ears.

maltingsaudio

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/93901/recommend-me-a-vocal-mic#latest

spark240

Kebabkid said:

You could try the Shure Beta 58A. More expensive but better to many people's ears.

The Beta definitely has more dynamics to it...

mike257

The 58 is way down my list for small, loud stages. Personal preference is the AKG D5, I carry four in my mic kit and they work well on the majority of singers. Sennheiser are generally good, 845 is a good choice, if you can stretch to the 945 you won't be disappointed. The Audix mentioned earlier are also great. 

The 58 is only as popular as it is now because of pure recognition factor. There's a lot of better performing mics around.

Jeremiah

Isn't the main attraction of the SM58 its reputation for being almost indestructible? Always wondered how the other brands compare in this respect.

Danny1969

Jeremiah said:

Isn't the main attraction of the SM58 its reputation for being almost indestructible? Always wondered how the other brands compare in this respect.

The SM58 is far from indestructible  ...  when we were running rehearsal rooms we constantly had to pull the dents out of the the sm58  grills and sometimes the small copper feeds from the capsule to the transformer would fail and that was a pain to fix as well. Ended up buying a load of XM1800 cheapos which sounded roughly the same and were only £22 each

SM58 is a a fine workhorse mic but it's overpriced for what it is and as @mike257 said in my experience the Senn equivalents are better 

bob21

I'll take a picture of the 58 drawer next time I'm in the warehouse.. There are probably 50 SM58s in there, you'll struggle to find more than one that isn't dented/bashed/damaged... And we refresh the grill balls every year!

ESBlonde

Part of the SM58s reputation is from the USA where the makers guarantee is to repair all faults, you send yours back and they usually send you a new one because they are so cheap to make. they became ubiquitous and like so much American pop culture we got it too. I've broken or had fail every SM57 I ever bought although slightly better luck with SM58s at about 50%.

vasselmeyer

I've had my SM58 for 10 years and gigged it pretty much every week since. At the end of the night, it goes into a pouch lined with bubblewrap and then chucked in my cable bag. I don't particularly like the sound or the amount of stage noise it picks up but I can't really justify selling it and getting a new one until it breaks or gets  nicked..

Teetonetal

I bought the one I lost in 1996.. so 21 years old! That is pretty good going.

Teetonetal

Used a sennheiser e835 last night. Liked that a lot. Very clear sound.

midlifecrisis

ive used my sm58 for about 6 years no problem but a few years ago i bought for a jam i use to run a new behringer xm85 which is a copy of the sm58 but less than £20. tbh it seemed a bit crisper than the shure and just as tough.