ES-57 (SM-57 copy) Impressions

reshp1

reshp1

New member
After hearing about these Orange County Speaker Repair's SM-57 copies, the ES-57 in this thread:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=190279

I decided to give them a go, they arrived today. Physically they are very solidly built and the bottom half looks very much like the SM57 except a more prominent taper off toward the end. The weight is about the same. The grill is fixed to the body, unlike the SM57 which swivels (I never really liked this about the Shure SM57). It is also bigger, the taper from the body steaper, and the mic is about 1/8" longer than a SM57. I only had a chance to throw them up on a guitar cab so far. The ES57 had a noticably stronger output than the SM57, good news for those without high gain pre's. The sound was very similar, and the clarity matched the SM57 closely. The ES57 copies did sound brighter and the bass was a bit thinner compared to the SM57 (at least mine). Neither are that much different, nor to the point of being a fault. Just a slightly different flavor than the SM57. I bought the three pack and all three were very consistent in build, sound and output levels. At $80 for 3, IMO, they're a steal.
 
Thanks for the review... I, too, have been eyeing the ES57 sets on e-bay. Granted, at this point I've got enough different mics to cover pretty much anything, so I don't really need any more mics (esp. more that duplicate the ones I've already got), but at $30 it feels like too good of a bargain to pass up... almost like it's worth picking up a couple of them as "insurance" in case one of my SM57's gives out.

Then again, the more I think about it, the less I'm using SM57's these days. I used to swear by 'em on gutiar cabs, but now I like the Sennheiser e609 more. Used to used 57's on snare, but now I like the Audix i5 more. So maybe I really don't need 'em, but again, they're so cheap they're hard to ignore.

--B
 
seems like a good deal if you're on a budget, 3 es57's for $90 compared to 1 sm57 for the same price.

i rarely see sm57's go for less than $60 on ebay (including shipping).
 
I talk about these in another thread below

I've used them for over a year.

Great mics...which I actually like better than the Shure mics...I do like the Shure SM-58 just slightly better than the ES-58, but the ES-58 is very usable and linear in freq response.

The ES-57's sound great mic'ing guitar cabs, on congas, and on drums.

Just a super value.

Jay
 
Does any one know if you can get these mics in England?. On ebay.com they only ship to the USA. Thanks
 
james123 said:
Does any one know if you can get these mics in England?. On ebay.com they only ship to the USA. Thanks
Click to expand...

I bought a couple off a lass that bought a pack of ten to record an orchestra of all things.
She'd done with them so i bought 2 at £25 each
excellant work horse mic. not good on everything but surpisingly good on vocals too. Mostly use my gls es 57's on cabs, scratch vocals, percussion.
I'm gonna try it on my digital piano next week with my tape deck and see how that turns out.
I really like them. I did a review here a while back
Search GLS ES 57
good luck pilgrim

here you go
https://homerecording.com/bbs/equipment-forums/microphones/new-mic-day-341338/
 
I bought a couple (not GS/GLS/ES, but "V-Tech" brand) from a shop locally. The 57 has a slightly different head. Similar origin I'd imagine. I've used them as a karaoke mic, (the faux 58) and for close micing drums. No complaints, for US$25 a piece I'm not complaining.
 
Just received 2 of them thru amazon, $29 each, haven't tried them out yet. One difference to the Shure is that the heads do not swivel. The overall diameter at the head is just a bit larger, too. (Anyone want to buy two Shure SM57 windscreens? They have a metal ring at bottom with a set screw to tighten it in place)
 
Got to use an ES57 for live purpose last night, had tried it out in rehearsal Friday night, too. Worked great for picking up an acoustic mandolin in a noisy bar. Nice crisp clear sound (actually sounded better than the guys with an electric-acoustic Collins that is worth some $$).

Edited to add: why does 'mandolin' appear twice in the second sentence when I view it from work? It's not showing in the edit window. Maybe what I have seen as duplicate words in various forums online is in fact this outdated browser!
 
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mjbphotos said:
Just received 2 of them thru amazon, $29 each, haven't tried them out yet. One difference to the Shure is that the heads do not swivel. The overall diameter at the head is just a bit larger, too. (Anyone want to buy two Shure SM57 windscreens? They have a metal ring at bottom with a set screw to tighten it in place)
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Your talking to the right guy here Mike. How much?
 
mjbphotos said:
At $30 a mic, for sure! I can't imagine I can find someone to repair my SM57 for that price.

Next tests will be recording acoustic and mic-ing an amp for live play.
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I repaired my SM57. One of the transformer wires had come loose for some reason. A few minutes with a screwdriver and soldering iron was all it took.
 
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