SM57 or MD421

F

flamin-gitaur

New member
I want to record a Marshall guitar cab with heavy distorted guitars, and I am thinking about buying one of these mic's. shure SM57 or Sennheiser MD421. I hear that the 57 has more mid range and the 421 has more low end. Does any of this ring true? I would like to get a mic that captures the cabs natural sound without to much enhancement. Does anyone out there use any of these mic's for this type of application? I would appreciate your opinion. :)
 
I own them both and use them both on guitars. In my opinion, the sm57 does have a more midrangey sound, kind of grainy sounding. It's pretty "boxy" sounding in my opinion. The MD421 sounds more true to life, cleaner/less grainy. I prefer the MD421 BUT it all really depends on your guitar sound and what you're going for. If you want it to sound the closest to your actual guitar sound then definitely go with teh MD-421. It's way more expensive though.

I wouldn't worry too much about the the sm57 not capturing the lows as well, if your in a band with a bass guitar then you're probably going to want less lows in
order for the bass guitar to be heard better, so you're not going to want a lot of really low stuff on the guitar anyway.

Also, If you don't have a good preamp definitely go with the 421. The SM57 doesn't sound too great through lower quality preamps in my experience.
 
innobidova said:
Check out the Sennheiser E609 Silver.
Click to expand...

I also own this mic. I don't personally like it that much but to each his own. However, it's DEFINITELY not accurate to what's in the room, which is what he's going for.
 
I'll have to agree with BRIEFCASEMANX on this one. The 421 will give you a much more accurate reproduction of your cabinet, as long as you place it correctly. You won't go wrong with the 57 though. If you've got the budget, buy the 421. It is a much more versatile mic, and you can use it on many more things than just guitar. At $89, you can pick up a 57 anytime. As for the e609, there are mixed opinions on this one. I have two of them that I use for live guitars, but they can get a bit thin by themselves in the studio. I will often put an e609, and a Shure SM7 on the same speaker cone, and pan them out. This gives a pretty cool sound in the stereo field, without the phasing issues caused by two mics at different differences from the speaker. You can easily substitute an SM57 for the e609 and a 421 for the SM7 in this application. As always, experiment. Borrow mics from friends and try them too. Rent mics from local sound companies if you can. This will give you the chance to try out many different mics without having to shell out all the money to buy them.

Cheers,
Zach
 
57 is cheaper (much), but 421 is an awesome mic. how about using both? i use two 57's on my guitar cab, one horizontal, off axis, and one angled off axis.

look on ebay as always.
 
I use both and mix to taste. It really depends on the sound. All Marshalls sound like a Marshall, but the all don't sound the same.
 
Yep, can't go wrong with either on a Marshall, though I think a 421 can be much better on other stuff where a 57 might be lacking, i.e., some kick drums, bass cabs, vocals...so you pay extra for the 421, but you can probably stretch how you use it a bit further, too.
FWIW, I like the e609 quite a bit - almost always better than a 57 on guitar stuff for me.
 
Hey thanx for all the replies. I was kinda leaning more towards the 421 simply because I dont care for mid's in my sound too much. And yeah it is 3x as mush as the 57, which is why I wanted to get some feed back before I dished out $$$. Thanx!! :D
 
I've got all the mics mentioned above, and they're all good for mic'ing Marshall cabs (I've used them all on lots of Marshalls, as well as other amps).

If you want tons of presence, the SM-57 will give it to you. You won't get a ton of bottom end, but you will get an "in your face" sound if you close-mic the cab.

If you want a smoother midrange and top end with a somewhat similar bottom end, the e609Silver is a good choice. This is the mic I prefer when recording Teles through a clean amp... it's very easy to get an "accurate" sound, and it's the easiest mic of the three to position.

If you want a smooth, almost "3D" sound with plenty of options for the bottom end, I'd go with the 421. Personally, I think the 421 is the most flexible mic of the three, regarding recording guitar amps... clean, distorted, doesn't matter... it's never given me an overly bright or brittle track.

All three mics are usable for other duties too, especially with drums. If you've got the resources, buy one of each! ;)
 
i prefer the 57 for marshall cabs, just move it around to get the sound you like in reference to what you want from the amp
 
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