Fake Shure SM57s ! How to tell !!

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grandmsterflash

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Hi i just thought id post some pictures of the fake sm57 i got off ebay so others wont get scammed! There are loads of these chinese copies all over ebay and amazon marketplace, for suspiciously low prices. If you wanna get one, go to a music shop!

Ways to distinguish between a real and fake sm57:

-The real mic should weigh, or be very close to 284g (10oz)
The fake i had weighed 240g

-The band around the top of the mic grille should have printed on it 'SHURE SM57.......'
The fakes have a cheap looking sticker wrapped around, and on my one the 'R' in SHURE was raised above the other letters, and the logo looked slightly different to the real one.

-Measure the impedance across pins 2 and 3, this should be no more than 400 ohms.
My fake was 560 ohms.

The mics do come with all the stuff that you should get, the box, clip, pouch, little velcro strap and all the documentation. This looks very realistic.

Heres the pics of the fake:

http://john2k5.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fake1.JPG
http://john2k5.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fake2.JPG
 
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I'm still laughing that some company would actually FORGE an SM57. Why bother? The originals (made in mexico) are cheap enough and are original copies of the original mics.
 
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how about the difference in sound? any clips?

i got mine free when i bought my onyx off of some guy from ebay. the ring sticker around the top doesn't look like yours. the logo is correct, and the sticker doesn't look like a sticker. its dull black, and not glossy black. and it doesn't look like it got taken off and put back. i wasn't even sure if mine was a sticker until i picked at it a few times.
 
Get 'em while they're hot. :cool:
 

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Great now I need a scale to weigh my mics to make sHure they are real?! :o :( :mad: :eek: :D :cool: ;) :p :) :rolleyes:
 
You just wait.. The SM57-F will be standard in about 5 years... That's baller mic technology you got there... Rare stuff!!
 
http://www.gearwire.com/shure-nabs-counterfeiters.html

It Looks Authentic, But Can You Be Shure?
March 29, 2007

Shure, Inc. announced today a series of raids in Thailand and India that caught a ring of counterfeiters manufacturing fake Shure microphones. The most recent operation, taking place with the help of a South Asian Shure distributor and Indian authorities has resulted in the arrest of a trader in New Delhi.

The importation and distribution of counterfeit Shure products is an example of the overall problem manufacturers face when they outsource manufacturing into areas where intellectual property laws are viewed with little respect.

“We are committed to protecting our brand and making sure that all of our customers get a genuine Shure product every time they purchase an item with our name on it,” said Sandy LaMantia, President and CEO of Shure. “Simply put, we will not tolerate this activity and will do everything within our means to fight it. We treat this problem very seriously.”

“We encourage our customers to only make purchases of our professional and personal audio products from authorized Shure product dealers, whether they’re buying from a retail store or an online seller,” added LaMantia. “These sellers can be easily found using the Dealer Locator on the Shure website.”

Raids and actions in India and Thailand have recently netted caches of counterfeit Shure products, taking them off the market.
 
damn it!

:mad: looks like I got me a fake SM57, thanks a lot for the guide to knowing a fake. I bought mine from Amazon marketplace from a third party seller for just £26.99 with clip and cable etc.. I was very worried there was something wrong for it to be sold for so cheap but I ended up being talked into it by a friend and I decided to trust the seller as he had 99% good ratings from 502 people... I just weighed my 57 and it was just over 200g, the thing that made me suspicious was that it didn't work! I opened it up and the 2 wires had came loose from the solder (I got the impression SM57’s were indestructible)... and this might sound stupid but... I used a real sm57 2 years ago and I don't remember it taking so long to unscrew it or open it up, (Which I had to do to check the wires) hmm.. Well this is a shock hope I can return it :( i'm soo annoyed :mad:
 
just for the sake of comparison someone should take some pics of a real 57 so we can see them back to back.
 
yeah, there is quite alot of pictures if you search in google that come up, i 100% know mine is fake now.. the writing around the head is quite close on the fake but you can tell that it is not as bold and the spacing between the letters are not as close.. and the R in SHURE in definatly not alined correctly

http://images.misupply.com/products/original/Shure/63813.jpg

one clear pic
 
if you were going to illegally copy a mic, and flagrently sell it as an origional, why wouldnt you make the SHURE name on the mic the same as the shure name on an authentic 57? Why would you leave little tell tell signs that its fake? If you ask me their quality control standars suck :p
 
Agreed... although I’m very happy those signs are there, if this mic worked I probably would not have found this page and would have continued to use it... if the quality was not up to scratch it could have easily put me off the mic forever... shure really need to find a way to stop what is happening quickly I know for a fact that a lot of people will be getting fake 57's and not even realising it. It could really give this great mic a bad name after a while, and how can you trust sites that review items like this if many of the people reviewing it have a fake and think its real
 
I have three SM-57 mics.
All three of have (or had) a sticker around the grille. They are not printed.

They are all pre-1990's. Made in Mexico.

So, just the fact your mic has a sticker does not make it fake. Also the font on mine are different than what the newer genuine Shure's have.
 
Or you could just buy through an authorized Shure dealer, and pay the markup.
 
I have three SM-57 mics.
All three of have (or had) a sticker around the grille. They are not printed.

They are all pre-1990's. Made in Mexico.

So, just the fact your mic has a sticker does not make it fake. Also the font on mine are different than what the newer genuine Shure's have.
Click to expand...


I guess you just need to examine the signs that give it away, some of the really old sm57's may have had a sticker I have no idea, mine was apparently new and on the real SM57 I’m certain it is printed, you could take a really good look at the writing around the head and see if it looks a little different.

Or you could just buy through an authorized Shure dealer, and pay the markup.
Click to expand...

If I get my money back from this one then I’ll be getting one at full price from a shure dealer just to be sure I don't get sold any more items that are not what they claim to be :cool:

I like fake SM57 and I got it for $18USD. I have 4 now!
Click to expand...

Have you tried a real SM57 at all? Would really like to know what the difference in sound is like compared to each other.
 
german retailer thomann sells imitation sm57's for $50 and i must say : they don't sound ANYTHING like the original!!!

more like a cheap nady actualy.
 
vellomoon said:
mine was apparently new and on the real SM57 I’m certain it is printed, you could take a really good look at the writing around the head and see if it looks a little different.
Click to expand...

at first when i looked at mine i didn't think it was a sticker at all. it's not fake and glossy looking, there's no seem, it's not offset like the one pictured, and the logo is perfect.

i picked it up a second time and i didn't think it was a sticker again, but i took my nail and tried to pry something up. no dice.."it's not a sticker" i thought to myself. i picked at it a bit more and i got a little to come up.

i would think shure would make stickers too. printed? on a round metal object? it would seem they would deal with issues that would be a lot easier if they made a well made sticker
 
All real 57s have a sticker around the grille. That's how you take the windscreen off, there are tabs under the sticker.
 
I wonder if you buy a genuine Shure replacement grille if it fits on a fake mic.
I sure hope not. Hopefully the counterfiters weren't thinking that in depth about the copy. They probably want something that only looks like a 57.

Also, I think I heard somewhere the fake 57's grille doesn't spin indefinately like a real 57 does.

grandmsterflash, does your grille spin?

Also, can you take pics of the capdule, if you can take the grille off?
And a picture inside the body, and the backside of the capsule by spinning the mic apart at the seam?
Does it have a transformer?
 
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