mic test-sm57 versus chinese copy

[elementary]

I thought I'd put this up as I know there's been some recent discussion as to the pros and cons of cheap sm57 copies.
The model i used came from www.thomann.de and is called the t bone mb75. They cost about £25 Uk each and came with an xlr lead.

I played two riffs one using the seymour Duncan Jb junior in my strat-proco rat-deville 2x12 and one using the strat neck pickup.

I recorded though my alesis firewire desk with the settings and positioning the same for each mic. nothing was added to the signal. no volumes were changed.

the order is

riff 1:
t bone mb75 mic 1
t bone mb75 mic 2
shure sm57

riff 2:
t bone mb75 mic 1
t bone mb75 mic 2
shure sm57

I think the differences in the sounds of the t bone mics are quite remarkable.
I Hope this helps some people.

Here's the new link:

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=4587

Hopefully that fixed the volume problem.

 

[Track Rat]

You have some serious gain staging issues. I can hardly hear any of the clips. Definately not enough to make any kind of judgements on mic quality.

 

[elementary]

fixed it

 

[jimmy2sticks]

So what was your finding? I listened, but I would like to know what you think first.

 

[scrubs]

Mics 1 & 3 are certainly usable. I would throw #2 away.

 

[OhSh1rt]

I think the second mic sounds pretty nice, pretty high on low end though, probbly nice for some applications, at least for the first riff.


-jeffrey

 

[Ironklad Audio]

the fact that everyone here finds a noticeable difference between the two mics of the same make/model leads me to believe that their quality control blows...which also means you won't find my ass buying those mics

 

[elementary]

Yeh I wouldn't exactly recommend them, but i suppose you could get lucky.
I'm going to use mic 1 on the bottom snare head and mic 2 on the floor tom, with the standard sm57 on the top snare head next time i do drums. I think the crispness of mic 1 might help bring out the sizzle of the snares a bit and the slightly narrow, boxy quality shouldn't matter so much because the regular sm57 will compensate on top. At least thats my plan. I'll post up the results

I didn't expect to get two great mics for £50 but I would have liked it if they had sounded a little more like the real thing. Still I got two new sounds to play with

 

[Ironklad Audio]

hell yea man

in all actuality, it may be a little bit of an upside that they sound so much different, because now you essentially have 2 different mics

but i'm still not going to buy one myself, lol

 

[TragikRemix]

well, i just want to say that i cant believe how much the two mics of the same make and model differ...

and they blow next to a 57 in my opinion. what amp is that, rat deville? it doesnt sound exactly sweet.

 

[elementary]

its a fender deville 2x12 with a proco rat before it. It doesnt sound the best cuz its 65 watt all tube and it was running as low as it could hence the string noise you can hear Its a great amp when you crank it but, didn't want to piss off the parents too much hehe

 

[TragikRemix]

oh i know all about it...

i have the hot rod deluxe 1x12 all tube, and its a great amp. i got it specifically for recording. i can get a good sound starting at around 3 on the master volume, which isnt too bad. then again, i can only record, with volume anyway, twice a week; saturday after work (6pm-7pm) or wednsday, my only day off, (1pm-5pm)...

i know all about the limits due to parenting...

i had to get vdrums so i could practice drums. paid over $2500 for my drums, cymbals etc, and mics, and they pretty much sit there most of the time...

 

[PinkNoise]

Think about this . . .

"I would have liked it if they had sounded a little more like the real thing."

Assuming that you mean like an SM57 - - what if they'd sounded better?
Would you condemn them as cheap fakes because they didn't sound the same (or similar) to an SM57?

(Just having a little stir! LOL )

I bought an SM58 fake which came with the Shure zippered bag, warranty card etc. It was well finished and sounded not bad, but I don't have a real one to compare it with. At the same time I bought a cheaper, garish looking mic. aimed at the Karaoke market, I suppose. It sounds fabulous and the cardioid rear rejection is just astonishing. It's fun to make a discovery like this, but sadly, the dealer has no more of these, but is still selling the "Shure" lookalikes like hot cakes.