Shure PG series

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picostudios

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How are these mics. I know shure is a reliable brand of microphones. I was looking to get some new drum mics. I bought the Samson 7 Kit. It sucks balls. The tom and snare mics feel like toys.
 
I have the PG-57. I find it to be an OK beginner's mic. I found it worked well on snare. But truthfully, comparing it to a normal 57. I would pay the extra 30 or so and get a SM-57 over the PG
 
Rather than having a cheap set of kit mics I'd choose a decent pair of overheads, a decent kick mic (AT ATM25 maybe) and a decent snare mic (most certainly not Shure SM57!!).

If I were you I'd save up and make a proper step up. The Shure PGs aren't really a step up from anything.
 
I too have the PG57. I don't find it too useful for recording (I only do vocals and acoustic guitar), but as a vocal mic for band practice, I find it does everything I need it to.
 
How about for live performance? Do these mics have anything to offer over and above the SM57, SM58 and SM81?
 
Shure's PG series is their budget series...it's "affordable, application-specific, and ideal for practice." (thats from the 2004 Shure cataloge). In other words, the SM series is much better. As Shure puts it, the SM series are "industry standard for club use and touring." Of course that's not to say the PG series is garbage, but I highly doubt that there would be any advantage of using them over the SM series (besides price of course).

In general, the PG series' frequency responses are narrower, not as flat, and the mics themselves are more plastic (not in sound, in material).

I would save up for some SM's or Beta's.
 
picostudios said:
How are these mics. I know shure is a reliable brand of microphones. I was looking to get some new drum mics. I bought the Samson 7 Kit. It sucks balls. The tom and snare mics feel like toys.
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IMO, the PG mics suck eggs.
 
I have all the mics I want for drums and stuff. (602's, 604's, 421's, 408's, D112's, B52's, b56's, b98's, b91's and probably even more. I also have a couple sets of the full pack of PG drum mics. The tom mics are actually very usable. I would not use the kick mic on kick, but it does well on floor toms. Someone above mentioned not to get a 57 for snare. Thats a load of crap. Live or studio, you really should invest in at least 1 sm57 for snare before you go out and buy a specialized snare mic. Personally, I like beta 57's oin snare top and regular sm57's or AKG 451's or AKG 414's on bottom snare. Also, the PG condensor mics really aren't great for recording, but are acceptable for Hi Hat or Overheads in live use.
 
I said not '57 for snare and stand by it. The '57 sucks ass in my opinion - unless you want your music to sound like it's being played in a shoebox. As for the minging hi-hat sounds you get from the side of a '57 ... simply not worth the bother or money.

For a cheap snare mic, Sennheiser e835 is quality. You can back the top end off if you like - but at least it's there to start with!
 
IMO, the SM57 is a very useable snare mic (but the snare must sound good first)... and my favorite snare mic is the Beyers M201.
 
I guess we are each entitled to our own opinions. I have never had a problem getting a good snare sound with an sm57, even though I have plenty of options available to me, live or in the studio. Sure maybe its not the best, but it is the most flexible and most widely accepted snare mic. I agree though that no matter waht the sanre must sound right before the mic can be expected to sound good. Good drum sounds start with good drum tuning.

Its OK by me if you want to stick with your opinion noisedude. But a shoebox? Thats a good one. I guess the majority of the engineers out there like shoeboxes then.

For all the others that may not know any better, the overwhelming majority of engineers out there, live or studio, famous and infamous have no problems using Shure sm57's on snare drums or on guitar cabinets. They are consistent, durable, reliable, cheap, and have a decent sound.
 
I'm trying to work out how you'd position a B52 on a drum kit.

Do you use it on the really bad drummers? :D
 
xstatic said:
Its OK by me if you want to stick with your opinion noisedude.
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Thanks! :)
xstatic said:
But a shoebox? Thats a good one. I guess the majority of the engineers out there like shoeboxes then.
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I guess the majority of engineers who choose to use '57s out there like having expensive preamps.

For the budget guy (such as myself) with Behringer or similar pres, the '57 just sounds so ... well, shoeboxy!!

When I get my first Neve I'll come back and give you my new opinion ;) :rolleyes: :p
 
noisedude said:
Thanks! :)

I guess the majority of engineers who choose to use '57s out there like having expensive preamps.

For the budget guy (such as myself) with Behringer or similar pres, the '57 just sounds so ... well, shoeboxy!!
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But you have to remember that the majority of engineers/musos prefer the drum kit to sound like anything BUT a drum kit. How else do you explain the shitty sound most produce.
 
I guess that's true. Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong! All this time I've been going for a Dave Matthews Band sound and really I should box it up and turn it into pop music!!!
 
I love clean, crisp drums. a bit of verb, not too much like shitty 80s snare.
 
I guess I am lucky in that I have never had to mix an album on a Behringer nor do I own a Mackie.

I love how everybody complains about how stuff sounds bad nowadays. Then we sit here and complain about 57's. What do you think people used back when we thought music sounded good? :))
 
xstatic said:
I love how everybody complains about how stuff sounds bad nowadays. Then we sit here and complain about 57's. What do you think people used back when we thought music sounded good? :))
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Its just become a religion amongst popular music to get the MAX level on the finished cut and almost forget the quality.

I do not believe that modern equipment is any poorer than earlier versions but I feel that something (skill?) is def. missing somewhere or maybe it is just me getting old.
 
I have several PG58 that I use for live performances with guest punk musicians. There is an audible difference between two of my PG58. One sounds close to an SM58 the other does not. These bands all play so screaming loud, using a high quality mic is pointless.

The justification for PG58 is price. Don't buy a new PG58 when you can get a used SM58 for the same money. One good thing about the PG58 is it comes with an off switch on the mic.
 
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