Shure SM7dB

R

rob aylestone

Moderator
I see at long last, Shure have added an internal preamp to the SM7B - adding 28dB of clean gain (it says).

It's taken a long time, but a great idea! Might help with the counterfeits, but I guess a preamp isn't that hard? It is pretty expensive though - over 500UKP
 
Sounds like something they should have done a long time ago.

Not that I care. Never had preamp gain issues with my gear. But sure the heck heard about it from others for years...
 
I like it. +18 or +28 is nice.
2 yr warranty
Cloud pre licensed ($150 for a Cloud)
Brand new.....(Front End is $499 no tax or shipping. )
Made In Mexico
Foam spit cover, the big ball foam piece ($25?)

for now no counterfeit confusion...yet.... :) ..

...kind of cool to get a Rev 1
 
The ironic thing surely must be that they made a classic mic with a pretty well known defect for many users - the damn low output. One firm built the solution and happily sold it for years with a big SM7B user base. Why has it taken Shure so long to do this? You do have to feel a bit sad for Cloudlifter though. A product aimed firmly at one microphone. They have a few other uses, but for most consumers buying an SM7B was usually two purchases.
 
I tremble to cross solder irons with Rob Aylestone but I would say calling the low sensitivity of the SM7b a "defect" is a bit strong?!

There are really only two ways to boost a mics output. More windings on the diaphragm coil or stronger magnets. I am assuming magnet gap clearances are as tight as is sensible.
More wire means either a bigger coil (mind the gap!) or thinner wire which will change the resistance of the coil and throw the response and damping in the basket. The mic coil feeds a far more complex impedance than most mics so it is all inter-related.

The magnets I guess are the best Alnico types available at launch (1977?) I don't think Neos were at all common then? Retrofitting Neos would not be a simple matter as the stronger flux would also have an impact on damping.

The SM7b is still a touch hotter than the Coles 4038 and so I think Cloudlifter and associated products still have a market? There are also plenty of people around the world that have old AIs and mixers that they love and struggle to get a decent S/N even with an SM57/58.

Many modern interfaces now have excellent pre amps. My MOTU M4 is very quiet on a 57 and might be good enough for a 7b? My NI KA6 Mk1 also has a very low noise pre but could do with another 6dB of gain. Nonetheless it is perfectly usable with a 57 for speech. Even though my room is very quiet it is not as quiet as that AI/mic combination.

Just an old valve 'tronics duffer's two penn'oth!


Dave.
 
And why did Shure need the Cloud brand,?
Theres a lot of booster amps, though Cloud has a good name brand in boosters and Shure could have built their own....but what do I know about global markets.

for me it was always a DMP3 preamp seemed the thing recommended, or a Great River for the cash, but then it became almost a over-stated ISA One and SM7b, but then quietly taking over was the Cloudlifer and SM7b....

I didnt try all the boosters but Cathederal Pipes is $50 and really well done, for example, equally as good as a Cloud, imo.
 
Not to pile on but I was thinking about the same as Dave.
While I've no doubt they'll see great sales for this new model, 'defect' is a bit strong.
For decades pro studios and broadcasting houses got on just fine with it.

Interestingly Cloud don't even mention the 7b directly in their landing-page promo video,
instead mentioning 57/58 and other moving coil, ribbon, or tube microphones.
It's not even the microphone shown in their site banner.

I bet someone realised it used to be 'Jacko uses one' then 'Hetfield uses one' then 'Keidis uses one'
and now it's probably 'Rogan uses one!' 😂
 
On balance, yes, 'defect' probably was the wrong word. Maybe design feature works better, but for loads of people (and me too eventually) it was just too low. I had some pretty clean preamps and it wasn't ever much of a problem, even though I don't use them close, but as soon as I bought a cloudlifter, I noticed improvements in my own use. Just strange they took such a long time.
 
I'm sure that Shure probably did their own preamp, my reference to adding a Cloudlifter was just using it as a generic term, like saying a Kleenex instead of tissue. I don't see any information about Shure "needing the Cloud Brand". Cloudlifters seem to be the most prominent brand of inline preamps, although Shure did make some of their own for other purposes.
 
So, is anyone going to get this? I have had an SM7b on my list of mics "to get" for quite some time and haven't got one yet... this would definitely be the better option now, yeah?
 
Ujn Hunter said:
So, is anyone going to get this? I have had an SM7b on my list of mics "to get" for quite some time and haven't got one yet... this would definitely be the better option now, yeah?
Click to expand...
I am sure (Boom! Boom!) that the new mic is exactly the same sound as its passive parent but I would hold fire until it has been seen and heard by people who's opinions you respect. It is, AFAIK the sound quality of the SM7b that makes it special? Shame if that is compromised.

Dave.
 
Ujn Hunter said:
So, is anyone going to get this? I have had an SM7b on my list of mics "to get" for quite some time and haven't got one yet... this would definitely be the better option now, yeah?
Click to expand...
I would say that depends on what AI you have got and the use you intend to put a 7b? For example.

If you already have a dynamic and use it for close (<50mm) speech and you get a good level with minimal electronic noise you would probably get decent results from the passive version. You could test this by moving the mic back to say 150mm and see how the noise floor is. Of course you are going to get more 'room' in that case and possibly more 'noises off' but it is the pre amp noise that you should be concerned with.

There is a slight problem now with buying a mic because in these post Covid days some companies won't accept them back after peeps have gobbed in'em!

Dave.
 
I have a preamp, not a cloudlifter, and I was pretty impressed and bought another for different mic I use that is low in output. I bought the imperative audio preamp and they’re very reasonable about a third what a cloudlifter costs
 
I went through a couple boosters, nice tool, for money reasons I sold the Cloud but kept the CathederalPipes... I didnt hear any huge difference.

I just got a second KSM44 with aluminum case and shockmounts for $413, as I wanted to try a dual fig 8 test...never owned two fig 8...

so the SM7db cost is a bit much in comparison, if prices drop due to post Covid crash....SM7b will return to $250 range I will imagine.
Used price....SM7DB might take a long while...

The article I read last night interested me - why my SM7b is so different than the 44, and for my crappy acoustics an room the SM7b is always the "easy one" to use, and upclose, simple.... the super sensitive 44 is always more difficult, in my bad room the pad is always on...and its not just the Gain of the Booster or Preamp, ...

The first thing to clear up is that the sensitivity of a microphone is not adjustable. When you change the volume of the mic, you are not making changes to its sensitivity. Increase the volume, and the volume will, of course, go up, but the sensitivity of the mic stays exactly the same.
It will output a defined amount of signal when there is a certain Sound Pressure level.
 
ecc83 said:
There is a slight problem now with buying a mic because in these post Covid days some companies won't accept them back after peeps have gobbed in'em!

Dave.
Click to expand...
GC around here sells used mics....I went in to sell a used mic, the dude said "we dont buy used mics due to germs"
I said "but youve got used mics right over there in the cabinet?"

lol
 
rob aylestone said:
I have a preamp, not a cloudlifter, and I was pretty impressed and bought another for different mic I use that is low in output. I bought the imperative audio preamp and they’re very reasonable about a third what a cloudlifter costs
Click to expand...
Too bad Imperative doesn't make these so they plug direct to interface - saving a cable. Or is that end long enough.. ?
 
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ecc83 said:
There is a slight problem now with buying a mic because in these post Covid days some companies won't accept them back after peeps have gobbed in'em!

Dave.
Click to expand...
CoolCat said:
GC around here sells used mics....I went in to sell a used mic, the dude said "we dont buy used mics due to germs"
I said "but youve got used mics right over there in the cabinet?"

lol
Click to expand...
Those have been in that cabinet since 1987 :LOL: They came in with the $2000 Fender and $3000 Marshall combos that've been sitting on the floor forever.
 
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