Any opinions on Shure sm58 budget copy

[Louis sullivan NLS]

hi am looking at sm58 copy that retails around £30

 

any comments

[PhilB]

You get what you pay for... (im sure thats been used before)

 

Ive picked up my SM58s off eBay, never paid more than £45 for one....

[TonyMitchell]

There's a lot of them about Louis, at least you are aware that you're looking at a copy as opposed to a copy being passed off as the real thing, so often the case on popular online auction sites.

 

Many cheap microphones don't sound too bad. A "real" 58, whilst not the best sounding mic in the world, is rugged, reliable and easy to get a reasonable sound out of, assuming the sound going into it is reasonable B-)

 

What's the application? If it is for Karaoke / Pub band level work then at half the price of the real thing, it's possibly not a bad bet. Bear in mind though a copy is unlikely to take the abuse or last as long as a real SM 58. If it's on a money channel, or needs to meet a rider, then don't even think about it.

 

Hope this helps

 

Tony

[Louis sullivan NLS]

Its needed as a multi purpose mic, main purposes are:

 

live singing

presentations

theatre applications where appropriate

[TonyMitchell]

Its needed as a multi purpose mic, main purposes are:

 

live singing

presentations

theatre applications where appropriate

 

To be honest Louis, I would say find another £30 and buy the real deal.

 

The applications you have listed include "serious" work where it would potentially be disasterous if a cheap mic were to fail on you.

 

T

[Simon Lewis]

hi am looking at sm58 copy that retails around £30

 

I'm not sure if you mean a SM58 lookalike or a mic that's being passed off as "real '58".

 

Either way, last week I did a side by side comparison of a new SM58 with a counterfeit direct copy. There were two large peaks (+10dB @ 500Hz and 4kHz) not present in the real mic. The overall response was far more uneven, the handling noise was unacceptable and we had to repair the internal cabling before the test could be carried out, as a capsule lead had come off.

 

I would suggest buying a 58 will give you a better sound, availability of spare parts and Shure's legendary longevity.

 

The initial cost of a real SM58 will be long forgotten in a year's time. Poor performance and reliability in a cheap mic will be apparent each and every time you use it.

 

Simon

[Bobbsy]

The trouble with counterfeit mics is that you have no way at all of knowing how they'll sound until you've spent your money. As has been said, some are okayish, others are dire.

 

However, as a matter of principle I'd never support a counterfeiter. If I couldn't afford a real SM58, and wanted similar, I'd probably go for Shure's own PG48 (or, if you can stretch a bit more, a PG58). In the same price range would be things like the Sennheiser E815.

 

Better still, save up a bit longer and buy a real SM58 or a Sennheiser equivalent. Spread over the life of a mic, an extra £30 or £40 is nothing.

 

...any of those before an illegal copy.

 

Bob

[berry120]

I'm not sure if you mean a SM58 lookalike or a mic that's being passed off as "real '58".

Likewise - and as others have said I'd NEVER deliberately buy an illegal copy for all the reasons mentioned above. In the long run if you can stretch to a 58 then it'll be well worth it, and you can get second hand ones on ebay for relatively cheaply, just avoid the "too good to be true" new ones.

 

That said, if you just want a cheaper vocal mic that's not an illegal clone, then in fairness those do have their place. Whether I'd recommend going down that route though would depend on how it was being used - I know you've said the intended applications already, but for example do you mean live singing with big bands doing world tours, or a backup vocal mic for the odd sunday at a small church? I know that's two extremes, but clearly a cheaper mic would be far more suited to one of those situations than the other.

 

If you do decide to go for a cheaper mic, have a look at the beyer opus 39 (though that'll probably be a bit out of your price bracket), the e815, or the behringer offerings (XM8500). Note that while I've used them all at some point I haven't had a particularly great amount of experience with those 3 and with the possible exception of the beyer the 58 will probably be noticeably better in quality (sound and ruggedness.) There's others floating around I can think of that I haven't tried at all - studiospares do a couple of their own brand, so do thomann (and they look rather like 58's if appearance is a concern.)

 

After all of that though, I still think Bobbsy's recommendation of saving up and buying the real thing is the best one.

[Sound Juice]

You could try a company called JTS, we use their mics for less than reliable DJ types.

 

Solid construction, just sound a liltle bit worse than a sm58, they arn't that bad for the peanuts you pay for them!

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

ill second the JTS, I have several in my hire stock, good all rounder!

[Shez]

Ive picked up my SM58s off eBay, never paid more than £45 for one....

 

I'd be rather surprised if you could get genuine ones at that price. Unless they're 3rd hand and very battered of course.

[drsound]

I wouldn't. Genuine used 58s go for between £45 and £50 in good nick. They're less than £70 (plus VAT if you're not registered of course) brand new.

[Chris Beesley]

This was summed up in the title... COPY - ie NOT a legit SM58 microphone! Personally, I would say if you havent got the budget for an SM58 then go for one of the PG series or maybe Sennheisers E8xx series that are in your budget. A copy could have any capsule inside... there are hundreds of chinese factories capable of producing very good lookalikes, some even sound reasonable but they are not an SM58... they are only as good as the next unbranded, budget mic.

[drsound]

I agree totally with Chris and others. I'd have a legitimate budget model over a copy any day. At least with a budget 'product' as opposed to a budget fake you get some consistency in the manufacturing process.

 

You also avoid looking like a bit of a c*ck when someone notices you're working with fakes. People are getting clued up and ask these things even when they've been handed the real thing.

 

If you intend to hire the item to people you could be guilty of fraud if you don't explicitly declare that the item is not genuine. I would expect that it is also illegal to knowingly profit from using a counterfeit item. This will not in any way impress your corporate clients when you do your conference work.

[nick7076]

We were landed with 2 fake beta58a's, sold as genuine. Paid good money for em as well!

 

They came in a perfect copy box including instructions and guarantee.

To look at they seem perfect.

 

Unfortunately they sounded awful. Handling noise was unacceptable, one had terrible problems with very low gain before feedback.

 

To tell the difference without having to test them.

 

A real one will have gold plate pins rather than dull alloy

The shure badge looks a bit more "clunky/chunky" on the fake

If you remove the wind shield you will find badly fitting foam in the fake rather than the moulded foam of an original.

If you have a known real one the blue band on the fakes is slightly different on close inspection.

 

Don't encourage these fakers - could have spelled that with a u!

 

Save up for a real one or buy secondhand or a PG series