Mic Test: Shure SM57 vs Beta 57A (guitar cab)
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- Опубліковано 28 жов 2020
- Testing two legendary microphones on my home recording setup. Is the Shure Beta 57a worthy $40 upgrade from the classic SM57 when recording guitar amps? Listen to the test clips and let me know what you think! I tried to level the playing field and keep everything as even as possible within the parameters of a typical home studio. You're hearing a guitar plugged straight into the amp, no post processing, effects, eq, or any other funny business.
Hope this helps someone out there! Please help the channel grow by subscribing and leaving a comment. Much love everybody!
Gear used:
2009 Fender American Deluxe Telecaster
Digitech JamMan Looper
Vintage Fender Vibrolux
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Interface
GarageBand (lol)
Did you match the levels? B57 sounds louder. Beta is more sophisticated, guite a bit actually. One real benefit of the beta is the increased sensitivity, 57 needs guite a bit volume to get decent signal to noice ratio. If you use single mic, i'd go for beta57. For multi mic setup, 57 is great. Not that the beta isnt..
Good guitar playing man! The classic 57 definitely hits a sweet Spot in the high-mids.
Thank you so much!! This made my day! Cheers!
Great playing!
Thanks for watching and the kind words!! Cheers!
Beta57 my favorite, nice comparison.
Nice comparison! It would be helpful to also do the exact same test with an acoustic guitar since we all have one... I would expect the Beta 57A to perform better with an acoustic making it an overall more versatile mic. For this reason, If I could only have one it would be the B57A ~
If you're recording in a quiet home environment, probably not. The beta is a little smoother however and the main draw is that super-cartioid which helps reduce background noise in a live stage environment or help stop sound leak from headphones being picked up.
Really decent insight here, Alex. Thanks for creating and sharing. I've owned both and now just own the Beta57. The Beta just has that extra lift and energy for a versatility of uses. I own other Condenser and Dynamics as well. Realizing all of the technical nuances and complexities in comparing any two mics or instruments accurately in an A:B scenario, there will always be someone who finds something to criticize. Regardless, what I hear in your comparison is consistent with my own usage of both mics and the Beta57 has that extra sparkle and frequency boost in the high end. To me, at least, it's a bit more versatile and you can always EQ it accordingly. Conversely, you can EQ the SM57 to closely mirror the Beta when recording. I tend to favor active dynamic mics and tube condensers, thus I would usually favor Super Cardioids vs most Cardioids. The SM57 is a fine mic though and everyone has different preferences, opinions, and uses as well. They're both solid, established mics and are sold at reasonable prices. No bad choice here for sure.
It’s amazing how a standard 57 sounds better to my ears. Although I do love using a beta 57 live on vocals instead of my beta 58
Totally! I just posted another dynamic mic shootout where I tested 5 different mics on a guitar cab and I was amazed that the old standby 57 totally held its own against the others!!
Wow, I can definitely hear the difference through a crappy cellphone speaker. The beta sounds warmer and fuller.
Beta feels more present and warmer, fuller sounding... I would go for the beta 😁
Agree 100%. Thanks for watching!
Once I start getting a way to record I’ll go for the black one
Great microphones for recording guitar amps!! Pretty much the standard for live gigs too.
Beta 57 is alot brighter. Also has a higher output an is super cardioid and apposed to the regular 57's cardioid. For amps i'd go for the beta
Agree! Thanks for watching!
i agree but it doesn't make sense at all... it has less highs than the sm57 in their frequency responses... im perplexed.
Both gain structures are not matching so the comparison is biased since more gain gives more presence, accentuate dynamics etc. At equal gain the differences will be much less perceptible, although the Beta will have a better side rejection and a fuller tone due to extended frequency range. Might be good for certain applications, not so much for others. Depends on what you want to capture. Side rejection is not a criteria when you place your mic in front of a loud guitar amp, spl is so high it doesn’t matter, and the extra frequency range may not contribute to a better tone as electric guitars can sound pretty harsh in the high end register and not easy to tame down with your EQ. So for a loud electric guitar I would prefer the sm.
In the other hand, I prefer the Beta on a snare, brings up a nice top end, and rejects pretty well hi hat bleeds.
Sm 57 🤘😈👍
The beta has more presence which would be easy to attenuate on the DAW, but I think it would be more difficult to ad the presence to the 57's track.
So id go BETA - more flexible.
Agree. With such a low price difference, it's kind of a no-brainer to me haha. Thanks for watching!
I liked the Beta better.
Quote: If the SM57 would be a mic it would sound like the Beyerdynamic M201.
hope yu dont mind, can we have some tabs pls
Sadly, this was just a quick improvisation for the demo, so I don't have any TABs, but I'd be happy to send you the chord progressions if you'd like? Thanks for watching!
the beta 57 will sound better because it's louder. should have normalized them.
Not an accurate comparison. Different mic positions on the speaker cone completely change the tone. Best way to compare is to gaffa tape a square space for the mic position so you can swap out the mics between takes.
If they are at the same distance from the center of the speaker, I'd say it's not that bad of a comparison
@@ChuranuQCAgreed. They are the same distance from cone
Shure 57a open Sound
beta has stronger mids and controlled top end from what I heard
A comparison that included distortion would be nice. ;-)
Noted! I'll keep that in mind for the next demo! Thanks for watching!
No difference ?
Why is it that almost all online guitar videos, that test equipment or recording techniques, have to be some bluesy tone? Always clean with the smallest amount of dirt. I wish that these kinds of videos would give more of a range. Do some bluesy stuff, do some crushing distortion/OD stuff, do some twangy country stuff. Give us range. Its always something bluesy.
This isn't a judgment on this guy at all, he did great. Just wish gear review content creators acroas the board would give a full range.
Even though you have the mics 🎤 right on top of one another just being 2 inches from being in the exact same spot will completely change the sound.
BETA.
Beta all day!
Beta 57a is louder, so not a valid a/b
Meh
🙄
Imo the SM57 is trash for virtually every application. Harsh and dead sounding
Thanks for watching! What are your favorite alternatives?
@@AlexNaumanMusic the other one in this video
Thr 57 is the studio standard for decades. Your opinion pales in comparison
Your audio is too low.
Turn up your volume then.
@@TheVoiceInYourHeaddgood thinking. You should start your own ultra-quiet audio recording channel.