Guitar Gear Forum

The title says it all. What are your favorite microphones for miking up guitar cabs and possibly using on vocals as well? I already have a bunch of SM 57’s and I have some cheaper condensers as well.

I have a few decent preamps so I’m open to both condenser dynamic or pretty much anything.

Right now, I only have a Rhode NT-1A Large Diaphragm Condenser, a SM57 and a cheap, MXL R144 Ribbon.
For $229 new, 20-20kHz, with shock mount and spit shield, the Rhode is very versatile and low noise - really like it.

If I had $300 to blow in a mic, I'd get a used, Sure SM-7B.

SM7B = ultimate mic for pure versatility.

It shines on vocals and loud close-miked guitar.

for value- i'd say find yourself a used CAD e350 or 300, but if you want to find one new and warranty'd-- a CAD m179 is bomber for it's capacity to do basically anything for 200. it's honestly one of my fave mics on a guitar cab if i don't have a 414 available.. which i don't usually at home. great for drums, solid on vocals providing you know how to use a compressor and a pop shield or want roomy vox and step away from it. it's also got a pad, and i think 9 patterns, and it has hot enough outputs that you don't need a beefcake preamp like you would with a 57 or an sm7 to get the best out of it.

besides-- kit comes with two mounts- a solid one and a shock mount. kinda impossible to beat. i use mine on drums, room, guits, vocals, incidental percussion, standup bass, bass cabs.. whatever.

Get a Cascade Fathead BE and pair it with a 57 on guitar cabs.

They match up like peanut butter and chocolate shaped like a cup with ridges.

TP is correct this is a great pairing. The Cascade Fathead is sweet on guitar cabs.

Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

BroSlinger wrote:

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

Good to know. I might just buy a sm 57 and I am going to grab a SM7B once I recover from being broke.

I have a SM57 copy and a EV PL44 and a EV C07 and SM58 to try out on my cabs....so far the EV PL44 is best.

ajaxlepinski wrote:Right now, I only have a Rhode NT-1A Large Diaphragm Condenser, a SM57 and a cheap, MXL R144 Ribbon.
For $229 new, 20-20kHz, with shock mount and spit shield, the Rhode is very versatile and low noise - really like it.

If I had $300 to blow in a mic, I'd get a used, Sure SM-7B.

SM7B is the man. Great for vocals (Micheal Jackson to James Hetfield used this mic) and mic'ing the amps (as a dynamic microphone gonna deal all kind of volume).

Sennheiser MD421 can be had new for under $300 and will do anything a sm57 can but BETTER ! For an acoustic guitar get a condenser or ribbon mic.

BroSlinger wrote:

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

I have a Blue mic's Bluebird for vocals and I kind of hate it. How would you compare the SM7B to it (if you have experience with the Bluebird).

Also, does one NEED the Cloudlifter with the 7B?

67mike wrote:

BroSlinger wrote:

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

Good to know. I might just buy a sm 57 and I am going to grab a SM7B once I recover from being broke.

I have a SM57 copy and a EV PL44 and a EV C07 and SM58 to try out on my cabs....so far the EV PL44 is best.

I'll sell you my 57. I never live mic anymore.

FWIW, there's a (British I think?) dude who runs a shop called Marti Audio that sells a device that does the same thing as a Cloudlifter for like half the price.

I have one of his older models (with the red body) and it works great. I have an old AKG dynamic mic from the 70's with super low output and it works great with the Marti booster

https://reverb.com/item/710011-martiaud ... microphone

Jer,

Haven’t tried bluebird. Hate my 8 ball and blue ball though.

The sm 7b is so good.

I’ve never needed a stupid cloudlifter.

JerEvil wrote:

BroSlinger wrote:

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

I have a Blue mic's Bluebird for vocals and I kind of hate it. How would you compare the SM7B to it (if you have experience with the Bluebird).

Also, does one NEED the Cloudlifter with the 7B?

I have a Bluebird and a sm7
When we tracked vox, it wasn't even a fair fight. The sm7 sounded like money. The blue may be cool for certain applications like room micing, but for vox the sm7 is IT. Michael Jackson, Hetfield, Chili Peppers- this mic is everywhere on vocals I love. It gave me great results with my screamer last Fall; we now have a melodic singer and we'll find it soon how that goes, but I expect we'll plug into the sm7 and track awesomeness. I run it into a LA610 and that combo is killer. If you only have the interface preamp, I could see where a cloudlifter might be needed....I'll test it out going direct into my Clarett to see how it goes if that helps.

crankyrayhanky wrote:

JerEvil wrote:

BroSlinger wrote:

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

I have a Blue mic's Bluebird for vocals and I kind of hate it. How would you compare the SM7B to it (if you have experience with the Bluebird).

Also, does one NEED the Cloudlifter with the 7B?

I have a Bluebird and a sm7
When we tracked vox, it wasn't even a fair fight. The sm7 sounded like money. The blue may be cool for certain applications like room micing, but for vox the sm7 is IT. Michael Jackson, Hetfield, Chili Peppers- this mic is everywhere on vocals I love. It gave me great results with my screamer last Fall; we now have a melodic singer and we'll find it soon how that goes, but I expect we'll plug into the sm7 and track awesomeness. I run it into a LA610 and that combo is killer. If you only have the interface preamp, I could see where a cloudlifter might be needed....I'll test it out going direct into my Clarett to see how it goes if that helps.

That'd be great. Thanks man!

JerEvil wrote:

crankyrayhanky wrote:

JerEvil wrote:

BroSlinger wrote:

67mike wrote:Shure Beta 57 is suppose to be awesome on voice and guitar. I am seriously leaning towards one over sennheiser e609/906, and audix i5............

I have a Beta 57. I never use it. It's not really very great at anything. Thin on guitar. Dull on vocals.

I would get an SM57 (or 58) for vocals and guitar before I bought another Beta 57.

That said, I stand by my SM7B recommendation. It's fantastic for guitars and vocals. Definitely worth the money.

BTW, people who say you need a cloudlifter, or it doesn't have enough volume, or you need a hot preamp, etc.. I've never had a problem getting it loud enough on any track. You guys must have some pretty low output preamps, or some low output sources.

I have a Blue mic's Bluebird for vocals and I kind of hate it. How would you compare the SM7B to it (if you have experience with the Bluebird).

Also, does one NEED the Cloudlifter with the 7B?

I have a Bluebird and a sm7
When we tracked vox, it wasn't even a fair fight. The sm7 sounded like money. The blue may be cool for certain applications like room micing, but for vox the sm7 is IT. Michael Jackson, Hetfield, Chili Peppers- this mic is everywhere on vocals I love. It gave me great results with my screamer last Fall; we now have a melodic singer and we'll find it soon how that goes, but I expect we'll plug into the sm7 and track awesomeness. I run it into a LA610 and that combo is killer. If you only have the interface preamp, I could see where a cloudlifter might be needed....I'll test it out going direct into my Clarett to see how it goes if that helps.

That'd be great. Thanks man!

MissionSuccessful!
I needed the Clarett up to 4 o’clock, but at that setting spoken word was hitting around -12db
It sounded fantastic too!
Cloudlifter would be worth it for more control, but you can get a great sound as is with sm7>Clarett

Well, I ended up fixating on the Heil PR30. Rafs clips and a lot of great recommendations from YouTube sealed the deal.

Found a used one on Reverb and made an offer of 165$. It was accepted and I should have it in the next week.

SM7b, or RE-20.

Latter is a bit more smooth up top, open in the low mids and flatter bass (good for bass cabs, kick drum too).