E609 vs SM57

[tadaitstyler]

Pros/Cons of both?

Different frequencies each one catches better than the other?

[MaxProphet]

sm 57
pro:you can throw it at a brick wall and it will still work

[Randy Bass]

I've only used the Shure, but I have heard a lot of praise for the Sennheiser. One advantage is that it does not need a mic stand, so you don't have to worry about the jackass singer kicking it over when he's rolling all over the stage .

[David Verb]

Shure SM57. I have 3. Plus a SM58. I use them to mic my drums and guitar cabinets. Uber reliable, with a slightly darker midrange (IMO). They don't call them "industry workhorses" for no reason.

Never used a Sennheiser though! Sorry, can't help there.

[pages plexitone]

One vote for e609. I had both and for ease of use and sound I kept the e609. I prefer the sound of the treble of the e609 over the shure. Just my preference.

[irish_admiral]

Yeah... I think each has its own signature tone, but either will give a good result. Can you mount the 609 on a stand? If so, i'd be going for that. If not, I wouldn't get it.

[pages plexitone]

Joe, yep, the e609 and the shure both come with clips. In a pinch you can drape the 609 over the speaker cab.

[Le Chat Noir]

I think with either mic your success depends on learning to use it to the best of its abilities - i.e. placement and also EQing. SM57s are widely used for a reason, but you have to know what to do with them. The 609 will probably give you a more 'finished' sound straight up, but you can get fantastic results with a humble 57 if you know what you're doing.

As with most things music-related, the time spent learning how to use your gear has a much bigger impact on the end sound than the actual gear itself... a good engineer can get a fantastic guitar sound with just a 57, whilst an inexperienced one might not even with mics costing 10 times the price.

[irish_admiral]

Agree with the above.

It took me a while to dial in a good sound with my expensive acoustic & nice K&K pickup & preamp.

The SM57 sounds fine if you just whack it straight on the cone of the speaker for my AD30. That's about as far as it went.

If you look at their websites, the 2 companies will give frequency response charts. People often talk about the Senns commonly sounding 'smoother' with a nicer top end than Shures, but whilst that might be good for vox, it may not be what you want in a mic. The 609 has the advantage that you don't need a stand, and most gigs you close-mic for anyway.

Bottom line... you won't go wrong with either.

[Le Chat Noir]

A lot of folk are playing up the 'no need for a stand' thing, but I was assuming he was probably buying it for recording... at a pinch in a live setting, sure, but you may want to be more careful with your placement for recording!

[Aslan]

I've used both and prefer the e609, it just has a nice freq. response that works well with my Orange Retro 50 and Rockerverb 50. I also use a e609 to mic the bass cab (Orange 115 cab) and it works very well, at first I had my doubts since alot of bass players use direct boxes but I decided to experiment and the results were excellent. I have to admit that I don't like a loud stage volume but prefer to use the PA speakers for our volume, we've (the band) found that if we keep the stage volume down to the point that we can hear each other our overall sound is is better. I will never go back to playing un-miced.

[irish_admiral]

A lot of folk are playing up the 'no need for a stand' thing, but I was assuming he was probably buying it for recording... at a pinch in a live setting, sure, but you may want to be more careful with your placement for recording!

True!

I'd probably go with a different mic if I was recording...

[ESBlonde]

The E609 is a far more modern design and better sound IMO. Better yet is the E906 which is the same shape but even more like the tone of the fabled but no longer made U409m which is a stunning mic on cabs and brass. The SM57 is a design from the end of the 1960s and it shows.

[Trevoire520]

Both are good, just different flavours. I actually really like the sound of both blended together.

In my experience the 609 is less sensitive to placement than the 57.

Gotta watch out for the 3-5kHz region on the 609 as it's about 8dB up compared to the central mids and lows so can come across as being overly bright if you have it too close to the centre of the speaker. The proximity effect (bass boost caused by close micing) on the 609 is also pretty extreme. So these two things combined can get things sounding very boomy and fizzy very quickly.

The 57 is a bit spiky sounding up around 5-10k, this can be unpleasant when listening to the guitar solo'd but in a mix sometimes this is exactly what you need to get the grit of the guitar to jump out in the mix.
I find that 57's make the amp sound more distorted than it actually is though.

[Norrin Radd]

This is one of the highest quality threads I've ever read! Nice job guys - excellent explanations and no homerism or mud slinging. Noice!

Personally, I use both. I prefer the e609 for live use. I drape it between head and cab and place it about 1/3 the way from the edge towards the cone. It's brilliant!