How does my new Shure SM57 compare to the vintage classic dynamic microphones? 

That 70's Unidyne is killer!!

I think we should all go over to Johan's house, and compare the RU-vid recording with the live sound from his wall of vintage Marshalls. I'll bring beer.

I've been using your microphone videos for a few months now to build up my mic cabinet. These are all *extremely* helpful. Thanks for the valuable resources you provide for the music community! Cheers!

🔥Sennheiser MD-421

I love how simple your recording chain is. Goes to show that a good guitar tone doesn't need to be complicated.

I must say I preferred the juicy sound of the 1970s Unisphere 565SD. It's always going to be difficult comparing vintage stuff to modern stuff because of the wear and tear on the vintage stuff. Maybe in 40-50 years time the modern gear might sound more like the vintage stuff does now 👍

Instantly subscribed when I saw one of your amp videos and then I find gems like this. Awesome comparison! Can't believe how different the vintage mics are. They almost have a nice warmness to them compared to the 57's modern top-end.

Love the second riff :) Also I had no idea that the mic would have that much influence on the sound, your videos are always instructive!

You always have an interesting video under the sleeve! That's pretty cool. I love the landscape videos as well! Beautiful places... Cheers from the south of the south!

WOW! Sennheiser MD421 U5 sounds so great !

Love the Electro Voice RE10! The 57 has a very strong presence boost which I find ear piercing, and too much low end proximity build up for me. Thanks so much for posting this awesome video!!

great to hear the pl-6 in a comparison. i use it for long years on guitar avoiding the harshness of the sm57. i put on my own taste's presence frequency on it - and sounds perfectly

Thanks Johan again, love your videos. Seems the sm57 is gonna be my first mic

Hell yeah I love that riff you were playing... Hope to be on your level one day.

I don’t know why I don’t hear more about the Unidyne 545, i love it!

0:52 2003 Shure SM57 1:00 1970s/1980s Sennheiser MD421 U5 1:07 1970s Shure Unidyne IV 548 1:14 1970s Electrovoice PL6 1:21 1970s Electrovoice RE10 1:28 1960s Shure Unidyne III 545 1:35 1970s Shure Unisphere 565SD 1:46 2003 Shure SM57 1:57 1970s/1980s Sennheiser MD421 U5 2:13 1970s Shure Unidyne IV 548 2:28 1970s Electrovoice PL6 2:44 1970s Electrovoice RE10 3:00 1960s Shure Unidyne III 545 3:16 1970s Shure Unisphere 565SD

the main thing i like about the sm57 is it captures what the instrument sounds like in the room. when i record people it's easy to record them and keep there tone with minimal adjustments

The SM57 has an upper mid spike that may not sound warm and round on its own, but cuts in a mix or in a live situation. Also, it can take the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) of a Marshall full stack turned on 10 (or 11) while other mics choke or brake! That's the main reasons its so popular with guitar amps. Another plus is that its great for snare drums (very popular choice for cut through and handling the snare attack and volume) and for vocals. So its a very useful mic to have and that adds to the popularity, along with the low price! I liked the MD421, too! More balanced sound than the others. Cheers!

Your Shure 545 isn't in very good condition I don't think. I've owned about 6 Shure 545 microphones and compared them directly the SM57 and the good ones have way more high end than a normal SM57 and better bass. I think your mic has gone bad. A lot of them have. I've bought ones that sounds like yours as well, but one in good condition doesn't sound like that.

SM57 0:52 Senheiser 1:00 shure iv 548 1:07 Electrovoice pl6 1:15 electrovoice re 10 1:21 shure unidyune 3 1:28 shure 565sd 1:35

The 2003 sm57 sounds modern. Crispy high end with balanced mids and lows. I loved to hear them all. The important thing is that different mics give your sound color and texture. What a great lesson! Always enjoy your playing!

unidyne and 57. i just figured when i die i wanna be buried in a marshall cabinet instead of a coffin.

My favourite would have to be the SM57 all day. The Unidyne IV 548 comes in second in my opinion. Excellent video as always Johan!

Hej Johan, all of them sound great. The EVs sound more vintage, you're a lucky man.

Unidyne 548 sounds very complete, almost "produced", meaning no further eq'ing needed, ready to print (record). I have recorded with a Unidyne lll 57 and it was just wonderful. I'm still looking for one, but maybe I should look for an IR now, since I've gotten heavily into Helix now ;-) Great Job Johan :-)

Very good review! Thank you!

I loved the SM57 ... to my surprise however my ears found the PL6 has something additional in the sounds it captured I liked.

Brilliant as ever Johan. You are the scientist of art. The SM 57 wins here. And I win three times a week! Every time you do a video!

The Sennheiser and the Shure get my vote - that Sennheisser was soooooo goood back then?!?! ‘spect y’all! Good one Johan - great playing and lovely amp collection too.

Johan; great comparison. I can hear a difference on my iPad with a little ilive external speaker. I really wanted not to like the SM57, but sounds like the best overall mic. I do like the Uni III 565 and the sennheiser MD421 U5. But the rest seem to cloud the freq. response. I have a Shure SM58 from 1970 and it sounds considerably better than a new, made in Mexico SM58. The old one has better clarity and is also louder. To my ears the Shure mic's made before they moved production to Mexico sound better. I don't know what year that was but something was lost in the overall sound quality of their mic's after the move. It's not Mexico as they could have moved production anywhere. It's just something's not there with the quality of the materials used since the move.

Funny how I have two newer 421s and they don't sound like yours at all. I mean, same ballpark, but yours has much more clarity. Anyways, what works for me is the combination of a 57 with a 421 in the same speaker. Brilliant as always, Johan. Thanks!

What an interesting video, I really liked that Shure, but if I was on a studio, I would probably doble track my guitars using a very defined mic and then something like the PL6, to give it a sense of depth. Also, some of those mics gave the impression of listening to an old radio... Very interesting!

To me, the sm57 has a sound reminscent of a tubescreamer.. it doesn't color the sound in a bad way, it pushes the upper mids like a TS does and puts the amp up in front where it should be.. awesome comparison!

Cool one brother! I think the SM57 sounds "modern" and by that I mean "brighter and a little more full range sounding". With that said, I kinda dug the Unidyne sounds! Darker, yes but pretty cool and tamed the mids kinda nicely! Nice work as always Johan!

The Sure is the standard for sure, lol , get it. Ha, ha...with the Unidyne 545, a close second. I find the Sure just gives you the most to work with as far as post production goes, more frequency range to work with. I found this with my experience as well. The others make good supporting microphones. But you would probably need more aggressive eq'ing to fill in the blanks if using them on their own. In my experience to much eq can get you in trouble, and you can end up with what I call audio weirdness. Great comparison once again Johan, very insightful, nice playing as always, it brings out the details or lack of in each microphone. Cheers, well done.

One thing I remember from 'the day' about a 57...you could grab one, use it to drive a nail or beat some bent drum hardware back into shape, plug it back in and continue. We called it a 'utility' mic for many reasons!

All sounded really good , but your shure 57 has great sound, greetings from mexico Johan

what a fantastic and timely comparison......I'm trying to figure out why my recordings, while not bad, just dont have that fullness we all like.....I have great amps and guitars, I think I need different mics....I use a sennheiser e609 and a Audio-Technica ATM63HE.....we'll see, learning from each of your videos...thx Johan have a great weekend....

Shure SM57 is one badass microphone. Has taken on new challengers for years, and still shines the brightest. especially for the $

Yes, I think there's a reason why the Shure SM57 is almost the 'standard' for recording guitar (and drums)! It's great, I think. I use it too, haha! Cool to see it compared to vintage mics! They all have a different character! Great vid, great riffs, like usual!

Nice comparison. I hear many great usable tones all around. The least bit of EQ would make any of them useful. What do you call that finish on the SG? Great looking guitar.

great video! every microphone has it's own sound, but none of them is really bad sounding, so it is a matter of taste, or which one fits best into the mix.

I really like the controlled top and on the Electro voice models. Not as fizzy as a lot of the other models. Great video and comparison.

The 421 has the best eq profile for this cab and guitar!

Excellent test. I preferred the two vintage Shures and the Sennheiser to the modern SM57 but it was just different. Not really worse or better. I wonder. Do you have a Heil PR20? That would be interesting to compare, too.

The electrovoice sounded so much like “Black Sabbath - Paranoid” that I’ll just assume that’s exactly what was used on all of Iommi’s parts.

I've been experimenting with pairs for cab recording. Seems SM57 is a clear winner and mic one. But what to put in the Mic2 slot? Have paired it with a Cascade Fathead Ribbon to good effect. Dying to try a Royer 121, Sennheiser MD421 and Sennheiser E609. I'll let you know how it turns out :).

I have many interesting vintage mics myself including the unidyne 3 and 4, unisphere 565, an MD421n (grey one), also a great Dual MD407 (same capsule as the famous MD409, get one off ebay if you can!) but I end up using a fairly recent 57 95% of the time. Hard to explain why. It always seems to sound right in the mix because of that typical presence peak. Personal preference maybe or possibly cultural bias. That being said most of your mics sound good and usable.

Interesting video as usual ! I always found the sm57 lacks mid-range and bass ... but it's bizarrely enough, a excellent base to EQ the sound afterwards ... I use mine in conjunction with a large diaphragm static mic like Rode NT1, it compenses the lack of bass of the sm57 without losing the top-end precision.. I enjoyed the Unidyne III from the 60's, very nice rounded tone straight out of the box !

The Shure Unidyne IV 548 and MD421 U5 are like instant 70's hard rock fairy dust; remarkably recognizable as "that sound". It would be interesting to compare a new 548 to the one you have here.

Hello sir. I was watching your video and was wondering if you have properly replaced the foam inner pop filters in your vintage mics before comparing them to the SM57? I ask because these foam filters degrade and need replacing otherwise the vintage mics will not sound as they were originally intended to sound.

I had a different favorite for each riff. Well, that answers that question. When the Unidyne IV came on at riff #3 I actually yelled at the computer, "I need that for my ringtone!". So.....Can I snip a loop of your video and use it for a ringtone? My guitar buddies would be envious.

I'd suggest you have to check out the Telefunken M80. It has become my numer one go-to mic in the studio for recording guitar. Very clean and open sound with a little top end boost.

Surprisingly the one mic i liked the least was the Sennheiser MD421UD. They're all so close.

the second riff is very nice!

For the money, you just cannot beat a 57 when it comes to miking a cab. Sure, it sounds a little harsh on it's own, but in the mix it's like magic. I can easily tame a harsh top end in the box, I can't add what isn't there though. The MD421 always sounds great too,... but at about a third of the price, the 57 shines!

The Shure has a lot of high end clarity. Backing the mic away a few inches and tilting it at a slight angle from the cone can roll some of that off if need be.

I think I like the Unidyne III the best, your one doesn't quite have that typical harsh upper mids like typical 57s. I do think a combo of the PL6 and the 57 could be cool

So, I’d have to say: sounds like it’s in the hands of the recording artist. And which one of these mics would sit right into a mix the best?!? Could change your favorite immediately . For live sound: that 57 has great ProCo Rat modern sizzle and energy. But that 70s Unisphere at the end takes me right back into Sabbath World. Now a guy this good: could he move the 57 back and get a smoother sound, like the 60s and 70s mics? I’d bet he could. And would one of these plop right into your ensembles mix without too much EQ and compression magic? Great video/ THX

2:12 That 548 has the hells bells guitar sound nailed for sure !

The SM57 holds up well. The Sennheiser is my favourite, but the SM57 in second place.

Johan, does the Unidyne 545d need a different cable to connect into the audio interface? Or a standard XLR cable would fit? Awesome video, btw!

Johan, great test, but loved to have seen a Beyer M160. I now realise it's a dynamic, cardioid only test, my mistake. Love the 5k boost, and the 200 Hz roll off of the SM 57, which gives it its cut and clarity.

The 70's Unidyne IV really has so much character. Of course my ears immediately went to the hype of the modern SM57 but while it will sit in the mix really nicely I think the Unidyne IV will take nicely to EQ to lift it a bit but still have a smoother overall sound. It's still hard not to love the 57 though. You can mic up a cab, play baseball with it and pound nails into a floor all day and still come back and record with it. Indestructible, cheap and just great. A classic for a reason!

I liked the 565SD. Nice vintage warmth and retained tthe top end clarity that the 57 has.

Det verkar som om 57an har ett mera "direkt" ljud som om du står mitt framför högtalarna medan de andra har ett lite "bakom" ljud på olika sätt, tänkte därför att om man sätter 57an på ett snett eller annorlunda sätt i relation till högtalarn kan den också ge lite av den dynamiken som de andra verkar ge?

That tone!!!

Years ago (early 90s) I ended up getting two or three of those old Unidynes in a big trade. I was in my late teens and didn't know ANYthing about recording, to me they were just some dirty old mics. I ended up GIVING them away. Now that I'm entering middle age I think back to all the old gear I had and got rid of, and I know exactly how my Dad felt when he used to talk about all the old cars that he wished that he had kept. "They were nothing but old cars back then!" he would say. I remember buying an original Ibanez 808 in a pawn shop for about $30, taking it home plugging it up and saying "this thing sucks!". Kids! (shakes head, rolls eyes)

545 for me. Didn't sound harsh like some of them did (57, 421) and wasn't so mellow that it started to sound boring, like the electrovoice mics.

My go to mic is a Sennheiser 421 U5, but I usually second mic with either the 57 or an e609. But I'm really loving that 545 right now. A true 70's 548 is like a $400 mic these days. You can still get great MD421's for around $250.

Hi from Tadcaster, UK Johan! - when you have a moment, it would be good to hear SM57 vs Sennheiser e906...; I switched a couple of years ago and find the e906 a bit 'fuller'. I have also had great results from the ultra-budget Behringer XM8500 (£16!)

Great comparison as always. What is that huge cabinet behind you? 4x15?

To my taste the Unidynes and the Unisphere are the best. I used to have a vintage Unidyne, it was my main vocal mic for live shows and rehearsals, until someone dropped it and it stopped working.

Ja ja da razzle & dazzle ya ya da mic M57/M58 is gud ja ja deyall sounds gud 2 me ya ya GRATSKI & DANKE👍👍💛

Man, that MD421 U5 sounds fucking amazing. Some vintage can't be replaced. In your opinon which is better, the MD409 U3 or the MD421 U5?

does age affects condenser mics sound? It has to, right? Capacitors change their specs with age...

They all sound great, different but great, maybe shows that the original sound you're recording is more important than the mic. Would be interested to hear Royer R-121 and Heil Sound PR30 with same set up if you have access to either? I use the PR30 for extra presence in a live setting over an SM57 but it's difficult to tell how effective it is when I'm playing.

As long as you keep using a room microphone in conjunction with the SM57 then it will give the most honest representation of what you are hearing. If I'm not mistaken you've panned each mic track left and right before? Example: SM57 left and room mic to the right. Similar to what Eddie Van Halen does.

The 57 won for me, the others often sounded a bit nasal and some slightly muffeled, the 57 was clear and airy. Sound is a preference thing to a degre though.

I like the Unidyne 3 most. But that may also be the one closest to the 57. I know I like the md421 so I didn't count that in 😁

they're all usable!

That 60's 545 is amazing! I guess they aren't XLR though? Is that a problem generally?

The modern SM57 sounds almost too accurate if your trying to replicate the sound of a classic rock era recorded guitar tone. I thought the video you did with different speaker cabinets using the same speakers blew my mind, you just did it again. If I'd have to guess off hand the most significant factor between these mics, it would be the magnet strength. Thanks Johan! You've once again turned my preconceived notions on it's head.

Are you using an Audio Interface?

There is a reason the sm57 is the standard for close cab mic. A good cheap alternative is the Digital reference DRI100 mic, especially if you can get it on the buy one get two free deal. I got 3 of them for $49 and use them everywhere I would use a 57. But a regular sm57 is a great deal too for the price.

Isn't it great to see an audio product like the 57 that has a well deserved reputation as a great sounding product, by a great manufacturer at a great price? Any of us would be more than happy to proudly use the 57. And, yet the sad commentary on me and probably some of the rest of us is that; were the same exact product put out by Pyle or Nady, we would probably feel like we were riding a moped when we used it.

EV sound very dull to me. Sm57 cuts right through in the mix. Maybe to harsh for your kind of gain stage and playing. The unidyne 548 sounds perfect to me! Nice vid as always johann

I like the Unidyne III and the SM57. That would probably change with other instruments in the mix though.

Looks like I'm going to have to dig up an MD421 from somewhere!

EV PL 77..my pref..vocal..

Is this with that 1977 Superbass again? SO ROCK with a Gibson! I liked the 1960s Shure Unidyne III 545.

I thought the Unidyne III 545 and Unisphere 565SD sounded the best. I've never been too crazy about SM57 mics on cabs. I always thought the SM58, although a vocal mic, sounded better on cabs myself. They cut off some of the harshness.

The 57 sounds great.

for me 1970s Electrovoice PL6

The sm57 seems to have less mids is that possibly why newer tracks seem to have the guitars cut through less?

Im happy to say that after this I still prefer the 57

Amazing to see how much nicer the SM-57 sounds although most of the others sounded perfectly usable. I was so disappointed that the EV RE-10 sounded so dull. I always liked mine but never did a side-by-side comparison with my other dynamic mics. One thing I should point out to people who are new to recording is that making sure that the impedance of your mic preamps is appropriate for your dynamic mics makes a HUGE difference in its sound. I didn't know this until I bought a Studio Projects VTB-1 mic preamp. I was blown away at how incredible my SM-57 mic sounded through the VTB-1 after using an old Mackie 1202 mixer for years to record with. This was because the VTB-1 has variable input impedance. This makes a GIGANTIC difference on dynamic mics in my humble opinion. That being said, it's not bad on my Behringer Xenyx USB mixer either that I mostly use nowadays (as it's the best sounding on my ribbon mics).

I have to say Johan, the SM57 to my ears is the clear winner. It seems to be the brightest and clearest one.

Md421 and 565sd is so good

Hmmmm....that Unisphere has something I like