My fake SM57

[EffigyForgotten]

I plan on getting a SM57 next month.. I'm assuming they're the real deal when bought from a musicgear-store?

Yes.

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

Good, I'll be ordering from Thomann, so it shouldn't be fake.. got one of their T.bone MB75 (rip-off of SM57) and it's not that bad..

 

[LBTM]

Dude, microphones are pretty subjective anyway. They're pretty simple designs, and when you realize what they actually are in a physical sense, you can ignore a large amount of the marketing bullshit you read.

Exactly that. But people will never understand it. Does it worth getting a $2500 mic instead of a $250 one? Maybe. They sound different but the expensive one won't sound "better". In the end who cares if it's built better. The sound is what you're gonna hear. T-Bones are good microphones. They can easily get compared to my expensive Avatones or AKGs.

 

[~BURNY~]

my expensive Avatones

???


Also, I strongly disagree with the above statement.
T-bones mics for example range from utter crap garbage sounding piece of junk from relatively cool mics for the price (their ribbon mics) with shit quality control.

 

[LBTM]

???


Also, I strongly disagree with the above statement.
T-bones mics for example range from utter crap garbage sounding piece of junk from relatively cool mics for the price (their ribbon mics) with shit quality control.

Talking about the Avantone CV-12 which is $650, so relatively and expensive mic. I won't go above that for a single mic. There are garbage T-Bones but they've got some good ones. It's subjective so...

 

[Nimvi]

Another give-away for many of the fake 57s is the grille. On a real one that part spins easily when you turn it. On a fake one it is usually solid or hardly turns at all.
Or when there are newspapers in there that tell you what happened in China in the '80s; that's usually not a good indication.

Btw, I have used my fake 57 -which sounds more nasal than the Nanny- in conjunction with a real SM57 for the Fredman technique. Made it sound as shit as possible and flipped the phase. I kind of liked it! I think the magic was in the newspaper.

 

[Sethis]

I recommend that you also hear the microphone if it's used. The fake ones are getting better and better, sometimes they're very hard to distinguish even if you know the usual signs.

 

[visceral]

Oh and one other thing you can check...the little black carrying bag that comes with the sm57. The bag that came with the fake SM57 I had was a cheaper material than the real SM57 bag. It was actually a pretty obvious giveaway that the mic was fake, but I think I was in denial about forking over cash for a fake mic lol.

 

[xTomx]

Would be cool for black metal.

 

[DeclanWhite]

Talking about the Avantone CV-12 which is $650, so relatively and expensive mic.

oh yeah an apex 460 with a different tube

 

[lee_mulcahy]

Strange, I got like 3 or 4 SM57's, used, from a friend of a friend a few years back, for dirt cheap. I have one laying right here and just opened it up and the inside "plate" where the wires attach looks silver like your fake one, but the threads and area near the threads look like the real 57. I had been wondering about if it was a fake or not. Green and yellow wires.

Same here, I checked my 57 last night and it is exactly the same as yours, I bought it new from a reputable shop in London though so I'm assuming it isn't fake. Pretty sure I have a fake 58 though, haven't noticed a huge difference in sound (I've only ever used it at practise) but it seems to produce a lot more feedback than any other mic I've used, the case for it was pretty obviously fake as well.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Just throwing it out there, but I bought one of those GLS Audio ES-57s a few weeks back, just for the hell of it, and I'm actually really impressed. For $30, this thing feels as solid as my SM57s, if not better on the grille, and it gets pretty damn close to the real deal, for less than 1/3 the price. While I still prefer the SM57 for most applications (I like the ES57 better for vocals if I had to choose), at $30 a pop, you can afford to replace these things 3 times before you get to the price of a Shure... which means they make excellent drum mics

 

[Nimvi]

^ I've heard about those more often and so far it has always been positive. I'll probably buy one or even a few of them at some point. At that price point, another workhorse mic with slightly different characteristics than an sm57 sounds like a fine plan.
I think the idea is to not go in thinking it should be exactly the same as a 57. That's the thing that bothers me about the Chinese rip-offs. The mics could be decent or even good, but they get sold under false pretense. That leaves a sour taste.