Shure SM7B

[mickeyim]

Hello I have read all the information I could find on the shure SM7b and it sounds like a good recoarding mike but can it be used as a live on stage mike for voice and mikeing acoustic guitars? Thank you for any information you can send me---Mickey.

[TimmyP1955]

IMHO for live use you a much better off with a pickup in your guitar. http://www.kksound.com/puremini.html with a good active DI or preamp/DI such as http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk

[bret]

Hi, Mickey. I'm a total newb, but after spending a few hours reading up on mics, I'm leaning toward getting an SM7B for vocals. I'll be interested in hearing responses to your question from the others. I'd like a mic that could be used live and studio.

-Bret

[yeahforbes]

The thing about the 7B is that it has low sensitivity, which means it needs a lot of gain to get good levels. Generally speaking, engineers just starting out have way more to worry about than preamps, but low end preamps in cheap mixers can give the 7B a lot of undesirable noise while serving all your other mics perfectly well.

On loud rock vocals with the mic very close to the mouth, you may have no problem at all. But on acoustic guitar, you may find that your gain knob is at 5:00, raising the noise floor of the whole mix.