sE Electronics V Beat Supercardioid Dynamic Drum Microphone Reviews
Designed for use on snare and tom toms, the sE Electronics V Beat is the most compact drum microphone in its class. The V Beat's purpose-built capsule delivers an extremely natural and highly detailed sound on snare drums or toms of any size. It features impressive off-axis rejection to minimize spill from proximate drums and cymbals. The V Beat's ultra-compact design and parallel XLR connector/stand mount give it an extremely small footprint, and its rock-solid swivel mount lets you position it with great precision — aiming it at any part of the drum head to achieve the desired sonic character. And paired with sE's optional V Clamp (sold separately), the V Beat is even quicker and easier to position. Sweetwater's take: as a versatile, punchy-sounding snare and tom mic, the V Beat is hard to beat.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Great drum mics.
I picked these up as I had a SE Ribbon mic that I've used the past thta was oustanding deal for how good it was. These are great drum mics and the and the size and setup is perfect for the live usage. One nice thing to boot they include black foam so if like me you didn't really red look of the mics. Solid mic on snare, although you could likely get a bit better on snare, these are absoultly killer on toms.
Big Sound and Great Build Quality
I was pleasantly surprised at how heavy these mics are. They have a nice heft to them that makes me think they'll last a long time and withstand an accidental hit or two.
Most importantly these mics sounds great! Big and full with incredible off-axis sound rejection. I have one of these on a floor tom sitting directly underneath a ride cymbal and I couldn't believe how little ride cymbal there was in the track!
The frequency response is perfectly suited for snare and toms.
Great sound and function
My band is autonomous in providing our own monitoring, mics, and stands for our IEM system.
I moved into the SE drum mics a couple years ago and the audio quality is so much better than the Audix.
Even some of our sound engineers have positive comments about them.
And the build, with the integrated base and XLR connector, is well engineered and compcat. And the piece de resistance is the flexable clamp that attaches to thr drum rim.
Soooo easy to attach and remove.
A well made, engineered, and great sounding series of mics.
I have not recorded in my studio with them yet, but i anticipate killer results in that application.
Superb Mic for drums
Microphone preference can vary from person to person, but for me, these have the exact texture and ability to capture the "throat" of the drum shell so many other fall short on. I utilize these in both a studio and live environment, and watch the perform flawlessly night after night. Whether on stage or in a controlled room, these mics will never let you down. The also work very well for internal drum mic'ing options.
Easy to get great sounds
Amazed again by Se. I have always been wowed when using their mics, and had the same experience with these. I used them on toms and in no time had a great sound
Best dynamic mic for drums
I bought a sE V7x at the recommendation of a friend, tried it everywhere. I loved it so I bought 2 V-Beats (Same mic, different body/mount).
On drums, the bottom end is clear and tight, without the low end mud compared to others. Once you start EQ'ing the mic, is easy to EQ/dial in. Meaning, compared to a Audix D1, the D1 you have to Eq out areas that the mic is adding to it, such as boxy-ness and 2.5k bump when mic'n toms. The sE V-beat you start with a sound that sound just like the tom and can simple Eq to taste. Compare to a 57, the best way to describe it is clear with full frequency response. A 57 has more low mids but no presence, the V-Beat has clean tight lows/low mids and the highs are fantastic! Sounds like the drum when you stand in front of it and hit it!
V Beat sounds the closes to a Large Diaphragm condenser on toms but without the bleed issues. I was totally surprised! I bought 2, so far.
Snare, the V7X/V-beat is my excellent.
I also use them on Electric GT, For distortion, its very modern sounding, tight, upfront. SM57 have more mid/low mids, and more of a vintage vibe. But the VBeat or V7X sounds amazing and add 2db to 180hz, and you are done.
sE Electronics is a great choice!!!
These mics do everything they"re supposed to. Excellent transients, clean capture of the drum"s tone and the right amount of rejection...
Also the sE mic clips are nice, but they WON"T fit on a drum with the older Rims-type mounts.
That 414 sound on Toms without the bleed
If you like that natural 414 sound on Toms, this is a way to get it without the bleed. Cool mics. I like what SE Electronics is doing.
sE Electronics V Beat
Bought this mic separately after buying the sE Venue mic pack fro Sweetwater. I already had a pair of Lewitt 140 Air condensers for acoustic guitar and overheads. Have only tested the sE's so far on drums because I am still a beginner drummer. But my sound engineering past has given me a pretty good ear for sound and these mics are very uncolored IMHO. Also the off axis rejection of these mics were impressive to me. I listened to as many sound samples as I could for the other sets in this price range, Audix, Sennheiser, Beyer, Shure. Honestly Audix and Beyer were in the running as I couldn't afford Earthworks or something better, and I actually liked these 3 choices as much as the Earthworks. The sE kick can do what other kick mics can do and more with the switching and the V7 snare is big and open. Think I made the right choice and thanks to the Sweetwater reps I do business with for their help. I can only give a four star rating because sE only includes the extra tom mic on its package. I almost ended up with Audix because of this. In the end I am glad I didn't.
Great isolation and mounting options
Working with a drummer that sets his cymbals and hats extremely low in relation to the drum heads. It was all but impossible to set mics like sm57's anywhere without excessive bleed from the other kit pieces or interfering with the cymbals. On the recommendation of my Sweetwater rep I purchased some V-Beat and V-Kick mics. The V-beats on snare and rack Tom's, V-Kick on largest floor Tom. Between the tight super cardioid patterns and the down facing base and cable connections the placement and bleed issues were all but eliminated. The sound produced is totally acceptable if a bit darker than a 57 but is easily compensated for with a little EQ. I would use these both for recording and live. Very satisfied.
Not as expected
Installed 4 of these mics on toms & snare in a recording studio along with a Shure 91A in kick drum and couple Sennheiser overheads to get the drum tracks for 3 songs, and after listening to the recorded tracks, we all decided to replace these SE V-Beats with SM57"s to get better, fuller dynamic sound we needed. So all 4 V-Beats were returned and will be exchanged with Shure 98ADC"s.
Sorry, but even though we love the SE V7 for vocals and re-ordered another 5 of them for our church use, these V-Beats did not meet our expectations neither in sound quality, nor in price range.
Compare to SM57"s price, which did a better job in this project...
