Anybody have experience with a Shure SM7B?

[Blooby]

My scarcity here as of late has been in direct correlation to the nuttiness at work. Four kids were hospitalized for trying to get high on multiple cold medicine pills, a kid we have been trying to alternatively place for years shoved a teacher yesterday, and I had another teacher who had to be held back from decking another.  This was just this past week. Really wacky, out of the ordinary stuff.

Anyway, I am now on break for a few days and thought I would curb my work woes by cruising the local Craigslist, and a Shure SM7B popped up where the guy is willing to part with it for half off what is goes for online. Although I have heard they are excellent, I understand that you need a pretty mighty external pre to push the thing.

Anybody have any opinions on the thing? I trust you guys a heck more than the rest of the Internet (is scary out there).

Thanks.

Bruce

[Farrell Jackson]

Blooby, I don't have any personal experience with the SM7B but it does get good reviews. I think it's main purpose is broadcasting but so is the EV RE20 and it's a mic that is used extensively in pro studios from micing kick drums to vocals. Also I think it's in the same category as the Heil PR40. Here's three reviews from the advisers at Sweetwater.  Half price would be tempting....good luck on your decision!

 Easily one of my favorite vocal mics. However, the SM7B is far from a one-trick pony. If you can get two they make fantastic tom mics, but if one is all the budget will allow, they also work great on electric bass and guitar amps.

Jeff Barnett
You've heard the SM7 hundreds of times... Aside from being a very widely-used mic for broadcast, the SM7 is all over the best selling record ever made, Michael Jackson's, "Thriller." Bruce Swedien, who engineered the album, said: "When we were doing "Off The Wall", "Thriller," and "Bad" I ended up with six Shure SM7s. That is a fantastic mic."

Matt Emick
When paired with a tube preamp, this is my favorite microphone for getting awesome screaming rock vocals. It also excels at aggressive rapping. If you're ready to rock, this is definitely the mic to check out.

[Blooby]

Thanks, Farrell.  I had read those reviews as well.  John (Lurker) has a kind of Jim Morrison/ Eddie Vedder kind of range, and I read that the SM7B does particularly well with that range (doesn't really explain the Michael Jackson thing). I'm also a bit of a Bruce Swedien fan as well (reading his autobiography now), which can't help but make me lean in that direction, even if a tad irrational. I was toying with doing a bi-monthly music news podcast as well, which also was influencing me a bit. Will decide in the next hour or so.

Thanks again.

Bruce

[Farrell Jackson]

Blooby, I've been thinking about getting a good dynamic mic ( EV RE20, EV RE320, or The Heil PR40) for some time now for lead vocals. I have a couple of decent dynamic mics for live work but wanted something of higher quality for the studio. I was leaning towards the EV mics due to the variable D effect, which basically holds your voice tone at most micing distances/positions by reducing the proximity effect.  The Heil mic doesn't do that but does sound good as long as you don't move around. I had the opportunity to be interviewed by a local radio station which used the EV RE20s as their broadcast mics. My speaking voice had a great, robust sound on the play backs. I was impressed but I wasn't sure what pre-amps they were using. If you get the SM7B I would be interested with your take on it and what pre-amp you're using. I just might have to add it to my wish list.

Farrell

[Blooby]

It fell through, Farrell. The seller would only use email and wanted to meet me in a parking lot. I needed to try it out, so it died on the vine. Now I have G.A.S. I have been looking at a Golden Age mic pre (based on a Neve 1073) for 6 months now, and I have the itch.  I'm a mess.

Blooby