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So; I was talking with a friend of mine and we both professed our ignorance regarding the difference between these two mikes. Does one have a transformer and not the other? Aren't the capsules essentially the same? Was the SM57 simply an upgrade on cosmetics?

It would be interesting if anyone had some insight on this. at least to me, anyways!

Comments

moonbaby Tue, 09/23/2008 - 10:43

OK, I'll bite...
The Unidynes are great mics in their own right. According to an old friend of mine who visited the Shure factory back in the 70's, he was told this:
That the SM57 and the Unidyne III used the same cartridge, but that the 57 got the ones that passed all of the top QC tests. The Unidynes got the "2nd tier" QC cartridges. This, along with slight design differences in the "port" area of the mic's body, rendered a slightly different voicing to the Unidynes. I , along with many others, have a fondness for this slight variation. Good Unidynes (they tended to be a bit less consistent) are coveted for guitar ams, snare, and some vocals. If you find a good one, hang onto it!

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