this post is 50/50 objective, but it's your decision to agree or not. if you want a Shure SM7B, just get one, this post was just to show that there is a lot of marketing going on and the price is oversaturated...
They are both dynamic microphones based on the same Unidyne 3 capsule, with some little changes. Just knowing about the fact that they use the same capsule already tells us that they are not very different from each other.
The SM58 may look very different from the SM7B, but that's just the assembly. In reality, they both have pretty much the same technology. Yes, there are a little differences, but you can modify the good old stage SM58 and make it sound almost exactly the same like the SM7B.
No, we won't use any programs, equalizers or anything. Instead, we are going to teardown the microphone. You can get the same SM7B sound by ripping off the transformer from the microphone.
This is actually how the transformer in the microphone looks, it's an absolute mess. It's filled with some plastic/thermal-adhesive so that might be a hassle to clean off.
I am not going to show how to remove it, there is a video from Dark Corner Studios on this.
By doing this, you're removing the transformer which changes the sound and only keeping the capsule which will give us a raw unchanged sound.
YES, they do. But... there are still some very small differences. If you want the same sound, build quality as the SM7B, just buy one. There is no point in doing all these shenanigans with the SM58, and you have a big chance of breaking it.
This was just to show that they are pretty much the same. The only difference is how the microphone is assembled. The SM7B is just styled and assembled as a microphone for podcasts or radio studios, yet it pretty much has the same technology as the stage microphone, the SM58.
There is no point in doing all these crazy dissassemblies with the SM58, you can just buy the SM57. The SM57 is an instrumental microphone, and is absolutely the same as the SM7B by the sound. Basically it's the SM58 without the transformer for making the vocals sound better.
Personally I am gonna look onto buying this microphone in the near future. BuT iT lOoKs bAd!! Nope, even if I have troubles with that, I can just slap on the big ass SM7B windscreen that can be bought from AliExpress.
There is actually a guy on YouTube who made an adaptive casing/build of the SM7B for stage microphones like the SM58, XM8500 and others
A pretty cool idea, in my opinion, especially considering the fact that this guy ships these DIY kits to people for 20-30$. You want the SM7B look but don't wanna pay extra? Get my dang ass styling kit!
Yea, it doesn't look exactly the same... but it's quite similar. It's not supposed to mirror the Shure SM7B by 100%, instead it's made for ease of use. It just turns your stage microphone into a podcast one.
The one on the left is official, and the right one is 3D printed. They look very similar, except the fact that the original one is connected in a different way. The 3D printed one has the XLR port in the back of the microphone, while the SM7B is connected from the bottom and has a cable going into the microphone.
Everything in this printed build is same, only thing you need to have is the SM7B smaller windscreen.