Shure PG series?

I am curious if anyone out there has tried any of the Shure PG series mics. The price is definately tempting if the quality is comparable to the SM series. And to all the audiophiles out there, I prefer Nuemann and Sennheiser, but sometimes the client doesn't like that price tag. And it is always good to know all your options.

 

I haven't had a chance to use these yet, but FWIW here's a comparision. Example: The Shure PG series PG 57 is NEARLY identical in frequency response curves to the SM 57, and the polar pattern is almost identical as well. There are some slight presence peak differences in the 2-6k range--the PG is slightly less in those areas compared to the SM, but the amount should not be that audible a difference. I have heard from a lot of folks who use these and they say the difference is not that noticible from the SM series, but their big complaint is the cheesey huge switches that should be taped over. The beta series on the other hand is a different story. For the price I don't see the harm done to get one to compare. From what I have heard about in discussions, these are reasonable close to the SM's...

-wolf

 

Shure Pg series.....

From my experience it seems that the frequency response is very similar to SM series Mics. A boost in 2 and 4Khz, and there also seems to be a boost in 70-80 Hz as well. The switch is annoying but I generally throw a piece of black gaff over it. The story I heard about thier price is due to them being manufactured in china. They are certainly not a bad deal though when you need a lot of mics in a pinch.

I bought about 8 pg58s, 1 pg57 and of course their drum mic package to start out my live sound business and they were great for the first few gigs. Their performance was good and they got me through enough gigs that I could afford to upgrade my setup. Once I could afford it I bought better mics.


Moral of the story... If you can afford it stay with sennheiser and the like but a get a few PGs for backups. If however money is tight PGs will do the job and will handle well. Besides if you do buy them you're still buying Shure!!!


Jason Taglianetti
Sound Designer
Honolulu, Hawaii

 

Main difference between an SM and a PG is in the areas of ruggedness and handling noise. Metal parts are thinner or in some cases replaced by plastic. Heft a PG 58 and an SM 58 - the PG is lighter. Sound quality is good for the price, but I wouldn't expect a PG58 to survive 10 years of punk-rock shows without a major overhaul, as my first 3 SM58's have (replacing a windscreen is not considered a major overhaul).
The main difference between a Beta 58 and an SM58 is the magnet - the Beta uses neodymium versus the SM's Alnico V. A Neodymium magnet has a much stronger field than an Alnico V magnet of the same size and shape, so the Beta has a higher output for a given sound pressure, which lets you get by with less gain in the signal path and, as a result, less noise. Well, my system is pretty quiet with SM58's. I don't see enough improvement out of a Beta to justify the price differential.

John

 

I agree with what everyone has said. The price justifies the quality of the mic.
I have used both the Pg and Sm 57's, infact I have used both at once in a concert, and found that the difference is not very noticble, and nothing u cant fix up on the EQ, so they are practically the same sound, except you will definatly find that the SM series is a much more rugged microphone and can definatly take a beating with no problems!

While the PG series will whistand a couple of beatings, they wont stand up to it for anywhere near as long as the SM series.