Shure SM48 Handheld Dynamic Vocal Microphone

Whether you are a motivational speaker, have a podcast or are the lead singer in a rock band. This could be your microphone! Produces a GREAT sound for a disrespectfully small amount of money. Don’t know how they do it but shove your money in their hand and take off running! Great product at a good price point. One of the last true values out there. It’s a wired mic, that’s fine.. Don’t be prissy about it. Wireless is not a necessity for “all” people. Every mic I ever saw growing up was wired. If it was good enough for Bruce Springsteen and Martin Luther King, it’s good enough for you doing much less important things. Those of you who are audio engineers and can tell the ever so slight difference between mics and small incremental adjustments in sound levels. Then get the $750 mic that you’ve been looking at. For people that only have a small budget and aren’t recording or want it to be wireless or to do things with sound regular people don’t even know how to do. This is more than sufficient. I use mine with a broadcast speaker to share the Gospel of Christ, speaking and for singers to sing and the sound is warm and beautiful. Sounds like it cost 10x more than it did.

I picked up this mic because I am doing sound for a live music web series featuring solo artists all the way up to 5 and 6 piece bands. At first I bought it thinking I would upgrade later to an SM58 when I got some more cash, but honestly I am incredibly pleased with the performance of this microphone and won't be replacing it anytime soon. I read somewhere that this mic is actually better suited to recording purposes because it doesn't have a transformer built in like the SM58. Whether or not it makes a difference, I can say that it seems easier to fit in the mix than an SM58 to me. I borrowed a friends 58 to compare and I came up with an interesting conclusion. The SM48 seems to fit better in the mix with less effort. I just high pass around 180 hz and slightly boost top end around 4k to give it a little more air. It comes out smooth as butter.. With the SM58 I found myself wanting to cut a lot of mid range out because it was almost overbearing. To me, all of this makes perfect sense when discussing qualifications for a live vocal mic used by a lead singer. You would normally want that extra mid range presence in a live setting, but for recording the SM48 wins in my book. Other than sound, the main selling point is value. I expected mediocre results with this mic, especially since I picked it up for $30 but it has absolutely blown me away. I am going to buying at least 2 more in case I come across an artist with several vocalists. The build quality is also great. It's a Shure microphone, and I've never seen a poorly made Shure. For an example of the microphone in use in a live recording, check out this video: [...]

Simply put: No other microphone does so much, can handle anything you throw at it, is as versatile and affordable —especially is this price range (even up too $100)— comes close to this iconic microphone except it’s big brother the legendary and classic SM58 Honestly I can’t think of a better value for the amazing sound quality and build. This microphone is simply perfect. It has a legacy that it lives up too, provides an amazing audio experience. It’s perfect for live music, performance, studio sessions, gigs, conferences, etc. Wherever whenever you need it, it is ready and will be there to work. You can not go wrong here. It’s an essential and fundamental tool in my music gear toolbox and it’s my primary goto for anything i need.

Whether the SM48-LC is the vocal microphone for you depends on your sensitivity to the ratio of quality to price and your personal taste in microphone characteristics. It seems to be a well made instrument, so let's jump to the chase. I spent an afternoon doing A/B comparisons between the SM48 ($30), my nearly-new SM58 ($100), and a nearly-new Chinese SM58 knock-off (Digital Reference DRV-100), which I bought on sale for $10. I compared the three mikes through my P.A. system, with the equalizer flat and reverb settings they way I like them for the SM58, without trying to optimize them for each microphone (seemed like too much work). In addition, I was using the P.A. line out to my Sony MDR-7506 Sound Monitor Headphones, rather than the P.A. speakers, to allow more critical listening. For my voice, P.A., and settings, I found both Shure microphones to be quite usable for a live performance, but the DRV-100 was a distant third for vocal quality. After many comparisons over the course of an afternoon, I found that I do prefer the sound of the SM58 enough that I will continue to use it as my live performance vocal microphone, especially since I already own it, but I would not feel particularly inconvenienced if I had to use the SM48. There are differences in the way they sound, but I'm not sure they would be noticeable, to the average listener, out of the P.A. speakers in a live show. I'm pretty sure that would not be the case for the DRV-100. I then compared the two cheaper microphones, through the same setup, when used as instrument microphones for my 60's era Martin 000-18. Again, there was a lot of difference in the sound. The higher efficiency of the DRV-100 required a gain adjustment each time I swapped instruments, but I kept the equalizer flat. So far I somewhat prefer the DRV-100 as an guitar microphone, probably because I prefer a brighter sound for finger-style work and the SM48 may prove to be fine for instrument use once I fool around with the equalizer. In summary, if it proves to be durable, the SM48-LC is a lot of microphone for the money. It demonstrates the way of the electronic world: you can get a lot of quality for not very much money and you may have to pay a lot more to get something even a little bit better.

I have used many different microphones for instruction videos, and podcasts. For the majority of voices the Shure SM-48 is the best bang for your buck. It has a very clear sound. I would suggest it to anyone looking for a quality XLR mic on a budget.

Muy bueno, no hay nada mejor que un SHURE

La plupart des personnes connaissent le Shure SM58 et pour avoir tester les 2 produits, j'ai constaté que le produit était le même. Je n'ai pas vraiment vu de différence entre-eux et pour quasiment le même prix, je conseille ce micro. L'emballe est tout de même compliqué à ouvrir mais au moins il n'est pas prêt d'arrivé en mauvaise état. Testé en studio.

I have not heard the difference in sound even side by side with SM58 ...the only difference is the you have to put a little more gain.

Best choice within budget is sure