Lets talk Microphones!

Live microphones. Gotta have em. I use to always use a sm57 in the 90's. Because lets face it, what else was I going to use then? At the time I thought I could not possible use anything else. This was the only mic used at Woodstock.
I wanted to change it up around 2006? Maybe? Somewhere around there. I went with a Audix i5. I really liked that mic. But something seemed generic about it. Then in 2008 I really liked the idea of a hanging mic. I would no longer need to use a mic stand. So I got a Sennheiser e609. Dang I liked this mic!
The Sennheiser e609 instantly became my favorite live mic. And I will tell you why. I could wrap the cable around my handle and hang the mic. Moving the mic from left to right hardly changes the sound. You have to move it pretty far to change the tone. This makes dialing it in FAST! I only have to get the mic position in the ball park and it sounds killer.


I needed some new sm57's for a gig in December. This gig I need a lot of microphones. I stumbled across GLS microphones. From what I could tell it is the Warehouse Guitar Speakers business model. Clone popular gear and sell it for far less.


I thought it would be fun to shoot out my new microphones against my favorite mic (e609).

Ok, I like reference. Gear can sound great in your bedroom. But how does it sound in a band? Thats what matters to me. So I made a 30 second clip of a CCR cover. The guitar tracks are 100% RAW. No EQ, no Compression, straight from the mic to you ears.
The first half of the into lead intro is the GLS es57. The second half is the Sennheiser e609. The first half of the verse is the ES57. The second half is the e609. Be 100% honest with me. For these being untouched guitar tracks I was blown away with the GLS. I would love to know what you guys think.

p.s. I had just woke up when I recorded this. My playing is a little sleepy. Both mics are on axis and near the cone. The es-57 changes a lot off axis. So I wanted to keep it on axis with the e609.

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They sound pretty close, maybe a bit more presence with the e609.I'll have to listen again with
better speakers (on a laptop now).
For vocals I really like the e935's , punchy and clear and easy to avoid feedback.
I'll have to look into GLS.
...and think about recording more with live air as opposed to direct

A bit off topic & I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I really like the sound of that Carvin amp! I've been toying around with getting one for a while. What are your thoughts on it?

A bit off topic & I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I really like the sound of that Carvin amp! I've been toying around with getting one for a while. What are your thoughts on it?

get one !! .... I have two , a V3m and a VT50 and love them , the VT 16 Jimmy has is on my want list


Jimmy , when I joined the Band our singer reguested the e609 only , I have never played around with mic's so I will take your word for it

Definitely a brighter, more open/less compressed, and more detailed sound with the ES57, whether thru cheap desktop speakers or high quality cans. It's not a huge difference (the e609 is not bad), but it is there. Is there some possibility that the positions relative to speaker cone/axis are not quite identical?

And +1 on Carvin amps.

They sound pretty close, maybe a bit more presence with the e609.I'll have to listen again with
better speakers (on a laptop now).
For vocals I really like the e935's , punchy and clear and easy to avoid feedback.
I'll have to look into GLS.
...and think about recording more with live air as opposed to direct

When I record with the e609 it has to be right up on it. I have tried that mic with air and it doesnt like it. The manufacturer recommends being as close as possible as well. I agree with them. The 57 I usually do off axis with a touch more air. But it sounds WAY different off axis. It would not have been a good shoot out with the e609. You cant use the e609 off axis at all. They really designed it to be on axis and super close.

When making a album I like my mics close. The I use a Neumann TLM 103 Microphone for distant mic. I have tried 57's on axis with some air and I just dont like it. On some amps I do a 1 finger gap. But 90% of the time I am at the grill cloth.

The Neumann TLM 103 sounds good anywhere in the room. I could put a blanket over it and it would still sound great. The TLM blows my mind. I use it for a room mic on drums as well. Then all the main vocals go threw it as well.

The e935 is a great mic. My brother uses a audix OM-3 for live vocals. Great mic. Feedback resistance is amazing. We love this mic. I think the OM-2 is great for vocals as well.

A bit off topic & I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I really like the sound of that Carvin amp! I've been toying around with getting one for a while. What are your thoughts on it?

Dude, this is my favorite live amp of all time. I have or owned vintage Marshalls and Fenders. Great amps. At one point I used a JMP halfstack and a Fender Twin with a A/B box. My Marshall was the drive channel and the Fender was my clean. Over the years my amp size has gone down. I mainly moved to Mesa Boogie combo amps. My last main live amp was a Mesa Nomad 45 1x12 combo.

I have had pretty massive spine surgery. My wife has to load my amp up for me. Watching her carry that super heavy Mesa broke my heart. But she never complained. This lead me to thinking this:

I should be able to buy a American Made 1x12 tube, single channel, light weight and sounds amazing. I was shocked at how hard this was to do. So I started looking at Matchless and similar amps. I couldn't believe how much they were for a single channel combo. Everyone said "Get a Fender Blues Jr". But I wanted a american made amp. I also thought I could find a better tone for me.

I use to own a Carvin x100 half stack like Frank Zappa used. It was a great sounding amp. So that made me think to start looking at Carvin. The V16 blows my mind. I have had more compliments on this amp than any amp I have ever owned. I have had guys come on stage after a gig and take pictures of the amp setting and my stomp box so they could order the same thing. No joke. I have had soundmen tell me it is the best guitar tone they have ever had on their stage. This is not because i am a amazing player. This is because I finally found the perfect amp and pedal combo for me.

I did get the V30 upgrade. Carvin does not charge you for the original speaker and the replacement speaker. The deduct the cost of the factory speaker then add the price of the V30. And they do a smokin deal on the V30. They charge $45 bucks for the V30. That is not a typo, $45 bucks for a speaker that is $120-140 everywhere else. For me, the V30 is the perfect live speaker. Not the best for playing by yourself. But a V30 really shines in a band on stage.

The Fulldrive 3 is the other part of the equation. The V16 is a low gain amp. It has a 5/15 watt switch on the back. I run it on 5 watts on stage. Two el84's. It also has a Baxandall tonestack. With Fulldrive overdrives they dont do well with a "Fender Twin" style amp. They need a amp with a little bit of break up. Then the Fulldrive will push the front end and retain the original tone of the amp.
It also has the loudest lead boost I have heard in my life. I no longer ever need a soundman to turn up my guitar solo. The lead boost is so loud I run it at 11:00. And it just keeps getting louder as you turn it up instead of just making it get dirty. It also has germanium compression built into the lead boost. So I put a touch of that on as well. My solos cut right threw the mix and everyone can hear them perfect.

Using the Carvin V16 and the Fulldrive 3 has gotten me the best live guitar tone I have ever had. I am not worthy of the tone I am getting. I have never had soundmen tell me it was the best live tone they ever had on stage before. And I sure never had guys taking pictures of my rig and settings so they can duplicate it.

Best part of it all is this. Awhile back they lowered the cost of the V16's. With the V30 upgrade, tax and shipping. I got it for under 500 bucks. I kicked my Mesa to the curb. My brother is the lead singer and rhythm player. He has gotten jealous over how many soundguy compliments and guitar players compliments I have gotten. After the last guy was taking pictures of my rig he put his Mesa up for sale.

I hope this answered your question. Buy one! And pick up a Fulldrive 3. Places like GC give you a 30 day return. If you dont like it you can get a 100% refund. I think Carvin gives you 12 days? From the day you receive it to test drive it. You will have to double check the Carvin return.

You need this amp!

Definitely a brighter, more open/less compressed, and more detailed sound with the ES57, whether thru cheap desktop speakers or high quality cans. It's not a huge difference (the e609 is not bad), but it is there. Is there some possibility that the positions relative to speaker cone/axis are not quite identical?

And +1 on Carvin amps.

It could be possible but I made it as close as I possibly could. The e609 is VERY forgiving. If you move it a inch the tone don't change. They really made that mic fool proof. If you get it in the ball park it will forgive you. I have a general spot that I use it on stage. As long as I am close it sounds like I really spent time dialing in the position.

But I really tried to make them the same. I did not expect the result I got. I figured the e609 would be a clear winner. Now if I put that es57 off axis it totally changes. In a good way. It sounds just as good if not better of axis. But the tone does change a lot. The e609 can not be used off axis. And vocals sound awful threw a e609. The es57 sounds great with vocals.

Are you saying you would choose the es57 over the e609? If I knew how to make a poll I would have done that.

edit: For me, the Carvin amps are the G&L's of the amp world. I love that they only sell direct and keep the cost down. If they were to sell these amps to big box stores they would cost 60% more. When you look at it that way you really see the value of the amps.

What microphones do you guys like to use live? I am curious. The SM57 was the mic for so many years. And I think that it still is. But I am curious if you guys go a different rout.



If you are going to hit the stage and you have to choose 1 microphone. What mic are you going to use?