Hello everybody,
I am looking at getting a microphone for recording voice. I do see a lot of people using the SM58, but I also found the PGA58 which is more budget friendly.
You will find just as many people saying that the SM58 is superior as you can find people saying that you cannot tell the quality difference in a blind test.
Has anyone had a good/bad experience with the PGA58 and will I regret in the future not getting the more expensive ($65) SM58?
Thank you!
Hi Raz. @razshaw
I can’t answer your question, but I do got something to say. Just my own personal observation for what I use.
First off, I’ve considered the sm58 myself, along with the sm57 since I like to mic my amp.
However.
I got some pretty crapola mic’s, I think.
I got the mic that comes with the focusrite 2i2 bundle (a 48v powered condenser mic), came with headphones too. This mic gets some pretty crummy reviews on the www. But for my home recordings, it seems just fine from my amateur point of view. I’ve got a few recording up here (ya can go check them out if ya want). I go back and forth between using this mic for my amp or my vocal.
My other mic is even crummier than the focusrite one. It’s a dynamic mic from radio shack (out of biz a long time ago), the realistic brand. I can’t imagine that mic being of high quality either. It gets used back and forth between the amp and vocals too.
Point is.
I’m using pretty substandard mics. The cheap mics seem to work fine for my amateur recordings. If I were a real musician, I might be more likely to have to get something better. But as for now I can get away with procrastinating till I may too, finally get me a sm57,58.
Good luck with your decision. Hope ya put up some audio here so we can hear how what ever ya choose works out for you.
Thank you, I did go for the budget friendly one and I am pretty sure I made the right decision 
People are often snobby about audio gear!
Not just audio gear either. They are often very opinionated… until you put them into a blind listening/tasting situation. Opinions are not so strong when you can’t see the label/brand.
That is what I did, I found a few youtube videos doing blind tests, and I could not tell the difference.
This is my favourite example.
I’d love to see a blind wine testing comp where all the entrants were the same wine
I mean I’d be willing to judge that …
Hi Raz, I’ve enjoyed this thread. You, me, and Jim @HappyCat can be the founder members of the budget friendly club. My Audio interface is a chinese focusrite knockoff that cost me £25 on ebay, I have a condenser mic that came with all the gubbins (pop filter, foam cover, XLR cable, anti-shock mount, desk mounted articulated stand) for under a tenner (ebay from china, identical package currently £10.99) and a Stagg dynamic mic, (under £10, ebay again). I have a few AVOYPs posted, and nobody’s ever commented adversely on the recording quality (I tell a lie, the first couple had some noisy hiss, but as I’ve gained more experience with plugins that’s no longer an issue)
Sounds like the beginning of a band. I think I’m ready for that if you guys are.
Firstly a quick disclaimer - I am very far from a recording expert, however …
The SM58 (and variants) are really designed for live use, and they are very good at that. It’s actually quite rare to see them used in professional recording environments (although it does happen). With dynamic mics like the SM58 need you to be very close (almost touching) the mic to get a good sound and the volume falls off very quickly as you back away. This is why it works well in a live situation (It doesn’t pick up as much of the other stage noise, it’s also very robust!)
Condenser mics pick up a lot more and you don’t need to be so close to them, however because of this they will pick up any other noise along with vocals. If you are singing and playing guitar at the same time a condenser mic will pick up significant guitar sound too.
Obviously each mic colours the sound in it’s own way, and you may prefer one over the other, but I suspect at the amateur level that I am at, the main consideration is Dynamic v Condenser. I’ve used both, but lean towards condenser as I find the vocal volume more consistent.
I like the condenser for acoustic guitar & vocal, but I prefer dynamic for the vocal with electric guitar/plugged in electro-acoustic, because it doesn’t pick up the string noise like the condenser does
Interesting conversation here about mics.
I find your comments to be spot on. Even about the cheapo mics I’ve got.
I’ve noted the same thing. I just plain gotta near lick that dynamic mic for it to record sound. And the condenser is just the opposite. It almost picks up too much sound. Good grief, I can hear the air moving through the vents when my furnace is on with that mic. And it’s confirmed that it’s picking that air movement up as it registers on the meters on the daw.
Congrats Raz on your NMD (new mic day). Any new gear is always fun.
Compared to the SM58; I think the difference will be marginal in comparison to the impact the actual USE has (positioning, levels, promoximity to mic and tking into acocunt proximity effect etc)
I’d say, yeah go for it 
Hi Raz, if you still want confirmation that your choice was the right one, then you might find this little audio test interesting. Mary Spender demonstrates how well the PGA58 copes compared with one that is 5 times more expensive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djnU84HIGvM
Edit: oops, I now read that you already viewed some blind test videos. I overlooked this previously, sorry.