On Sun, Dec 30, 2012 at 4:35 AM, Roger <gurusonic@gmail.com> wrote:

I'd like to add another 2c to this discussion and highly recommend the Sennheiser "e" series of microphones. The e845 is one of the nicest sounding vocal mics for stage use at a really good price. Warm and natural with great clarity without that nasty peakiness of SM58s. They make my job as a monitor engineer a breeze. For that condenser mic sound, I prefer the e965 to the more commonly used Beta87A and Neumann KMS105 which are way more expensive.
We also use Sennheiser instrument mics - e901, e902, e904 and e906 which are all great for their respective purposes.
No, I'm not sponsored by Sennheiser, we also use Shure, Beyer, and AudioTechnica. And yes, I like some of the Heil mics I've tried, particularly vocal mics, but prefer the Sennheisers.

Honestly Sennheiser is often a better choices than the standards of Shure(SM58, etc.), however I am finding people tend to vastly overstate them. Personally I am just not as happy with, particularly the low end 'e' series mics. The 9 series isn't to bad, but the 8 series I could do better than fairly easily in my experience. I also don't have specific brands mics I use all the time across the board, I tend to use whatever I find works best. Sometimes that is Shure, sometimes Sennheiser, sometimes Rode, sometime Audix... this list goes on for a while:)

Particularly when dealing with vocal mics, it can be very important to have a mike that matches the voice. Otherwise the SM58, Beta58, and even Beta57, while not the best sounding mics in the world, you should be able to get a decent sound on just about ANY voice with. That is why they are still used.

Seablade