Pyle PDMIC78 XLR Microphone

Unidirectional cardioid microphone with dynamic design delivers optimal clarity and punch, minimizing background noise for live and studio performances. Review: Fantastic Value for Money - A very good microphone for the price. From a sound quality point of view, I would say the PDMIC78 is comparable to a genuine SM57, but with a slightly brighter high end. Build quality from the outside is similar, but the the PDMIC78 is lighter (Due to the lack of an internal transformer). As with Pyles other microphones, this is also not balanced (not that most people will hear a difference), but that can be fixed in just a couple of minutes. I would recommend this mic to anyone on a budget, anyone starting out or even those who just need some extra SM57 style mics around the studio. Review: Decent SM57 clone, but beware the unbalanced output... - I mostly record electric guitars via modelling plugins, primarily Amplitube or Bias, but I wanted a decent mic for those rare occasions when I might want to record my little Marshall. For all I'd use it, it didn't make sense to splurge on an SM57, so this seemed like a good alternative - and for the most part, it is. It has quite a similar character to the 57, with the same brash midrange, but perhaps a little more scratchy in the high end. This is easily compensated for in EQ, though. My biggest caveat is this: I'm not sure if it's stated anywhere in the literature, but this mic has an UNBALANCED output, rather than the balanced output found in an SM57. This is perhaps why it's supplied with an XLR>jack lead rather than XLR>XLR. For most applications, this won't matter, but I found it caused problems with a dual mic setup using a Rode NT1-A in the rear of the guitar cab, and the Pyle with an XLR>XLR lead. My Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface, like most similar devices, supplies phantom power across all inputs. When engaged for the Rode, this caused a significant rise in noise and loss of signal quality for the Pyle mic. It could have been worse - phantom power can destroy an unbalanced mic. The info could be a lot clearer on this point. It was easily worked around, however, by simply using the XLR>jack lead. A quick google found a simple mod to turn the Pyle's output to balanced, but given the ease of just using the supplied lead, I'll probably not bother with that. All in all, this is a good value, and very usable, microphone.