SM58 vs Shure Beta 58a | Which Should You Buy?

Finally featuring a showdown between the two Shure mics at the top of the handheld lineup.
The Shure Beta58a vs The Shure SM58
Is it worth the price difference?

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My Instagram - @darkcornerstudios
My Twitter - @DarkCornerYT
Timestamps -
00:00 Intro

00:15 A Brief History
01:13 Build Quality
02:11 Specs
02:53 Off Axis Rejection for Beta 58a and SM58
03:38 Plosives Test
03:51 Handling Noise Test
04:23 Proximity Effect Test
04:53 Direct Comparison of Beta 58a and SM58
06:14 Final Thoughts
07:20 Which Should You Buy?

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My Gear -

[taketwo-eu]

SM58, had one for 22 years gigging and its never broke and its been dropped many times and sounds great live.

[djxhakaza]

I have been using SM58 for the past 85 years and still going strong, probably i will still use it in the next 85 to 90 years to come

[SUSANBAR]

Thank you for this! I just bought the BETA A using your Amazon link... on sale for $128.00 so I bought an additional 25 ft cable! Rock on!

[aranajagger]

As a sound tech myself, i prefer the sm58 over the beta. The Boost in the highs of the beta tend to feedback with the monitors. It's a great mic but the sm58 is more reliable

[boddumblues]

i used a BETA for years. It didn't fit my voice that well, but it was a workhorse. Today I'm into the 87A, and that's a better match for me, but nowadays I do mostly harmonies, so that's a different situation also. For big choirs having the BETAs for soloists and 58's for the background singers makes FOH work easy!!

[GenuineHeather]

I agree with your conclusions. Like most people, my experience with the SM58 goes back years. It's a solid, dependable workhorse. But the Beta 58 is a cut above. It's been my go-to live vocal mic for about seven years and it's never let me down. For me, it just sounds better.

[ButeSound]

Beta all day. I use a beta58 in my studio - always live through monitors! for vocal lessons so students can hear themselves really well without the isolation effect of headphones. Perfect. The rejection and quality means any recordings are very usable and in a controlled space I get no feedback with loud monitoring. I liken the recorded sound to be more "condenser like" than the regular 58. Recommend.
Also was good enough for Bjork in her hayday ;)

[bosselof]

I often use Beta 58 for girls and SM58 for boys when mixing vocals live. But both works very well at stage. Once I was mixing the Swedish famous singer Charlotte Perelli and she didnt want to do a soundcheck just step up on stage and sing and that time the Beta 58 solved the challenge just a few adjustments from my own Voice and it was excellent sound.
So Shure SLS with Beta 58 was My choice. Charlotte did Her gig and she and the crowd was happy.

[chriskettlewell]

The up close sound of the Beta 58A was definitely a lot better to my ears, and the significant reduction in what it picks up from the side and back is really noticeable to. Could make a big difference with feedback.

[scottbrown]

Depends on the application and where the speakers and sound sources are. The side rejection of the beta works better if your mains are near the stage. The 58 works better if you have foldbacks in front. I use the beta for my drummers that sing. Sound’s much better than a headset. There is less snare bleed due to the pattern. Point being it’s all about polar pattern.

[JBearwa]

Excellent review! Logical and useful points.
In short I completely agree with this guy!
I’ve used both of these mics for years in my professional karaoke shows. In my experience, definitely for singers the beta - specially with male voice - is so much better!

And I totally agree SM 58 is an incredible mic … If you need to get something for talking buy it with the on off button. For band members it’s also a wonderful option to have the owner off button on the microphone. However for doing karaoke you may not want to have the on off button unless you tape it on people continually switch it and it takes way too much to explain how to do that during a show.For the SM 58 is an incredible value and microphone with great feedback control. But the beta has better feedback control and for singers is much better. Both Rugged both are fantastic

[paulswartz]

I created a Beta 58a by 4:12 replacing the grill on a Beta 57a with a grill from a Behringer XM 8500.The threads on XM 8500 are a bit larger so I built up the threads on the Beta 57a with pipe thread tape wraping them till the tape was flush with the OD of the mic.Screw the new grill on and you're done, works great! Made a great change in the performance of this michrophone for vocals.😅😅

[cmcg]

Thanks for the video. I'm a vocalist. The SM58 is smoother/warmer with my voice (tenor). When you do the proximity test in this video, the SM58 sounds more natural, without too much "wool" in the low-end. The Beta's sound reproduction seems artificially boosted in the highs in all scenarios (maybe they killed the warmth with the low-end roll-off). Anyway, the SM-58 is my pick any day of the week for singing or speech.

[boomerbutler]

I just bought three Beta 58a's for our worship team and I'm really thankful for this comparison video becuase we have feedback issues with our SM58's and we don't have a need for that much lows. I really like how you showed the proximity of the mircophones and this will be very helpful to our vocalists!

[fitton]

I don't mind the Betas as long as singer doesn't mind monitor off at 35 degrees. Putting a monitor directly behind a Beta can cause issues due to the polar pattern. There's a bump directly behind on the Beta that isn't there on the regular 58.

[johnroseman]

That's why I'm here. Just bought a Beta 58A. Wanted to get a review on it. The salesman recommended it over the SM58, and I liked the sound in the store. Nice review .thanks!✌👍

[tommydplayskeys]

My wife and I both sing. She has a really bright voice and mine can struggle to cut through. To begin with she had the Beta and I had the SM58. It got a whole lot better when we swapped! Much less EQ needed. So I'd say it depends on the voice. The polar pattern isn't something I think too much about - we stopped getting feedback when we switched to IEMs. Though minimising drum spill into our mics is still a factor.

[SavoxYT]

Things that would survive a nuclear apocalypse:
1. Cockroaches
2. Keith Richards
3. SM57s and SM58s

[juderandall]

Hi, have used both. I prefer the SM58A, I find the SM58 quieter, definitely more clarity with the 58A & less feedback problems. Thanks for the review, it's very helpful 😊

[johnalles]

I have one of each. The SM 58 I use for practice by myself and it is fine however when I play out I like the Beta 58. It just sounds a little better to me and goes over other voices better if you are the lead singer.