I have been involved in sound-engineering, both live and recording for about 50 years. I am not a professional so have always worked on tight budgets. These days, I have a massive microphone collection which includes dozens of examples of mics from all the major manufacturers. I have searched endlessly in this time to find an affordable vocal mic with a high performance - and I have now found it! In fact I have found about 20 of them - all the same - all Thomann MB78 Betas!
In my opinion, the MB78 Beta is the best vocal mic available at anything like this price. OK, what's so good about it?
Firstly, the sound quality. Clean, sweet top end without the hard edge upper-mid boost that so many dynamic vocal mics deliver. I have never had any significant feedback problems with these mics in live work (though to be fair, I rarely work in an environment that needs massive volume). I have never tried an A/B test with a "famous" mic to see which will give the highest volume without feedback but my impression is that these would match any dynamic mic for feedback-free gain. This is probably due to a pretty flat frequency response. These mics certainly extend at the top end beyond the range of a dynamic mic.
I have used the mics for recording close-mic vocals and the results have been flawless.
Another thing I like about these mics is their almost zero handling noise. The shock protection is excellent and much better than any comparable mic I have ever used. A great bonus when performers want to hand-hold.
Low end is brilliantly curtailed with the on-board high-pass filter. I always use this switched in for close vocal work. This makes the mic almost pop-free. Once or twice, I have had to resort to using a foam pop-filter for particularly breathy performers but most of the time this is totally unnecessary.
These mics are pretty tough too. OK, I look after my stuff but I have had some of these mics for getting on for a decade and they still look as good as new.
They look pretty good too!
The verdict? Unless you want to pay three, four or even five times the price, you won't get much more for your money. These mics are brilliant! Thomann - please keep these in stock and hold the price!!
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