Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Shure KSM141 vs Shure SM81 vs Gefell M70 on acoustic guitar

hyper.real · 1st July 2011

Appreciate the O/P - thnx for this. Listened on Saffire Pro26DSP thru ATH-M50 cans. FWIW.

In terms of being able to pick up the music (pick out the tune, jig to the rhythms, that sort of thing), the SM81 is IMO distinctly inferior to the other two - I would personally eschew it.

Between the M70 and the KSM141, my preference is for the latter (not what I expected). The Gefell makes the guitar sound "expensive" (cool, except that it isn't), with a scooped midband that makes it sound "skinny", and a treble suggesting greater distance. The KSM141 OTOH sounds to me more mid-rounded with more body, to my mind like archetypal guitar Americana (showing my age here), and more intimate. I know that different brands of strings can change the sound in just these sorts of ways, so I wouldn't be dogmatic, but I like the KSM141 here.

1st July 2011	#20
hyper.real Gear Head Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 62	Appreciate the O/P - thnx for this. Listened on Saffire Pro26DSP thru ATH-M50 cans. FWIW. In terms of being able to pick up the music (pick out the tune, jig to the rhythms, that sort of thing), the SM81 is IMO distinctly inferior to the other two - I would personally eschew it. Between the M70 and the KSM141, my preference is for the latter (not what I expected). The Gefell makes the guitar sound "expensive" (cool, except that it isn't), with a scooped midband that makes it sound "skinny", and a treble suggesting greater distance. The KSM141 OTOH sounds to me more mid-rounded with more body, to my mind like archetypal guitar Americana (showing my age here), and more intimate. I know that different brands of strings can change the sound in just these sorts of ways, so I wouldn't be dogmatic, but I like the KSM141 here.