Another Unidyne III USA SM57 vs Mexican SM57 Comparison

[slymo]

Picked up a USA Unidyne III SM57 so I could here the difference for myself. Not sure of the age of it. The two mics were taped together one on top of the other vertically to minimize tone difference from speaker placement. Side by side there is such a difference in one inch of travel in or out of the cone.

The mics are right up against the grill of a Marshall 6101 combo towards the outer edge of the cone so it rounds off the highs. Same cables into an ADL600/Ensemble/Logic I did a whole extra set with the mics a foot back from the speaker to eliminate proximity effect and let the highs soar.

Guess which one is which...or don't

[slymo]

Clean foot back

[vintagelove]

my macbook speakers are telling me that a is the older one. They sound much "better", I have a couple.

[slymo]

Overdrive

[slymo]

Lotsa gain Baritone

[slymo]

Overdrive foot back

[slymo]

Last set Metal foot back

[slymo]

Originally Posted by charlesaustin

my macbook speakers are telling me that a is the older one. They sound much "better", I have a couple.

To me the differences were inconsistent...several times I went back to make sure I didn't flip flop the files. I thought I had the differences down but then the next set threw me off. I suppose that's why ya have to test mics on each source cause you never know. The one thing that seemed to remain consistent was the difference in the mids.

[vintagelove]

I only listened to the first file..... The old one is just like a 57, without everything that sux (which can suck in a special way, I prefer it on bottom snare) spikey top, wimpy bottom.

[LSGoCards7]

I MUCH preferred B in every clip I listened to. I think A= Mexico, B= Unidyne. A exhibited all the characteristics which made me sell my SM57 and not get one until I can get a Unidyne III.

[fakiekid]

I have a Unidyne 3 at the college I work at, very similar to the 57 I have with the transformer removed. Here's my 2 penneth.

Clean GTR
A: Well balanced, punchy tone, slightly dark and warm whereas B: More upper mids, slightly brighter/scratchier?

Lotsa Gain Baritone
A: Tight low end but boxy, round. B: in comparison has that sharp upper mid spike again.

Metal Foot Back
A: again a boxy tone but better, smoother top end than B again.

So in my experience, B is the standard 57 and A is the Unidyne.

[slymo]

Thanks for the guesses guys. A was the standard and B was the Unidyne. Fakiekid your descriptions were so dead on and the most consistent thing I noticed was that mid range like you heard. It had more presence making the Mex57 sound more scooped. The proximity effect seems more extreme on the Mex and when the highs are pressed, to me, it gets fizzy sounding. The USA57 seems to be smoother on the bottom and picks up the highs better with a better mid but it is brighter especially when you pull the mic back. I did some acoustic guitar and the USA57 sounded horrible when it wasn't up close, super thin. I think in this type of a test the Mex will sound better because it sounds a bit more scooped and friendly like an i5 but the USA will hit better in the mix.

[vintagelove]

Well, maybe my macbook speakers are not transparent!!!.... At very least your post shows how different the 2 sound.

[slymo]

Originally Posted by charlesaustin

Well, maybe my macbook speakers are not transparent!!!.... At very least your post shows how different the 2 sound.

That's the real point of these types of tests I guess. At least for me it's to figure out what kind of difference. I listen to as many of these shootouts as I can and I never get it right...or rarely. But I learn a lot about the gear and what it might sound like on a particular source. I think this kills the argument that the US and Mex 57's are the same. I cracked both of them open after and one thing I noticed is the transformer on the US one is not surrounded by goop so I bet that changes the resonance of the mic body?? Solder joints look cleaner and parts look "better."

[tribedescribe]

Thanks for the clips, i recently compare 2 unidyne 57's and a 2 newer mexi 57. I listened to your clips and it sounded just the same as my test.

New 57's= They sounded identical. still has the 57 sound but it was less focused and a little light/bright. It also seems to be scooped and does not really accentuate the low mid distortion the same way the unidynes do! They also has less output. Even though the unidyne was better, I would still take the mexi 57 over my audix i5 or shure beat 57 any day of the week.

Old unidyne 57 = These seem to vary in tone. One I had really excelled on clean and was much brighter than the mexi 57's. I am sure it would have killed on snare, but I sold it. The tone was more focused. The one I kept sounded more like yours, It seemed to magically bring out the distortion and low mid's in a pleasing manner. It was like a 57 pumped up. Fuller sweeter and brought out more grind or grit in a very pleasing way. Both unidynes had a hotter output than the newer 57.

Fun test


Scott

[slymo]

Originally Posted by tribedescribe

Thanks for the clips, i recently compare 2 unidyne 57's and a 2 newer mexi 57. I listened to your clips and it sounded just the same as my test.

Thanks for that confirmation. There was a part of me that was like, "is this thing broken?" it sounded so different. I found a great use for my i5's last week. Big deep wooden snare sounded like it was live with an i5 and one foot over a pair of congas the i5 was great.

[PDC]

In all fairness, the original dual impedance Unidyne is not EXACTLY the same mic, though it has the same capsule. There were unidyne labeled USA mics, but there were also non unidyne labeled SM57s prior to the move to Mexico. The pre Mexico mics are inconsistent by comparison.

This is another one of those internet things where someone says some mic has a certain quality to it, and nothing made after it is as good. Again, like Neumanns, there are variations from mic to mic and few if any people would be able to distinguish between them all of the time.

[slymo]

Originally Posted by PDC

In all fairness, the original dual impedance Unidyne is not EXACTLY the same mic, though it has the same capsule. There were unidyne labeled USA mics, but there were also non unidyne labeled SM57s prior to the move to Mexico. The pre Mexico mics are inconsistent by comparison.

This is another one of those internet things where someone says some mic has a certain quality to it, and nothing made after it is as good. Again, like Neumanns, there are variations from mic to mic and few if any people would be able to distinguish between them all of the time.

Just move a 57 even a small amount horizontally across a guitar cab speaker and you get a totally different tone. Tests like this only prove the differences of the mics in hand for sure. I'm getting a second Unidyne and we'll see how that compares to the other.

[PDC]

Originally Posted by slymo

Just move a 57 even a small amount horizontally across a guitar cab speaker and you get a totally different tone.

Uh, yeah, and the point is? When you are talking about moving a mic on and off axis of the driver, and the driver is beaming with highs from the center and darker to the sides, you WILL get a different tone. This is true with any microphone.

My point is that the consistency between Unidynes is a issue.

[tribedescribe]

We are talking specifically about the sm57 labeled "Unidyne III sm57 made in usa". This is the model Eric Johnson swears by along with many top producers and recording engineers. They do sound different, some actually used to label them for different things like the "snare" one or "guitar" due to their subtle differences.

I did not know all this untill about 8 years ago, when I asked a well respected recording engineer(credits include bose sound, robert plant etc.) in my area about why he was using a old sm57 for my amp. He told me the new ones do not sound as good!

[slymo]

Originally Posted by PDC

My point is that the consistency between Unidynes is a issue.

My point is that the new ones sound different from the old ones. You will find people say that the mics are the same because, "they moved all the tooling to Mexico and nothing changed." Evidently that is not the case especially if there is inconsistency in the US products. Well to me it's never about better or worse it's just different and you can put the so called "better" mic in a different spot on the cone and it will be the worst mic. Just another case of YMMV