the t.bone MB75 Beta

I need to fill out my mic draw with some dynamics, and I've of course read up on the other reviews of these t.bone mics. I thought at the price, it's worth a punt to see if it stands up as a realistic alternative to the industry standard for those of us on a tighter budget.

Firstly, I was impressed with the nice hard wearing plastic case that it comes in. Much better than any other mic I have, costing much more. Then the mic itself; Solid look and feel with metal body. Good finish, quality is great. I really could not see anything that would lead me to believe that this was a cheap item.

How does it sound? Well, other people have already compared it to it's more expensive inspiration, so I decided to compare it to some equally cheap dynamics I acquired of the years that I had lying around...

Yoga D727 and a Sanyo MP303. As expected the MB75 BETA out performs these quite easily, as from the specs you can see that the MB75 has a greater frequency response and a tighter polar pattern. Which is usually more preferable for a dynamic mic IMHO. But it's nice to actually hear it.

I then compared it to my trusty AKG C1000 condenser to record acoustic guitar. Not an application that the MB75 is really suitable for, yet I was still quite impressed... at a push you could get away with it in a recording.

On vocals sounds great, smooth and responsive, but of course less detail than a large diaphragm mic. Fantastic for live use I imagine. On percussion it's perfect for all kinds of things.

Basically I've now got a very handy extra tool in the home studio for setting up all kinds of micing situations. i record a lot of acoustic instruments and used in conjunction with other types of mics it will really help me out I'm sure.

Considering the price I don't think I can give this thing any less than 5 stars.

I got this a while back, and based on the many reviews I had read I was excited for it to be comparible to a Shure Beta57 that I had foolishly sold a few years back. It's not - it was somewhat underwhelming to be honest. Maybe I just got a dud, but it doesn't have the clarity or the volume of its much more expensive alternative. I have a few Rode mics too and they are significantly more responsive than this. It's been in its case now for several months as I've reverted back to other mics instead. Hey-ho, you win some, you lose some!

This is a bit of a Beta SM57 clone. I have used this microphone on a few different sources, mainly guitar cabinets,snare drums, saxophone and vocals. This microphone has a slightly hotter output than the non beta version (which I also own). I particularly love this mic on guitar cabs, usually paired with another mic. It handles Sound pressure Levels very well and is suited to loud sources such as percussion/drums and guitar/bass cabinets. I did try this microphone on vocals but I was wasn't overly keen on the results, however this may have been the singer not suiting the mic. I will do a reasonable job on whatever you throw at it.
This is also a very sturdy mic, nice metal construction, a little bit heavier than its little brother the MB75. It feels very solid in your hand with a very sturdy grill. I am confident that this mic will last for years. It also comes with a very good mic clip and a plastic foam lined box.