Substitute microphone cartridges?

[frans_13]

Hello, a friend of mine with a PA company has a box full of damaged and dead SM58, 57s, and Beta 58s. In the USA it's easier to get mic cartridges to get them going again, in europe it's nearly the price of a new mic, so doesn't make that much sense.
I have seen a few cartridges from china that claim to fit. Of course they aren't 100% the same or as good as original Shure. Does anybody here have experience with these capsules or know a source in europe where I can get suitable spare parts?

[Drone]

Last I checked, they weren't much cheaper here in the US. I think the best deal is to send them to Shure for a flat fee repair.

https://522bb370f5443d4fe5b9-f62de27af5 ... e_List.pdf

57 capsule is upward of $65, flat fee repair is $55

Be curious if you do find a cartridge that works.

[Scodiddly]

Ditto on the Shure flat fee. 99% of the time they'll just send you a whole new mic in a new box with a new clip, little velcro cable tie, etc.

It's one of the best deals in audio, period.

[Drone]

Just out of interest, how much of the mic do they need back?

I had a busted 57, I pulled the transformer and connector from, wonder if they'd send me another mic for a busted capsule and body?

Btw. I looked at the Shure site for Germany and didn't see a mention of flat fee repair, perhaps if you contact them they can tell you.

http://www.shure.de/supportdownload/rep ... rsatzteile

[Jim Williams]

If you have any made in USA Unidyne III capsules that work, use them as they are collectable and superior to the currently made in Juarez Mexico Shure capsules.

[Drone]

PA work, it's more about having it work and it's durability.

Is this the one you are talking about, OP?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dynamic-Replace ... XQlgtSzjSX

For that price, I guess it's worth a whirl, won't be the same spec though, '57's go to 40Hz if memory serves, that's quoted at 60Hz. If I can find the remains of that '57 I have, I might get one and make a transformerless crappy clone.

[frans_13]

No, that's not the exact one, but similar. As it was written before, it's not about getting the mic 100% back in shape, but make it work rather than throwing it away. There's not flat fee repair in Germany for Shure mics, as far as I know.

[Drone]

Did you try contacting Shure.de just in case? Not sure how much your willing to spend, at exchange rates $55 is about what 30 euro? Though given the usual exchange is dollar for euro, is $55 a reasonable amount to spend on the mic?

I mean a quick look at thomann shows you can pick up a generic dynamic mic for 9.70 euro (apologies I don't have a ? on my keyboard) which will probably have a similarly cheap cartridge in it.

As I see it you can:

Spend whatever amount ?X (hopefully flat fee) and get a Shure mic for your troubles.

Spend ?10 and get a cheap dynamic, which you can either cannibalize for parts, or you can work in reverse, and cannibalize the Shure to put the transformer and the connector in the cheap mic?

Spend ?Y on a capsule that may fit, and have a working mic.

Unless Y < 10 it would seem a waste of time?

Are you definite everything in the box of stuff needs a new capsule, not a new transformer, or broken wires or something else?

[frans_13]

The box full of brokens mics came back from Shure Germany, after they concluded it's the capsules and what it would cost. I wouldn't just put 'anything' in, the cheap 10$ capsules are close to useless, but there exist capsules out there that are said to fit. So I'm going to buy a few different ones and will see how they fare.

[Drone]

Scientific experiments. This actually sounds worthy of a Tape-Op article, or at least an old Tape-Op article, back when they reviewed crazy noise makers and had cheap DIY articles.

Please, please, please, do keep some little record of what happens, and let us know what transpires, I for one would be really interested in a shoot-out of the capsules.