Shure Beta 57A Instrument Microphone Bundle with Boom Stand and 20-Foot XLR Cable

One of the best vocal microphone. It is almost as good as the Sennheiser E840 in price range and quality. The blue rubber band can be made better.

I bought the combo bundle that included a Beta 57A for immediate performance use last weekend. Overall, a mixed bag, and not as great a bargain as it appears.Shure Beta 57A: Enough can be read about the quality of this mic here on Amazon and all over the net. Quality is impeccable for its use. I bought it to mic my Martin HD35 for live performances (I don't have a pickup in it), wanting a mic that limits the potential for feedback from both fronts and monitors. This mic is designed for this purpose, and I had no problems with it during my performance> I run it through a pre-amp before it goes to the board, and folks in the audience afterward said it sounded great, as did another musician who played it part of the night. (Correctly ~45 degree angled monitors are key if you're having feedback problems.)The 20ft - XLR Cable is the "Stagg 20ft. Standard Mic Cable - XLR / XLR" retailing for just under $10 here at Amazon, sold by the same crew bundling this. You can read the review of this cable on its own page, but I find it of reasonable quality, and this alone was a breakeven on what I paid above getting the mic alone. I didn't expect Canare-cable quality, it is a $ 0.50 / ft quality, and probably won't last as long as my other cables, but I was surprised by its feel quality - thicker than expected, with sturdy build at the jack ends. I noticed nothing unusual with it when using it as part of the set-up, although I don't recall where it ended up in my overall rig setup (there were other vocal mics, etc., and it may have been used for those). Regardless, it's what I expected from a low-mid end XLR cable, and meets that expectation, and am happy it gets 4 stars here at amazon as a standalone.Boom Mic Stand: I'm glad I am already well-stocked with boom stands for performances, or I'd have been totally screwed and forced to junkyard-rig this stand. This is a boom stand in NAME and LOOK ONLY. Over the years I've had boom stands wear out to the point where no matter how hard you tighten it, they've completely lost their grip. That "wear-out time" can be quite disappointingly quick for cheaper boom stands, but never had I had one show up new and be of absolutely no use right out of the box. The boom lock that's supposed to keep your boom at a correct angle under the weight of a microphone is completely useless, it slipped easily / without a fight. The only way this boom would be serviceable as the stand to mic my acoustic or reach my vocals over that mic would be if I attached a string and an appropriate weight to the back end to keep it in balance, or simply tied / duct-taped it down, looking very unprofessional. This stand will function as a nearly entirely upright mic stand with the boom (although I suspect that amount of grip will fail soon absent duct tape, too), but as a proper boom stand, forget it, unless having a bunch of rigging on the stand is of no concern to you. I have not tried it yet, but I assume, like all booms, the boom can be removed and I at least have a traditional upright stand to use. Being an experienced boom stand purchaser, I did not have high hopes for the stand, although admittedly I am still stunned by just how poor the boom really is.Summary:Beta 57A Mic = 5 Star. Met expectations. Simply a great mic.Low-Mid XLR = 5 Star and above expectations. (again, I'm not comparing this to a high end cable, and I've used it once)Boom Stand = 2 star. I'd give it zero stars as a boom, but it will work for a little while as an upright and can be junkyard rigged if need be. In the end, I will remove the boom for a traditional upright stand, and probably good one for that purpose, and a deal I'd have been happy with on its own at the current price. But this was sold as a boom stand and gets 2 stars only because it's not a total loss.Bundle: 4-Stars. While it is sold as a package and anyone expecting a legit boom stand is getting rooked, I still give the bundle a four star rating. I unavoidably conclude that the seller is stuck with an inventory of these trashy booms that would otherwise be a total loss, and that this "bundle" enables them to convert that loss into a marketing value by encouraging bargain-hunters to buy what is for the seller otherwise a normal priced sale when matching their Amazon Prices for the mic and xlr cable standalone.Nonetheless, between the Beta 57A and the XLR, I felt this was a decent enough combo at $10 above the price (at the time I bought it) for the 57A alone. Getting the XLR and what amounts to a traditional upright stand is net even, and while the boom I received is pretty much false advertising, I ended up with a free upright stand.

I'm a singer in a cover band and I am very happy with this mic. It's not as awesome as vintage of course, but it's a close second. Stand is pretty cheap, but since it was a "bonus" I shouldn't complain. Highly recommended!