Shure Beta 52A Reviews

Great Mic

Makes the drum kit sound excellent, perfect for the bass drum

Excellent for low frequencies and high SPLs

It is heavy and feels very solid (and worthy) in the hands due to its sturdy construction and mobile coil. The included support offers a wide angle of adjustments, very cool and useful. Handle with love, tighten properly and let it grab the long waves at any rate. I am using it for miking a didgeridoo with optimal results and looks damn cool in front of it. Pricey, but I won’t trust the cheapo-grande replicas for same performance as this is the original Shure quality. The provided bag is pretty but useless as it is not padded.

worth the money

solid sound, and great quality. Best option out there for kick drum mic among the cheaper options

Great Kick Mic

If youre looking for a fantastic kick drum microphone, dont look any further. New design for the clip also is an improvement to the previous version of the 52

Exactly what I needed for bass drum

This is a standard in the industry. I have considered other makes and models in the similar price range, verdict: after countless audio sample comparisons, Shure Beta 52A won. I'm happy with the sound captured, the bass drum sounds awesome through this even without EQ. I use it on the outside or slightly inside of the port hole cutout. Sound is a personal preference, this one has done it for me.

Great job

All perfect quick and professional

Top bass drum mic.

A top affordable, industry standard bass drum mic. Good for any stage.

Legendary

Just a legendary mic.

Workhorse kick mic

Balanced sound that can be used and tweaked to fit all the genres, from jazz to extreme metal. Build quality is great as well. I also like that they changed the tightening screw from older versions, so now you can actually tighten it with your hand :D

Good microphone

Good microphone for bass drum.

Bass drum king

The king of bass drum mics. Extremely low frequencies . The built quality is unbelievable. Highly recommended

Awesome

Do you want to record your bass drum? Do you want to record a bass amp? Buy this microphone. Captures full, thick sounds without coloring them which lets you have a field day mixing later.

Excellent

This mic is must have for rock/metal kick recording

Amazing Microphone

This is my go to microphone for Kick Drums. I'm looking to pair it with a Beta 91A soon

I have used this mic in the studio with good results for kick drum, floot tom, electric bass cabinet.

Kick drum:

I had trouble recording kick drums at first. I've read that this mic has a mid scope and thought it sounds kind of flat and lacking punch of a "real kick sound"

Long story short... I tried buying new heads and started experimenting with positioning. I found that tuning my drums was the main issue. I do use a kickport in rear and Remo CS clear (going for EQ3 or something smilar next time) with my 22"x18" and a small pillow.

With this setup i found tuning my kick drum without the need of black belt in tuning drums. Just a tip that worked well for me. So now it sounds better than the weaker papery "plack"-sound that I got before. Now it's definitivly a "boom" when placing the BETA 52A inside an inch or two aiming a bit above dead centre. I do use the Autix D6 in addition for kick drum recording. I place the D6 halfway in and get boomier kick with high frequency click. I like the D6 more, but that's another story to tell.

Pros

Legendary mic. Good starting point if buying first kick drum mic if you don't know what to aim for. This mic is great with floor tom if upgrade the kick drum mic to something else.

Cons

- Has mid scope. You should'nt be afraid to use heavy EQ to shape the sound. Consider Audix D6 if you think or know you want more low end, less mids and bit high frequency click out of the box. They are both excellent and in the same price range.

Floor tom

SM 57 is the mic i usually end up using. If i have a spare SM52 i definitivly want it with floor tom. The Beta 52A sounds great on floor compared with sm57 and the low end it lacks. The Beta 52A just adds a lot more "punch in your face"-lows compared to a SM57.

Pros

- First and only mic i used with Beta 52A

Cons

- None so far

Electric bass guitar cabinet

Beta 52A is the mic i usually end up using. It delivers good low end sound. I do sometimes use additional SM57 for a track with overdrive. I found line in more useful fot that purpose.

Pros - Gives great low end and sounds good when recording in high volume situations.

Cons - I usually need additional track from line or SM57 when recording bass for a fuller sound in the hi-end depending on music style and taste at the moment.

Overall

Great for kick drum, floor tom and electric bass cabinet. The mid scope is an issue for me with kick drum, but can easily be eq:d to sound more youi want it to. Sounds amazing in combination wuth Audix D6. I would choose Beta52A as a first kick drum mic to buy and try it out since it is a great mic as floor tom in case you buy another one. Tuning might be a problem regardless of mic used and should be a concerm to fix before recording and jiugdning, specially if there is no power in the sound.. Audix D6 is a heavy pre-EQd mic and might suit you betterif you know you more low end and a bit high freq click. Beta 52A ijs a safe bet and worth trying if you are unsure of what you want. It's built to last.

Never let me down

I used this mic for years on different occasions. I could always get an usable sound no matter what kick drum is used. The only minor annoyance is the screw for the angle gets loose from time to time but nothing you can't fix in a minute Sound great, tailored for kicks, with a nice mid cut.

Great Mic

Working as a roadie (in high level events), you always see this mic in live or studio situations. No brainer for sure.

i like it

I like more oldschool sounding bass drums. Audix D6, i think is a great mic, but not for recording, it has too much eq, it makes every bassdrum sound good. I wanted more character in my bassdrum sound. So there were two mics that everyone recomended in my budget, AKG D112 and this Shure. Everywhere where i listened they sounded quite similar, but for my taste, Shure had a bit more bottom. I realy like it, and i have found that this mic sounds the best, when you put this mic outside of bass drum, right where the heads hole is. It the way how i have seen Benny Greb micking his bass drum, and some Kings of Leon records where recorded that way too. I like it!

The classic, can't go wrong

Classic kick drum mic. Has a bit difficulties with picking up click of the bass drum, but it blends in perfectly with a pressure zone microphone in the bass drum itself. Quality is top notch, but very heavy.

You can't go wrong with a classic.

The Beta52A is a classic for a reason. Countless records had it as a kick drum/floor tom mic with wonderful results. Add that to Shure's reliability and it's easy to see you can't go wrong with this mic.

Great solid sound for rock, pop and metal.