Should we hire the SM58 or the SM57?

For anything sung or spoken, the SM58: its ball grille carries a built-in pop filter and it is comfortable in hand or on a stand. For miking instruments up close, the SM57: the flat grille gets the capsule nearer the snare, amp or horn. Inside they are close cousins, so for a band night take both, 58s for the singers and 57s on the backline. Tell us the line-up and we will suggest a list.

Do they need batteries or phantom power?

No. Both are dynamic microphones, so there is nothing to power and nothing to charge. Plug an XLR cable into any mixer, powered mixer or PA head and they work. If your desk has phantom power switched on for other microphones, it does these no harm.

How many can we hire for a band night?

As many as the show needs. A typical band night runs three or four 58s across the front, a 57 on the snare and one on each guitar amp, and we can supply as many as a bigger line-up needs. Each microphone needs its own cable and mixer channel, so tell us what desk you are using and we will check the channel count while we build the kit list.

Why not hire wireless microphones instead?

Wireless earns its keep when the person has to move: a compere working the room, actors in a musical. For a singer on a stand, a lectern or an amp, a wired microphone costs less, sounds as good or better, never runs out of battery mid-song and cannot suffer interference. Most band nights and speeches are better served wired.

Are they tough enough for a school hall?

Famously so. The SM58 has a steel-mesh grille and an internal shock mount designed for rough handling, and both microphones have enamelled die-cast bodies. A drop onto a hall floor will almost always be shrugged off. We test every microphone between hires in any case.

Home Services Equipment Hire Wired Microphone Hire

Shure SM58 and SM57 hire — wired vocal and instrument microphones

Most of the singing and speech you have ever heard through a PA came out of one of these two microphones. The Shure SM58 is the standard wired vocal microphone: a cardioid dynamic with a built-in pop filter, shaped so a voice cuts through without feeding back. The SM57 is the same idea built for instruments, with a flat grille that sits right up against a snare drum or a guitar amp. Both plug straight into any mixer on an XLR cable, with no batteries and no phantom power needed. Each hires at £4 per day with its stand clip, and they hire well in multiples for band nights.

The SM58 has been the default vocal microphone in live sound for over fifty years, and not out of habit. It is a cardioid dynamic with a spherical steel-mesh grille and a built-in pop filter, so breath noise and plosives are tamed before they reach the desk. A pneumatic shock mount inside the body cuts handling noise when it is held rather than stood. The response runs 50 Hz to 15 kHz and is shaped for voices, with a brightened midrange that helps words carry and a bass roll-off that stops close-up singing turning boomy. Speeches, singing, announcements: it does them all without fuss.

The SM57 is the same moving-coil design built for instruments. Its flat grille lets the capsule sit within a couple of centimetres of a snare drum, a guitar amp or a brass bell, where the wanted sound is loudest and spill from everything else is weakest, and it takes those levels without complaint. The response reaches down to 40 Hz with a presence rise that gives drums their crack and amps their bite. It also makes a perfectly good speech microphone on a lectern.

Both are dynamic, which is why they suit school and community systems so well. There is nothing to charge, no frequencies to licence and no phantom power needed: plug in an XLR cable and they work on any mixer, and phantom switched on for other microphones does them no harm. The cardioid pattern rejects sound from behind, so with the speakers in front of the microphone line you get useful volume before feedback even in a lively hall. They are also famously hard to kill, with enamelled die-cast bodies designed for rough handling.

They earn their keep in multiples. A band night might run four 58s across the front line with 57s on the snare and the amps, and because every microphone behaves the same way, gain structure and mixing get simpler rather than harder as the count goes up. We can supply as many as the show needs, whatever the size of the line-up. Each microphone comes with its stand clip; stands, cables and a mixer can all be added.

Hire by the day, dry hire or with a technician to set up and mix.

What you get

Each microphone, with its Shure A25D stand clip and zip pouch

XLR cables to reach your mixer or stage box: tell us the distances and we will make up the runs

Foam windscreens for outdoor singing or speeches, on request

Not included as standard: microphone stands and a mixer. Both can be added

An engineer to set up, ring out and mix the system, if you would rather not run it yourselves

Good for

Band nights and battle-of-the-bands evenings: SM58s across the front line, SM57s on the snare and the amps

School productions, prize-givings and assemblies, where the lectern needs a microphone that just works

Church services, carol concerts and worship bands

Am-dram and youth theatre: offstage vocals, front-of-cloth announcements and pit singers

Dance school showcases with a presenter linking the numbers

Village hall gigs, quiz nights and open mic evenings

What you need to know

What it does: Two standard wired microphones. The SM58 is shaped for voices, sung or spoken. The SM57 is the instrument version, built to sit close against drums, amps and brass.
Phantom power: Not needed. Both are dynamic microphones: plug in and they work on any mixer. Phantom power left on for other microphones does them no harm.
Connections: Three-pin XLR into any mixer or stage box. Balanced, so long cable runs across a hall are fine.
Where it goes: In hand, on a stand with the supplied clip, or clamped in close to an amp or a drum. There are no settings on the microphone itself.
Who runs it: Whoever runs your mixer. Point it at the source, keep the speakers in front of it, and it behaves.

Hire rates

Choose the one you need. The photo and price follow your choice.

Shure SM58 Vocal MicrophoneThe standard vocal microphone, with clip and case.£4a day

Shure SM57 Instrument MicrophoneThe standard for amps, snares and instruments.£4a day

T-Bone MB 75 Instrument MicrophoneThe budget instrument dynamic, for when the count outruns the SM57s.£2a day

T-Bone MB 75 Beta Instrument MicrophoneThe same budget workhorse in its Beta pattern.£2a day

Rates are per day and exclude VAT. A longer hire costs less per day — tell us your dates and we will price the period exactly. Ask us about delivery and hiring with a technician.

Full technical specification (11)

Manufacturer and models	Shure SM58 (vocal) and SM57 (instrument)
Microphone type	Dynamic (moving coil), cardioid polar pattern
Frequency response	SM58: 50 Hz to 15,000 Hz. SM57: 40 Hz to 15,000 Hz
Sensitivity	-56.0 dBV/Pa (1.6 mV) at 1 kHz, both models
Output impedance	SM58: 300 ohms. SM57: 310 ohms
Connector	Three-pin XLR, male
Phantom power	Not required, and unaffected if present on the line
Weight	SM58: 0.33. SM57: 0.284
Dimensions	SM58: 162 long, 51 grille diameter. SM57: 157 long, 32 grille diameter
Housing	Enamelled die-cast bodies; the SM58 has a spherical steel-mesh grille, the SM57 a polycarbonate grille with a steel screen
Furnished accessories	Shure A25D stand clip and zippered pouch with each microphone

Common questions

For anything sung or spoken, the SM58: its ball grille carries a built-in pop filter and it is comfortable in hand or on a stand. For miking instruments up close, the SM57: the flat grille gets the capsule nearer the snare, amp or horn. Inside they are close cousins, so for a band night take both, 58s for the singers and 57s on the backline. Tell us the line-up and we will suggest a list.
No. Both are dynamic microphones, so there is nothing to power and nothing to charge. Plug an XLR cable into any mixer, powered mixer or PA head and they work. If your desk has phantom power switched on for other microphones, it does these no harm.
As many as the show needs. A typical band night runs three or four 58s across the front, a 57 on the snare and one on each guitar amp, and we can supply as many as a bigger line-up needs. Each microphone needs its own cable and mixer channel, so tell us what desk you are using and we will check the channel count while we build the kit list.
Wireless earns its keep when the person has to move: a compere working the room, actors in a musical. For a singer on a stand, a lectern or an amp, a wired microphone costs less, sounds as good or better, never runs out of battery mid-song and cannot suffer interference. Most band nights and speeches are better served wired.
Famously so. The SM58 has a steel-mesh grille and an internal shock mount designed for rough handling, and both microphones have enamelled die-cast bodies. A drop onto a hall floor will almost always be shrugged off. We test every microphone between hires in any case.

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See the rest of our wired microphone hire stock, or browse everything available to hire.

Talk to us

Tell us the venue, the dates and what the show needs, and we will confirm availability.

Call 0333 404 0621, email [email protected], or send us the details of your production.

Shure SM58 and SM57 hire — wired vocal and instrument microphones

What you get

Good for

What you need to know

Hire rates

Check availability

Common questions

More wired microphone hire

Choir & Stage Microphones

Active & Passive DI Boxes

Shure SM7B

Talk to us