Shure 57 repair question

[JimKo]

Went to use an old Shure 57 last night at a gig last night and it didn't work. It was working the last time we had it out. Checked the wires, yellow and green on the mic side, blue and red on the plug side and they are all connected. Is there anything else that should be checked? Certainly not an electrician but do have a multi-meter. Appreciate any advice. Jim

[Toni Schula]

Check with another cable.
Check the mixing desk or wherever you plug in the 57 with another mic.
Check the 57 at another input.

This way you can find the faulty - or just misconfigured - part.

I guess the '57' is a SM57?

[pops1]

Plug it in and out several times, sometimes the contacts oxidize and it won't work till they are clean. Cord would be first thing to check.

[Br1ck]

I can't remember anyone having one break. I bought an SM 57 with a crack in the housing. I got it cheap so thought what the heck. twenty five years later it works fine.

[Ray(T)]

Similar experience to Brick. I bought three of them 30+ years ago and the current price is lower than I paid in those days. A replacement cartridge will set you back nearly $80 and a new mic won't cost you much more.

[almeriastrings]

If you do shop for a replacement though, beware of fakes. Ebay is flooded with the things both 'new' and used. Very convincing they are too.... I'd only buy from a reputable, authorized dealer.

[gspiess]

No suggestions to the OP, but I too have a 30 year old SM57 that stopped working 5 years ago. No idea what happened. Funny thing is that we were just talking about it last week because we just bought a Beta 58 and I can't bring myself to throw the 57 away. The general consensus from everyone was "How did you break a 57...they don't break?"

[JimKo]

Thanks to everyone for their input. Yes, we checked cables and channels and that is not the problem.
The good news is that a member sent me a private message which said that Shure has a "flat rate" repair policy. You can read about it here. http://www.shure.com/americas/support/service-repair The cost to have the 57 repaired is $61. That includes return shipping. Now the question would be $61. for repair or $99 for a new one.

[Willie Poole]

I also had one that just "stopped working" I didn`t try to repair it or do anything, just bought another mic to replace it, I will say this that all cords do not work all mics, I went through all of mine and found the correct mic cord for each mic and then used different color tape to mark each one so that I now know what cord to use with what mic...Radio Shack used to sell Shure made mics under their name and they sold for about 50 bucks....The paper that came with them said they were made with American parts but assembled in Mexico...

Willie

[Pete Martin]

$61 plus shipping both ways is a bit steep to me, since I've bought several over the years used at $50 each on local Craigslist.

Shure repair is good though, they just repaired a KSM141 for me and did very nice work.

[rcc56]

Now the question would be $61. for repair or $99 for a new one.

If the old mic is over 15 years old or has thousands of hours on it, you might want to consider replacing it with a shiny new one. Unless you just want to keep it for the sake of a vintage look.

57's are great mics. They'll work when nothing else will, and; not only are they idiot proof, they are also nearly musician proof.

[pops1]

I have a couple 57's that are over 40 years old, you may think about taking the mic apart and look for a broken solder, tho don't know what may have caused it to break unless the ground screw is loose making the plug move every time you plug and unplug the mic.

[Ray(T)]

Not "Shure" (sorry) how they can repair one for $61 - their US website quotes $78 for a new capsule. ....... unless they tend to have other faults and hardly ever need the capsule replacing. It's a while since I had a look inside one but don't remember there being anything other than a capsule, plug socket and three wires.

[Mandoplumb]

I also had one that just "stopped working" I didn`t try to repair it or do anything, just bought another mic to replace it, I will say this that all cords do not work all mics, I went through all of mine and found the correct mic cord for each mic and then used different color tape to mark each one so that I now know what cord to use with what mic...Radio Shack used to sell Shure made mics under their name and they sold for about 50 bucks....The paper that came with them said they were made with American parts but assembled in Mexico Willie

Never heard of a difference in low Z balanced mic cables. What is different about them.

[rockies]

JImKo, you said you have a multimeter so check for continuity between pins 2 and 3 on the XLR connector, should be low ohms. Check at same time that the XLR connector is not moving up into the body, the little screw that hold the connector may have fallen out. If the continuity was good, remove (un screw) the cartridge cap, remove cartridge carefully, check all wire visually, if all Ok measure the cartridge wires (usually blue and yellow for conductivity. If Ok you may have to unsolder one lead to the cartridge coil to measure separately. Both the cartridge and the transformer should have continuity. Hopefully you found the problem before we got this far and the cartridge etc are OK. Good Luck !!
Dave

[Willie Poole]

Mandoplum, The only difference I can think of would the three wires in the plug may have a different one being used for a ground wire...The ones sold by Radio Shack also have internal connections for high or low Z`s....The last one I bought was low only, but I do know when I set the sound system up for one gig last year one mic didn`t work so I tried a different cable and it worked so when I got home I checked out the cable and it worked OK with one of the other mics so that's when I went to the trouble of matching cords with the mics and marking them with colored tape...

Willie...

[Ray(T)]

All XLR leads should be wired the same way there is nothing in them which enables them to be either low or high impedance. You might occasionally want to wire something up to be un-balanced and this usually means that they only have single core co-ax or involves shorting out one of the signal wires to earth - don't try this at home unless you know what you're doing; leave the phantom power on and you'll likely fry something!

The only "unsuitable" XLR leads I've ever used/come across are intended for speakers and use(d) un-sheilded cable.

[foldedpath]

Agreeing with the comments above about XLR cables. The only difference is quality of materials and manufacture. Buy cheap cables, you're asking for trouble.

For years I've used Pro Co cables, not too expensive and good quality. Mogami cables are okay too. Never buy a mic cable from Radio Shack. Or the overpriced stuff from Monster.

[pops1]

I agree with most here, the only reason an XLR cable won't work is that it was for a high impedance mic, 2 wire, and if you are plugging it into a low impedance, 3 wire, it won't work. I usually buy good cables too, but also try to keep people from stepping on the shielded cables. Stepping on them will increase the capacitance to the point there are no highs left and they will be unusable. I have cords that are 40 years old that still work.

[Willie Poole]

I don`t know the answer but I do know that at least one of my mic cables won`t work unless it connected to a certain mic, every thing I use if low impedance...That one time may have just been a dirty connection and it just seemed like that cable wouldn`t work with all mics, I don`t have any trouble now since I have color coded them and also the inputs on the mixer...

Willie

[Ray(T)]

There must be something peculiar about that cable or that mic Willie. The great advantage of XLR cables has always been that, if you need a longer lead, you can simply join them end to end.

[Jeff Mando]

Agree with others. Check the connections. Check the cable. Otherwise, just buy another one. They are too inexpensive to spend much time or money on, IMHO.