Making sure you're not buying a fake (Microphone in this case)

bermudianbrit · September 2023

Hi all,

So I've been looking around for an SM7B for a bit. Of course its the standard for a reason so I can see a load of them on EBay and floating around the interweb. But I'm concerned about fakes or knockoffs. Any tips to know if a place or seller is legit, or recommendations as to places which are generally trusted?

Thanks

birtner · September 2023

I got stung years ago buying second brand from ebay. I just buy mics from reputable shops nowadays as they do seem easy to fake

Funkfingers · September 2023

Even some of the genuine "industry standard" mics are now manufactured in China. It is possible that somebody is backdooring them.

bermudianbrit · September 2023

yeah I have no problem with China, I have a problem with fakes which sound shite pretending to be the real deal.

hassleham · September 2023

I’ve noticed an influx of SM7B’s on ebay recently for a price that seemed too good to be true. I didn’t research for long enough to work out if they were fake but presumed they must be at that price. I imagine they’re hoping to take advantage of the growing streamer/podcast crowd who maybe wouldn’t know a fake from a real one.

mrkb · September 2023

I managed to get a new one for £290 last year and prices seem to have jumped nearly £100 since then. I ended up getting a fake sennheiser e965 from eBay, I found a few sites that showed the differences to look out for so managed to raise a return with the evidence.

https://youtu.be/qYqMNxz1KNc?si=GRbGU2sccjfYl9Y2

fretmeister · September 2023

hassleham said:

I’ve noticed an influx of SM7B’s on ebay recently for a price that seemed too good to be true. I didn’t research for long enough to work out if they were fake but presumed they must be at that price. I imagine they’re hoping to take advantage of the growing streamer/podcast crowd who maybe wouldn’t know a fake from a real one.

They also don’t know that there are many other microphones that would be a far better choice for that.

Vintage65 · September 2023

guitarmangler · September 2023

Sooo much fake stuff on AliExpress. It’s ridiculous .£30 for a sm58? £185 for sm7b? How about some Shure IEM’s? Se535’s for £28?

I don’t think I’d buy any Shure stuff secondhand now unless I can see and test it person or with eBay protection.

Danny1969 · September 2023

I think it's fair to say that a lot of Shure stuff is overpriced and in some cases it can be cloned to an equal or better spec and sold far cheaper than the real thing. The Chinese can certainly build a decent 57 / 58 copy for a tenner .. it's not a complicated item to build accurately and doesn't contain any expensive parts. It was reasonably hard to build in the sixties though when it first came out.
I gig'ed with one band whose whole mic box was full of fakes. The 57's and 58's were fine. That's not to say all will be, I've seen some with no transformers, some with bits of cardboard where foam should be. These are certainly problematic in terms of handling noise and CRM over long cable runs but if you use them as guitar cab mics and the mixer or digital stage box is on the stage and digital then that's not a complete deal breaker either.

Copying the more expensive condenser mic's is a bit more involved though as the mechanical tolerances are tiny and the pre amps have to contain very high Mega Ohm expensive resistors and extremely low noise amplification stages.

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Making sure you're not buying a fake (Microphone in this case)

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