Behringer XM8500

It's not an sm58, but is it? It definitely looks the same besides the grill, and it doesn't feel much different either.
I actually carried out listening tests with random members of the public, with dry recordings of speech of 3 microphones. This, the T.Bone MB85, and the original Shure SM58. Rather surprisingly, a larger majority of the public preferred the sound of this one.
I personally find it a tad muddy, but that can easily be gotten rid of.
I also carried out a feedback rejection test between the three microphones. An SPL meter was set up in a static location, and a mic stand was securely set in front of a Martin Audio LE1200 monitor switched into passive mode, powered by a Martin Audio 4.8Q amplifier, and the microphones were all plugged into the same channel on a Midas Pro1. This means the only variable of the test was the microphone and the gain setting.
In short, the microphone which returned the highest SPL without feeding back Won. I'm not sure if it would behave the same in a live band situation, but in this scenario, at least, the XM8500 won!
Very Impressive!

I remember 10 years ago when I bought my first behringer gear, it was some guitar effect pedals, the feeling was not very good, the gear was generally of poor quality in every way. And this feeling for the brand was created...

Surprisingly in recent years I got some behringer equipment that made me smile. And this mic is one of them.

First of all, for so little money we get a mic with holder and case, which doesn't always happen in much more expensive microphones.
Second, the microphone looks great, is well built, with a beautiful black finish. It's not light or heavy, it's just the right size for a hand microphone, and most importantly, it sounds great.

The XM8500 is one of the cheapest alternatives to the Shure SM58, although they look identical they are built internally with slightly different methods. The XM8500 has no transformer unlike the SM58, Impedance is different, it has more gain, which is good, and sounds relatively close with a warmer tone. I've also tried the mic on an electric guitar cab and on a drum toms and snare, both worked perfectly well.

I think this is the best low cost mic on the market.

This is a really mic, with a decently clear and crisp sound for its price. Definitely something to get if you're on a budget and/or want to just noddle around with recording!

For me, I use this as something easy to hook up and sing into to record demos and ideas into pro tools at home, although with a lot of playing I've found it has uses past what you'd expect.

With good mic placement as limited movement, this can work as a very very cheap alternative to a boom mic for indoor video recording. If you're an actor looking to for something to make your self tapes a little nicer sounding - this (especially with the bundle it comes in which is around 30e I think) is a very cheap and very very useful purchase.

Only thing I don't massively love about this is the built-in pop filter has little to no function it seems. i did a comparison with the cap on and off and the difference in levels of pop/distortion caused by breath was not massively noticeable. Obviously on any dynamic mic this isn't going to be perfect but this one definitely isnt brilliant.

Hi, Today I received My XM8500 mic from Thoman, it arrived superbly well packaged in a swift efficient manner, upon opening the packing box it was nicely presented in a plastic case with a descriptive slip cover.

I bought this after reading many reviews on this and other sites claiming it to be an affordable representation similar to a shure sm58.

I was currently using a no name dynamic mic and upon using this I immediately noticed a difference, The main thing i noticed was it seemed more powerful, it had a louder output than my previous mic and also it did not seem so prone to popping and sibilance type problems even when used up close.

The mic was also reassuringly heavy and solid to handle after the initial test I tried it with my digitech vocalist live 3 and it also performed very good with this unit.

the case it was supplied with is ideal for taking it to gigs or open mic/jam nights when you want the reassurance of using your own mic and it has a micophone holder/adapter included.

There is no -on and off- switch but i did not find this a problem as handling noise seems not to be apparent on first appearances and can be muted or turned down on the mixer anyway so is of no concern.

I like to play 80s hair metal and songs from bands like poison , def leppard and guns n roses seem to be well suited to the mic, I would have no qualms at all about using it at a gig or jam night as it seems pretty bomb proof.

If it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy another and I have already recomended it to friends,a student and other people I know in bands.

I would also buy it from Thoman who I hope to buy future equipment from when needed as overallit was a very pleasant experience