Shure R184B

Every year I help provide equipment and sound for a gaming based conference and meet up. We had used SM58s on desktop stands but these require a bit of mic technique. Like talking into the mic, which a lot of the panelists don't do. But three or four times a week I do podcast and play online games requiring a headphone/Mic set up in my house too.

I recently aquired a few Shure MX412d/n from ebay for less than £70. These had standard capsules in them and still sounded good. There was a noticable improvement for my podcasting.

Replacing the capsule for a supercardoid elevated the sound again. Now I can use this one mic to pick up people behind me and the volume levels are impressive (never going to be as good as dedicated mics, but everyone in a small 3x2 room coud be picked up and heard clearly),

I have to say having a mic able to pick me up no matter where my head is positioned make these much more flexible than standard SM58's . Getting close still has a huge spike in volume, and a slight proximity effect, but it negates the need to get so close.

Great for a desktop mic near a PC if you can find the body unit cheap enough elsewhere, A bit expensive to buy the complete unit alone.

Feedback suppression I have not yet tested, but I know already the sound at next years conference is going to be lightyears better.