This is not a conversation about guns. This is a conversation about items that have withstood abuse that are near unbreakable.
Some items I have heard referenced as AK47 of:
Gerber MP600: It’s a multi tool
Old Thinkpad Laptops
Mag lights
Toyota Hilux
The Shure SM52 microphone (it used to be called the 58 but lost 6 due to budget cuts or something I dunno)
You might not have heard of it, but if you’ve been to a live gig, chances are you’ve seen one
If youre ever onstage and need a hammer but dont have one, just use an SM58
If you’re a musician or audio tech trying to get started, the Shure SM58 and SM57 are the first two mics you should grab. 58 for vocals, and 57 for anything that doesn’t need a screen (like an instrument or guitar amp.) Both have the exact same mic capsule, but the 58 has a larger filter that will make it a little warmer and less prone to popping on plosives.
Are there fancier mics out there that sound better, or are made for specific purposes? Yeah. But there’s diminishing returns on audio quality, you can’t use them for as many things, and more sensitive mics are also more fragile. For $100 each, you can get some mics that will be passed down to your grandchildren. If you’re trying to cover the widest possible range of uses, the 58 and 57 are your go-to mics.
Whenever you think of a stereotypical 🎤 microphone, you’re 100% thinking of a Shure SM58.
You probably meant the SM58. The 58 is the prototypical singer’s mic.
The sm58 is the microphone, if you ask a kid to draw a mic, the kid will draw the sm58.
Aye you’re right I do!
And the SM57 for things you don’t need a screen on.