Behringer XM1800S

I have been singing professonally since 1987. I have recorded 3 cd's and one was released nationally.I have been using old Shure 55 "Elvis" mics for the last 7 years. A few years back I found a guy that put super element into one of my 55's and has done this for many other people. He refused to tell me the brand but said that I could not tell the difference from his element and the beta 58.I found another guy that puts beta 58 into 55's and had him hotrod one of my 55's and he bought a upgrade from the same guy that I did. He had a customer send him a mic for another upgrade that onesame guy did on that customer's mic but he left the sticker on that element. We found out today that this guy has been putting the Behringer XM1800s element into the Shure 55s. After reading these reviews now I understand why my Behringer upgrade was not cutting the mustard.

So I was using a Shure 55sw with an Behringer XM1800 as the element. The mic was very midi and I got a lot of complants from fans that you could not understand a lot of the spoken words between songs just after I switched production companies with serious power and awsome low end. Things got worse when I would improve with my show between songs. Once a club made us put the bottom 18s on the stage and that was a horriable sound for the mic .The mic just was not doing the job anymore. Works great if you do not have big low end but still very midi. What was worse is i paid 125.oo bucks to get this mic hotrodded when the element only cost around 30.oo dollars. I am happy to say that I hotrodded another 55 with a shure beta 58 and man you can tell the difference on all levels. I would not recomend this element to anyone using a large pa system with great bottom end. If your not pushing much low end this element seems to work a little better.

Just to be clear, this is not a review of the mic itself but of the specs I obtained from Behringer's websight. I do have the XM8500 and it has a very detailed and lively sound. By comparison, the XM1800 has a response curve that tends to be a bit heavy in the mid-bass frequencies. This would indeed cause excessive handling noise. It would also cause the sound to be muddy if not EQed properly or if your system is already bass heavy. It does however, have a smoother response in the 2000-15000Hz range than the XM8500, which drops off quite a bit after 12000Hz. If you have a professional quality sound system. with an integrated or outboard EQ then this could be a great mic in light of the fact that you wouldn't be too concerned if somebody smashed it against the wall. Like anything else, you have to know what application you will use this in because it's not right for something like pro recording.

I've been making music for over ten years.
I've been playing in different bands and different music for 15-20 years.
I've been working as sound engineer for about 15 years.
Not professional but as voluntary etc.

I tested the XM1800s just because I was curious about such a cheep microphone. I've tested several cheep mics but I must say that I've never tested a microphone with this low price and this good sound. It's quite close to the sm58, maybe a little bit brighter.
The thing that is not good with the XM1800s is the "handling noise" that is far to much to use as a hand held solo-mic on stage, but what can you expect for that price!!
I would give the mic a 9 for soudquality but only a 3 for the handling noise.

Bought a pack of three for use in a live band setting for past 6 months running through a spirit SX20 sound desk into peavey GPS 3600 power amplifier with peavey 115 bass bins UL15 top cabs.

A dynamic super-cardioid microphone used through above PA for vocals. Managed to purchase a Shure SM58 at reasonable price and upon comparison found the latter had a louder fuller smoother sound so have been using SM58 for lead vocals. Played a gig recently using behringer XM1800S for lead vocals by mistake. Sound was poor and a professional sound engineer commented that it sounded like we were using a cheap mike. Would only use for less prominent applications unless sound can be rescued with a graphic equaliser. Good value in those applications

I have been making music for about 8 years. J am a proffesional sound engineer in a big company in poland. We own couple sound systems based on crown macrotech, jbl, xta, soundcraft mh4 and mh3, klark technik and ashly equalizers, and others(dbx, lexicon, yanmaha, etc). I also own my own studio. Basicaly I listen trough alesis M1 active mk2 Monitors and akg-270 headphones.
I owned a lot of dynamic microphones and also a condenser ones. I have tried a lot of them from Shure Unidyne and Unisphere trough sm58 and 57 up to beta series. I also tried lots of sennheiser, audiotechnika, akg, beyerdynamic, and electro voice. I am recording to DAW trough M-audio delta 1010. I produced few things that have been heard in the radio.

No doubt it is a supercardioidal dynamic mic. It has very small gradient chamber and thats why it lacks low end but it is not a problem it may be even a verry usefull future on stage. It goes up to 10k. It has verry boxy sound in the area 200-500 khz. You can make a good distorted electric gitar sound trough this mic but nothing else unfortunately. The mic is verry well made and rock solid. The mic clamps are total crap the mic dosen`t stay in the clamp it sleeps out of there. I dont recomend the mic for poor people. I can only recomend the mic to the rich ones who would like to have something different in their arsenal. It is verry relible but the sound quality is poor especially with vocals.

I operate a concert series (www.AcousticMusicSanDiego.com), presenting nationally and internationally touring artists in concert in a great old church in which the acoustics constantly draw great praise from performers and concert-goers alike. Among the better known performers who have played for us are Al Kooper, Tom Rush, Chris Hillman, David Wilcox, the Strawbs and many others.

I bought a three pack of these mics 5 months ago, when I was buying a lot of other new Behringer gear. I had no real need for them, but between the raving comments of the Behringer sales rep I was dealing with and the absurdly low price, I figured "What the hell?!?!?! -- they're so cheap that even if I don't care for them, they're cheap enough to stick in the gear box in case I ever need them in an emergency".

Last night, I finally broke them out -- set them up for the two guys who were playing the first set (two male acoustic guitarist-singers) -- and decided to see how they sounded, knowing that if there was ANY problem or any reason for dissatisfaction, I'd quickly grab my main stage mics (Sennheiser 835s, Shure SM58).

These Behringer mics are staggeringly excellent!!!!! Clear -- maybe more so than the 85s, which I like a lot. In fact, before the performers arrived, I set up two mic stands -- one with an 835 and the other with one of the 1800s. I set the channel gains and EQ controls in the exact same positions for each of the channels the mics were in.

I had one of my assistants alternate between the two mics -- just talking, no singing. I had him repeat the same phrases in each mic, and he smartly used some phrases that contained a lot of "s" sounds.

Sibilance was present with the 835 -- and virtually non-existent with the 1800. Clarity, as I said, was at least as good -- and it was very good -- with the 1800.

Once the performers arrived, both of their mic stands had 1800s on them. Soundcheck went fast and well, and they loved the vocal sound.

The show went on, and sounded GREAT -- with the vocals as clean and clear as with any acts I've presented, using mics that cost 1/8th of the cost of SM58s, Sennheiser 835s and other mics that are in that class.

All of the favorable reviews about these mics -- as with many low cost items -- say that they're great values -- great for the money. Even the TOP rating choice in the 1-10 list for this category is "10 -Fantastic value".

I think that doesn't go nearly far enough. What about "Fantastic product"?

These -- based, admittedly, on only a single use -- are great mics, period. Of course I don't mean to suggest that they're as good as mics costing $200-1000 (although I don't know that they aren't!). But they're not "almost as good as SM58s and a lot cheaper".

I may decided otherwise once I use them more -- once other musicians sing thru them, with their own unique vocal styles, timbre of voice, range and so on to factor in.

But for now, my opinion is that they are at least as good as any mic I've heard in the price category of most stage mics -- $100+/- a little -- used by touring or local musicians, venues and so on. The category into which Shure SM58s and their competitors fall.

I have been making music for a about 13 years. I use these mics live and I also use them for digital recording. I have tested these mics alongside a number of brand names such as EV, BeyerDynamic and Shure. I have tested these mics in a live (large hall) setting, changing no other settings other than the mics themselves and these units have performed EXCEPTIONALLY well. They are the best value for money mics on the market, in fact they are so good, that i have since ordered 2 orher sets in the past week for collegues and friends. They have great volume output and clarity, which is what I was looking for in my mics.

A great set of mics at a great price. Best value for money in the marketplace at the moment. I considered other mics such as the SHURE SM57 and SM58, however in terms of price and value for money and quality, these are a great alternative to those "on a budget" or just looking for mics that can get tossed in the band van (as they are supplied with a tough moulded carry case)!

I produce music at home for about 25 years now, and also own a small P.A. set .(i am originaly a drummer)
Since my p.a. set is kind of low budget, i needed a set of mic's that fittes in the pricerange of my other stuff !
This set of Behringer rocks! ! Really outstanding performance, surprised every one of my bandmembers with thise mic's ! !
The first shock came, when i told them the price, and after some oohs and aahs everybody was shocked again by the really GOOD performance of these mic's!

This 3-pack of mic's is a set of dynamic mic's that blew my head of!
amazingly GOOD stuff for almost 10 euro's a piece ! the set is including a case and three mic-clamps , all for a lousy 35 euro's (holland).
I had a Gig with my band the other week, and used thise mic's from scratch, no testing before at all !
I used 1 of them for our singer, and she praised the lord (and me) for finaly getting the sound right, eventhough she owns a shure sm58 !!
I happen to own one shure sm57, but this 1800 blows it away ! !Far more dynamics, louder an "crispier" , better resisting feedback than any shure for that mather !

I've been making home recording for 15 years.Own a pair of condensers for acoustic instruments and a Shure SM57 for electric guitar amps.
I bought this 3pack mics for practice & rec,with friends, electric guitars,congas,harp in a friendly,hobby contest(genre:acoustic/electric blues)

We all were astonished by the high quality/price ratio of theese mics:
Three(!)dynamic-cardioid mics in a nice carrying case,no noisy and wide dynamic responsive,strongly built for only 29 Euros(Italy)!!!! The recorded congas are woody and warm,the harp(miked from a Marshall VS amp) sounds sharp and clear,electric guitars(from various tube amps) sound solid and warm: WOW!!!!!