ShureSM7dB

Tonal profile

An SM7B with a Shure preamp built into the same body: same cartridge, same yoke, same foam, plus a switch for +18 dB or +28 dB of clean gain.

Gain staging

Three published sensitivities, not one: -59.00 dBV/Pa in bypass, -41.00 with +18 dB, -31.00 with +28 dB. We store the bypass figure, because that is the microphone as it exists when nothing feeds it. Two things follow. The preamp is phantom-powered, so the dB in the name only appear once the interface sends 48 V - on a dead phantom rail this is a plain SM7B at -59 dBV. And output impedance moves with the switch: 150 ohms bypassed, 27 ohms with the preamp on, which is also why the preamp makes the microphone far less fussy about long cable runs.