I suppose I could add a con to this lovefest. :laugh2: SM57's absolutely have both a tonal footprint and a dynamic footprint. That's good and bad. My instinct is to stay away from them until I want that footprint for something. Because once it's on there, it's never coming off. It leaves an indellible mark on any track it's used on. That's why I like blending them with another mic, too.
Live is different. Anything you mic with a 57 is in competition with other items also miked with 57's. If you're not careful the footprint is "stacked" or compounded. By the time you mic everything with 57's and 58's, you basically have the sound of a bar band, on whatever scale you're PA is pumping. You can do a lot with EQ and positioning, and most live setups do perform optimally with a 57/58 blend, but I prefer it when live tone is more emulative of a hot analog recording, rather than a dank bar with 3-4khz shredding slits into my eardrums. 57's are great, but in today's world they are a tool among what should be a huge arsenal of mics. Sure it's $100, but so are lots of other mics, many that can not take the beating an SM57 can, but would offer different flavors.
It's kind of like a Duncan 59. They're fantastic standards by which to gauge anything else. But put 59's in all 10 guitars you own, and you might be missing out on some flavors that could suit each guitar a little better. Sure you'll still hear all the subtle differences from one guitar to the next, but maybe you could be doing more if you tried matching different pickups to different guitars. Mics are the same way.
