There is a microphone on more snare drums, guitar cabinets and conference-room lecterns than any other on earth, and it has barely changed since the 1960s. The Shure SM57 is the rare piece of gear where “used” and “as good as new” are almost the same sentence. It is a sealed dynamic mic with no fragile capsule diaphragm to age, no battery, no electronics to fail. Buy a tidy second-hand one in Australia and you are getting a studio workhorse for a fraction of retail, often with decades of life still in it.
The numbers that change the conversation
Top used shure sm57 microphones on eBay right now
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Why second-hand is not “second best”
Most microphones that command high prices do so because of a condenser capsule, a sensitive gold-sputtered diaphragm that can drift or sag with humidity and age. The SM57 has none of that. It is a moving-coil dynamic mic: a coil of wire attached to a thin Mylar diaphragm sitting in a magnet gap. That design is mechanically simple and remarkably stable. A unit gigged hard for fifteen years will usually sound indistinguishable from a fresh one out of the box.
The SM57 also has a deserved reputation as the microphone you can drop, kick across a stage, or leave clipped to a thrashing snare rim, and it keeps working. There are well-worn stories of these mics surviving abuse that would total anything else. For a buyer, that toughness is the whole point: the cosmetic dents and a scuffed grille on a used one are accurate signs of a life lived, not warnings of failure. What you are checking for is far simpler than with most gear.
A dynamic mic with no capsule to age is the closest thing audio has to a buy-once-cry-once bargain in the used market.
The savings are real
A used SM57 in good order will commonly land 20% to 60% below the new price in Australia, and the spread is wide because supply is huge. These mics have been sold here for generations, so there is no shortage of them turning up when studios downsize, bands break up, or a home recordist upgrades to a small mic locker. Patience pays: because so many are listed, you rarely have to overpay for the first one you see. Two SM57s for the price of one new unit is a realistic outcome, which matters if you want a stereo drum-overhead or amp pair.
New vs used, side by side
| Brand new | Used / refurbished | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Full retail | 20-60% less, often much less in bulk lots |
| Sound | Spec-fresh | Effectively identical on a healthy unit |
| Cosmetics | Pristine | Expect dents, grille scuffs, worn paint |
| Counterfeit risk | None from an authorised dealer | Real, must verify (see below) |
| Lifespan left | Full | Usually decades; the design barely wears |
| Environmental cost | Full manufacturing footprint | Re-uses one already made |
The five-minute checklist before you pay
- Confirm it is genuine. The SM57 is one of the most counterfeited mics in the world. Check the body printing is crisp and correctly spelled, the grille is the right SM57 shape (not the ball-style SM58 grille), and ask the seller for a clear close-up of the model marking.
- Look for the integral grille and clean XLR pins. The SM57 has a small built-in protective grille over the diaphragm rather than a removable foam ball. Make sure the three XLR pins are intact and not bent or corroded.
- Ask if it has been opened or re-wired. A repaired unit is not automatically bad, but you want to know. A factory-original mic is the safest buy.
- Request a quick audio sample. A seller with the gear can record ten seconds on the mic. Listen for clear output with no crackle, dropouts, or wild volume changes when the cable is wiggled.
- Check the clip and thread. The stand mount clip is cheap to replace, but confirm the mic’s own stand thread is not stripped.
You have more protection than you think
If you buy from a business, a music shop, a pro-audio dealer, or a commercial reseller on eBay, the Australian Consumer Law gives you automatic guarantees that the item is of acceptable quality and matches its description. Those rights apply on top of any stated warranty and cannot be signed away. A “no returns” line in a business listing does not remove them. Private sales between individuals carry fewer protections, so for a private deal lean harder on the checklist above and pay through a method that offers buyer protection.
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Red flags to walk away from
- A price that is far below the used average. With SM57s this often signals a counterfeit rather than a bargain.
- Fuzzy or stock-only photos. Insist on real pictures of the actual mic, including the body printing and the XLR connector.
- “Untested” or “for parts” with a full-price tag. Untested is fine if priced accordingly; untested at near-new money is not.
- Seller refuses any audio sample or detail. On a mic this easy to test, evasiveness is telling.
- Mismatched grille or markings. An SM58-style ball grille on a body labelled SM57 means something has been swapped or faked.
Frequently asked questions
Do used SM57s wear out? Rarely in a way that matters. The diaphragm and coil are sealed and robust, so a clean unit usually performs like new for decades. The most common faults are a damaged cable connector or a stripped clip, both cheap to address.
How do I avoid a fake? Buy from a business or established seller, demand clear photos of the body printing and grille, and be suspicious of prices well under the going used rate. Counterfeits are common, so verification is the single most important step.
What is the SM57 actually best for? It shines on snare drums, electric guitar and bass amplifiers, brass, and spoken-word and live vocals. It is a close-up instrument mic by design, not a delicate room or vocal-booth condenser.
Does it need phantom power? No. As a dynamic mic it works straight into any standard XLR input without phantom power, which makes testing a used one simple with almost any interface or mixer.
The bottom line
Few products reward second-hand buying as cleanly as the SM57. Its sealed dynamic design ages gracefully, it survives abuse that destroys other mics, and Australia has a deep, steady supply of them. Verify the unit is genuine, do a quick sound check, and you walk away with a true studio and stage standard for a meaningful discount, while keeping one more perfectly good microphone out of the roughly 588,000 tonnes of e-waste Australia generates each year. Buy carefully and it may well outlast everything else in your kit.
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