Sennheiser e 835

The sound quality is supurb in my view! Crisp, clear with good bottom end. This beats other mics (Shure 58's, Berringer H1000, and even a higher dollar BLUE enCORE 200, altho that one is close) and I believe will by my main on stage mic from now on. I do solo and Band gigs and it is perfect for both! Mainly Blues and a spattering of a few other styles get the thumbs up with this fine piece as far as sound quality goes!

OVERALL OPINION

"Crisp and powerful!" submitted August 7, 2012 By Willie D. Welch in Wichita, KS OverallSoundFeaturesEase of UseQualityValueManufacturer SupportThe Wow FactorMusical Background: Played guitar at 5 years old for the first time, and I am now 58. I am no longer a professional music maker, just gig weekly.Music Style: Blues, some Jazz, older Country when called for, and some Rockabilly. I love to play and sing the old Gospel tunes that lean towBack to Product Information VERIFIED BUYER zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us. Sound: The sound quality is supurb in my view! Crisp, clear with good bottom end. This beats other mics (Shure 58's, Berringer H1000, and even a higher dollar BLUE enCORE 200, altho that one is close) and I believe will by my main on stage mic from now on. I do solo and Band gigs and it is perfect for both! Mainly Blues and a spattering of a few other styles get the thumbs up with this fine piece as far as sound quality goes! Feature: This mic has only one thing I do not care for and that being the lack of an on/off switch. I know the e835 S has the switch, but this gift mic does not and that is something I miss. It is sturdy buit and the construction means a lot of years usage with little to no repairs. The lack of an on/off switch will add to that as well, so it is kind of a toss up on the switch being a negative point. Ease of Use: Took it from the box, plugged uit in, set all eq parameters to mid and BOOM, there it was. GREAT sounds. I later tweaked them a little just to see, and a little added bass and a shade off the highs and it still sounds crisp on the hsighs and has a bigger bottom sound! easy to adjust on the EuroPower PMP2000 head I used. Quality: Solid as a rock. Having never abused a Shure 58 I cannot compare it, but I suspect it might be JUST as hardy in the contruction! Great solid feel to it. Value: I got this one as a gift, but $99.00 sounds like a bargain for the quality of this mic! It shows as good of sound quality as the BLUE enCORE 200 that sells for $50.00 more! Manufacturer Support: Have not dealt with Sennheiser, and due to the quality of the product, I may never have to contact them. The only reason I might would be to say "Thanks." The Wow Factor: The real WOW! factor is in the sound. It has a certain strong appearence that appeals, but the sound is what makes me say "WOW!" Overall: I received 2 microphones as a gift today from a friend. A BLUE enCORE 200 and this Sennheiser e835. Both have good points, but this 835 has a good bass and the crispest edge. I have used many different mics over the years and Shure 58's and the Berringer H1000 I have used do not even come close to the sound of this fine beast! This will be the mic for stage use, and while doing solo gigs I might even use it to mic an acoustic and use the BLUE for vocals. They are close to exchangeable with the 835 set dead center through a PMP2000 head the sound is perfect with my voice! To get the exact same setting I have to turn the high's up and add a little bass to the BLUE, then they both sound identical...almost. Still the 835 seems crisper with good bass. I have not spent time trying to increase the 835's bass and mids to see what happens, but I suspect it will be VERY good!I would use only this kind of mic if I were starting over with sound equipment. It is THAT good. I suspect some of the reviews are less than spectacular for this item as they were run through a lesser PA set-up. The Berringer PMP2000 is a good head and great for the money. Paired with a set of 3 or 4 Senn e835 I would not be afraid to take to the stage and rock it out all night long!Thanks Sennheiser, you have made a Monster of a mic!

The Senheiser e835 is a hand held style dynamic microphone that can be used in just about any situation. I've personally only used it in a recording studio where I was the assistant engineering on the session. The e835 has a hypercardioid polar pick up pattern, so it picks up sound best when a source goes directly head on into it. While I haven't used this for vocals during a live show, this is the perfect kind of microphone for that sort of use. The setting that I used it in was for a live recording session.


OVERALL OPINION

When using the e835 , the main idea for us was to get a nice sounding vocal without it picking up too much surrounding sound since the singer was in the same room as the drummer and the rest of the band. This wasn't for the recording of an album, but for a live recording session, so the idea was more to get a vibe with everyone in the room rather than isolating everyone. We choose the Audix e835 one day when we decided to start experimenting with the vocal microphone that we did for these sessions to see if anything else could work as well as the Electrovoice RE-20s that we were normally using to record vocals. The e835 was around and seemed like a logical choice because of it's hand held nature and the fact that it is a hyper cardioid microphone that won't pick up unnecessary low or high end sound. While perhaps not as good for this application as the RE-20 was, the e835 got us a very good sound when run through a Neve 8108 console and a Tube Tech compressor. It wasn't as full sounding as the RE-20, but was definitely adequate and did a great job of isolating the vocal sound. Although a bit more expensive than other hand held microphones of this nature, the e835 is definitely in another league as it sounds a lot better than most of them out there as well. If you're looking for a high quality vocal mic for studio live sessions or live shows, the e835 should definitely be on the list of mics to investigate.

Sennheiser e835 Handheld Cardioid Dynamic Microphone Features at a Glance:

Cardioid pickup pattern for outstanding feedback rejection
Amazing SPL handling — in excess of 150dB SPL.
Advanced Shock Mount reduces handling noise
Rugged construction can take whatever the stage dishes out
Weight: 330g
Includes: Pouch and microphone clip

This is mic intended mainly for live vocal use and touring. A lot of pros seem to like them. They are cheap and well made. Basically Senn's version of the SM58.

OVERALL OPINION

My band has used this mic on tour extensively. Everyone in the band sings so we have 3. They are very balanced sound wise, which is a blessing and a curse. I have a high range, so I come through the mix quite well with very little EQ necessary. Sometimes a little push in the low mids helps but it depends on the venue. My bass player has a deep voice, so the engineer usually has to use the low cut extensively to prevent boom and keep him from sounding undefined. The only time these can really be left un-eq'ed in with a female vocalist. They almost never get pitchy in the high end like some mics do. We used to have a female singer with a high voice and we had to cut her high end out with almost every mic she used. When she used this one we were able to leave it flat. They do have a tendency to boom with male voices however.

The basic goal of the 835 as I see it is to cut out some of the upper mids to prevent feeback where it occurs. For a female vocalist this does work well. However, to get a male voice to sound intelligible you have to boost the mids at the board, causing the mic for feedback a lot quicker. In other words, Sennheiser has sacrificed its mic's ability to mix well in order to prevent feedback. This isn't as big a problem as it sounds though. Just an observation really.

I like the shape of the mic. It isn't rounded like a 58 so you can get closer to the base of it. That's great. I would recommend this mic for live vocal use especially for females. If you have a deep voice it will require some EQ. And be prepared to deal with possible feedback from the increased mids. It really is a great sounding mic for the price though. Well worth it.

The Sennheiser E 835 is a microphone that folks all over the world consider not only equal to the legendary Shure SM58, but a superior. After testing out on my voice, I finally understood why.

The Sennheiser E 835 is a live handheld dynamic intended for vocal use. It has a cardioid dynamic pattern. So far, it is entirely like the Shure SM58. Its frequency response is a bit wider than the Shure's (50-15,000 Hz) at 40-16,000 Hz. The Sennheiser, unlike the Shure, does not boost the mids to a level that some find unworkable. Considering the state of music today, more and more people are becoming the kind of singer that the SM58 as a microphone is designed to excuse. I am not begrudging them; I am simply saying that the SM58's midrange boost smooths out harsher vocals. The Sennheiser E 835 is a much more transparent sound than the SM58. It is not a perfectly uncolored sound; the Sennheiser has its own tailoring, but it suffers from the honk of the midrange far less than the SM58.

What I also found remarkable about the E 835 was its SPL rating of 150 dB. This lets it accommodate very loud sources, like drums, although I never got a chance to try it on them.

The microphone also has one of the hottest outputs of any live cardioid dynamic that I have ever heard. Dialing up an SM58 feels ridiculous after using this microphone.

Finally, the handling noise of this microphone is extremely low. It makes for a wonderful experience, as going back to a 58 afterwards feels a bit odd, and singing into one after an E 835 comparatively feels like molasses.

OVERALL OPINION

The Sennheiser E 835 is a fantastic live microphone, and easily triumphant over the old Shure SM58. It still is just below the quality I'd look for in a studio, but the fact it gets this close in my opinion is remarkable.

It's not perfect. The SM58 does have two advantages over the E 835: Bad singers don't sound as bad. And very strange voices or methods of singing are humanized.

However, for ballad singers, quieter singers, and fuller voices, the E 835 takes the cake.