Most internet chatter I take with a grain of salt, but when this mod came up on ProSoundWeb, I got interested. This in part was due to esteemed producer/engineer Terry Manning's comments and directions. Plus, I have a few 57s and am always looking for cool and different things. This is an easy mod for anyone to do. It's basically just removing the transformer. It'll take 20 minutes, tops — and you don't even need to read a schematic.
Items you'll need: One Shure SM57, needle-nose pliers, soldering iron and solder, about six inches of mic cable, a small flathead screwdriver and maybe a drill.
1. Put a pot of water on the stove. Set on 'high'. You want it to boil. I'm serious.
2. Unscrew the mic at its almost mid-point and snip the three wires that lead to the capsule section. Set the capsule section aside.
3. Using a small flathead screwdriver, remove the XLR mounting screw in the XLR jack (turning counter-clockwise).
4. Pull out the XLR jack with the needle-nose pliers. Snip the wires.
5. Take the middle part of the mic and drop it into your pot of now boiling water. Boil for five minutes or so. The heat is needed to soften the glue and plastic stuff that holds the transformer in place.
6. Remove mic from water. Use the pliers to pull out the transformer. There will be a bunch of white gunk and glue. Do your best to clear enough out so that a mic cable can go through what remains. You might need a drill. If so, a 1/4" drill bit will do the trick.
7. (Optional) Paint the mic body. This is a good idea if you have a lot of 57s, as you'll be easily able to find it in a sea of brown.
