I HIGHLY recommend the Lewitt LCT 440 PURE: https://www.lewitt-audio.com/microphones/lct-recording/lct-440-pure
I liked it so much I bought another one. It’s the most natural sounding mic I’ve used for guitar and vocals. Granted I have not used a ton of mics, but it sounds really good IMO. I never felt 100% satisfied with a mic until this one. Can’t see myself ever wanting to “upgrade.” And it’s not even expensive!
Thanks, I’ll read up on it.
Sorry, late to this party.
I have a SM7B which I would say is my most used mic. It’s pretty well exclusively mu vocal mic, as well as reamp mic for bass and I have used if for a snare mic also. BUt as @Wicked says, it does need a boost in preamp power.
I have that mic and the Golden Age Pre 73 external preamp that caters easily for it. Whilst the combination of the two were/are quite expensive, I use them all the time. There are probably much more affordable options for similar results though.
I have been recording vocals on the above set up with my pre pushed so things distort. I’m not sure I am doing it the correct way. I’ll be posting a clip down the track asking about htis very thing, as I am struggling to make my vocal track sound ‘close’ and fuller with te distortion present. Off topic, sorry. Good luck with the mic investigation!
I looked at the specs; the Golden Age 73 has a 80db gain. That’s really quite high and more than most preamps which usually fall in the 50-70db range. Boosters like the Cloudlifter can add +20db or more and help with low level dynamic mics like the SM7B.
I find 40-45db plenty when recording with an SM7b, and something that’s nice about things like the GAP 73 is the low impedance input setting, which smooths the mic’s transient response a little and gives you more output from the mic.
I’ve never been sure why you’d need a cloudlifter with the sm7 unless you’re recording egg shakers etc or using it as a distant mic on gentle acoustic sources.
Oh, I was too hot and bothered earlier to address the SM7 vs SM57 thing too 
I’m even more hot and bothered now but…
SM7 sounds exactly like you’d imagine. A better SM57. It’s got the same family sound, it won’t flatter a source or make anything sound larger than life - indeed, if you think about MJ or RHCP or Metal singers using it I think they all demonstrate that it has a tighter, smaller sound - but it will help it sound forward and cut through a mix.
It’s got more high end extension, so with an EQ you can get some air out of it, whereas an SM57 needs loads of high boost to get the same. It’s got flatter low mids and bass, so far more than an SM57 you can get great deep sounds on kick or bass guitar etc - though again, you’ll likely be pushing the lows up a little compared to a dedicated kick mic - but those frequencies are there, unlike an SM57 which has a reasonably high roll off.
And yes, it does have proximity effect, but the capsule is relatively far back in the basket so you can’t get that last inch of low end boost that you can on an SM57.
Re; what I said about mic preamp input impedance - more than any other mic I’ve used, it matters with the SM7. It’s designed for lower impedances - can’t remember exactly but like 100-500 ohms. Modern preamps usually have higher input impedances, which results in a brighter, tighter and more transient spikey sound from the SM7b. Which you prefer is down to taste, but high impedance = less volume because it loads the capsule down. It’s probably a mix of high input impedance, low available gain on tap with some mic pres (some old interfaces maybe only had 35-40db on tap) and using it on quieter or more distant sources that led to the cloudlifter advice becoming standard.
As I said above, you don’t need a cloudlifter if you have a half decent pre.
Thanks very much for the detailed explanation, it really helps. I think for right now, my best bet will be the 57. I also ran across a company called micmodkits that sells caps to upgrade my MXL, so I’m going to try that and the 57. My rationale is that my room sucks, and my preamp is my interface (Motu M4), so I have other areas to improve on first. A 57 won’t break the bank and will always be usable. When I make the big time, I’ll require my engineer to have a pedigreed mic locker full of stuff he never uses.
FWIW I think that mics get far too much airtime. As long as they capture the noise that is being made reasonably accurately and with no added spuriosity they’ve done their job in my opinion. There are other facets of a recording that are much more deserving of attention, such as the performance of said noise, and the processing of it afterwards.
I’m sort of in the same boat, but only kind of. Dynamic mics tend to have a different feel than condenser mics. Also, form factor is a pretty bid deal (heavy mics can all go straight to hell for all I care). Off axis sound can be quite different for different microphones, especially dynamic mics. So using a dynamic mic on a piano might be sucky because of the wide source, but on a vocal can be just fine.
For dynamic mics, a 58/57 is perfectly fine for me. For condenser mics, it’s nice to have some that aren’t too bright. it’s also nice to have some small diaphragm, and also multi-pattern mics, etc.
Thanks Boz. I actually just did a simple mod to my MXL cheap condenser (swapped out 3 caps), and got a fuller low end with a less strident top end. It cost a whopping $10, and is a noticeable improvement, so that has definitely steered me to the 57.
Do you have any before/after samples ? I have always wanted to hear the difference from a mic mod.
Then again, it appears that I can’t tell the difference between a mic’d guitar cab and a simulation, so …
Sorry, I didn’t record any comparisons. Although I can hear a little fuller low end, and less shrillness on top, I don’t know that I would hear it in the context of a full mix.
I wouldn’t say it’s now comparable to an expensive condenser, I would only say that it takes less eq to get it to sit better in the mix. For a guitar mic, much of the low end would be high passed out, for a voice it will be a little warmer on the bottom. It also seems to take a hot signal better. The mod is worth it, but at $10 and 30 minutes of soldering my expectations were pretty low.