SM 69

Early in Eagles of Death Metal career, Jessie came to me with an old Shure mic, classic design and I totally understood his wanting to use it. Problem was, those microphones where never intended to be used in this bombastic application. A solution was to keep the look and improve the tech.

I have to thank the good folks at Shure at this period of time. We had an endorsement and I had mics to cannibalize and experiment with. I decided on the Beta 58 capsule which best suited Jessie’s singing and performance style. I decided to keep the windscreen ball as part of the design and found it helpful for for Jessie since he dances around a lot and can loose track of where to aim his voice.

A few years later, I got a call from Paul Stanley’s guitar tech. Paul wanted a microphone for a solo performance that looked vintage and behaved modern. I made him a pair. He liked the characteristics of the Beta and familiarity of it’s design.

I didn’t know what to charge The Star Child. I thought it was just fun to make a mic for him. I saw in People Magazine, or another one of those doctor’s office mags, once that he was a painter, so I asked if he wanted to trade. Thank You Paul.