Shure Beta 98H/C
A tiny clip-on condenser built to survive a horn bell and a drum rim, and to stay out of sight while it does.
Overview
The Beta 98H/C solves a very specific problem. It's a premium cardioid condenser that clamps directly onto the bell of a wind instrument or the rim of a percussion instrument. No stand, no boom, no repositioning between songs. It goes where the instrument goes.
The mounting hardware is the story here. Shure built the Beta 98H/C around an integrated gooseneck and a ratcheting swivel joint, so the capsule can be nudged into place and then stays put. That matters because a friction gooseneck sags under its own weight after a set or two, while a ratcheted joint holds its angle. The clip-on clamp is described as allowing quick changes between instruments.
Shure's own documentation for the Beta 98H/C describes a tailored frequency response aimed at open, natural sound reproduction, and the design leans hard on isolation. An integrated shock-mount is built to reduce transmission of instrument key noise and other mechanical noises, like sax key clatter or a hand thumping a drum rim, that would otherwise bleed straight into a clip-mounted capsule. A locking windscreen is part of the package as well.
The physical design is deliberately unobtrusive: compact, lightweight construction that keeps the mic's visibility low on stage. The Beta 98H/C ships with a 3 m (10 ft.) high-flex cable and an attached preamplifier terminating in an XLR connection, so there's no separate inline preamp dangling off the clip.
Shure also built in cartridge interchangeability. The mic accepts the RPM108 cardioid cartridge and the RPM110 supercardioid cartridge. That lets owners change the pickup pattern without replacing the whole microphone, and a damaged capsule doesn't necessarily retire the entire unit. The Beta 98H/C is also offered as a wireless model with a four-pin connector.
Pro Audio Review (June 2002, p.8) covered the Beta 98H/C as an integrated clip-on cardioid condenser for instruments, noting the lengthy gooseneck, the attached clip, an internal shock absorber for mitigating key and mechanical noise, and the locking windscreen. It listed the mic at $397. Electronic Musician documented a session where a Beta 98H/C was clipped to the rim of a tarol, a snare played with a distinctive buzz-tap ostinato, close-miking a drum that would be nearly impossible to stand-mount cleanly.
The caveats are the ones that come with any clip-on condenser. The 10-foot cable and attached preamp are convenient until the cable fails, and a high-flex cable on a moving instrument takes more abuse than one lying on a studio floor. The clip and gooseneck assembly is the wear point. It gets flexed, ratcheted, and clamped thousands of times, so it's the first thing to check on a used example. The locking windscreen is small enough to lose, and the interchangeable cartridges are only useful if you can find them.
The Beta 98H/C was built for high SPL handling with good gain-before-feedback in a package small enough to live on the instrument. It stayed in production long enough to show up in Shure rebate promotions as recently as Mix (April 2013, p.7), listed alongside the Beta 57A, Beta 27, Beta 52A, Beta 56A, Beta 91A, and the rest of the Beta line.
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