I really love the sound of the percussion, the realism in the congos and the ride cymbals at the end.
The Shure beta 58A you use sounds pretty good. I always like their 58 'mesh ball' model better than their 57 'flat top' model ... both are good and rugged for taking on the road. My impression was that the 58 had a much better response across the frequency range than the 57 ...
58A and 57 are incomparable if you look at the overall response, 58A is so much brighter than the regular 58 and the 57, and the mesh ball is amazing for the dynamics, if you ask me there are 20 positions on the mesh giving different sounds.
Oh yeah, if I didn't make it clear I much prefer the 58 over the 57. It sounds like you've gotten more familiar with the latest models compared to the older ones, 'sm58' versus this newer beta 58A ... So you really got to play with the placement in your musical endeavors it sounds like...
Well Sm58 was a standard model with fewer changes until Sm58A Beta came, and with 58A they upped their game, I would suggest anybody to transfer to SM58A cause it has everything the old SM58 has but twice the response in mid, high-mid and high frequencies, having said all this old SM58 is still preferred by many for that trademark sound
I went and bought a used Sennheiser MD421 for my studio efforts, but certainly will take your advice for something more rugged and affordable to replace if need be, for live gigs in the future, because I agree the 58 was always brighter (and perhaps deeper) than the 57. With the 57 I thought I noticed a bit of 'boxy' band limits for other instruments, but otherwise OK for vocals only and perhaps the field (cardioid) response a bit 'safer' in terms of feedback potential ...
57 definitely has less feedback due to its physique, but is boxy for it yeah, I haven't tried MD421 but I would imagine it to be a really great mic for the amp, but wouldn't compare it with SM58A because it SM58A is specifically designed for the vocals
My violin sounds really sweet through the 421 ... none of that harsh raspiness violins sometimes take on, even with the best players and engineers ... I also record a Soprano Baroque recorder with it ... nice round tone all around. If my vocals are lackluster, it sure ain't the fault of the 421! ;-)