Shure A85F

So I had been playing with intense vocal effects like fuzz and heavy reverb on Logic and Ableton for a little while and had pretty much nailed the sound I wanted however when it came to performing live I had to think of a slightly different set up.

When it came to preparing for live shows I set out to try and emulate the sound I had of my demo's as closely as possible, so, I bought a bunch of guitar pedals and plugged my SM57 straight into them and went from the pedals straight into the desk or p.a.....This I learned was a mistake.
Because microphones and guitars are of different impedances I would always get either a very low volume vocal, nothing like my desired sound or an intense unwanted feedback..
This Shure A85F paired with a Palmer PAN 01 fixed all my problems.

Mic> ShureA85F> pedals> D.I> desk.
Levels out all weird conversions I don't understand and makes vocals "musical" again.
No feedback. Correct vocal volume level.
Perfect.

Solid design. Shouldn't break anytime soon.

i use this to mic a saxophone and use guitar pedals with it. i am also using a guitar amp at the moment but if i were going into a PA i believe I would need to "re-convert" into a balanced line - PS: some amps do have a Direct OUT option that is also balanced

pros
does the job, seem to "boost/transform" the signal from the mic allowing me to truly hear the saxophone with effects. i am not noticing much of a change regarding noise.

cons:
size - if this was going into a pedal board, there may need to be rearranging. it is long and thick so that in some pedals. straight jacks fit next to it, but not flat ones (on most of my pedals)

built:
it seems sturdy but time will time if it will last rehearsals and gigs

After hearing and seeing some artists that use guitar pedals with a regular microphone, i tried to emulate that technique without getting the same results. With some research i found out this "secret weapon" - a passive transformer that converts the microphone from low to high impedance - or instrument level! What a godsend, works perfectly with my SM57 for my intended use. Can be used in reverse.

Pros: completely passive, facilitates the use of your voice into pedals such as Line 6 DL4 and others.

Cons: A little bulky if you have limited space in your pedalboard.
Cons: none