The 60 dB of the Babyface are enough for the SM7. For usual signals only 45 dB are required. The reason why people recommend higher gains is the introduced noise of many preamps in the last upper range. But this is of course no problem with the Babyface. The preamps are extremely quiet.

best regards
Knut

I can agree that the pre's on the Babyface can work & do sound good with an SM7b - not sure I would call them "extremely quiet" at the sort of gain settings required for the SM7b though (my main vox mic btw).

I have one of these & it makes a huge difference - http://tritonaudio.com/index.php?sectio … ;Itemid=33

Works really well with both the Babyface & UFX - I also use it with my UA Solo 610 running into the UFX line in & its great.......not dramatically different/better to the pre's on the UFX or Babyface, but the last 10% is always the hardest/most expensive..

In my experience, I have found that with most rock signers, who tend to be loud, using SM7b and a gain range of 60dB is no problem at all. I have not used SM7b with quiet singers yet, only condensers, so I guess one of those boost things could be handy for them. In my opinion I find the preamps of the Babyface and the UFX to be very quiet.