What's this live vocal mic? (Paul McCartney 1976)

slinkp

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Mar 10, 2019, 11:20:38 PM3/10/19

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It's familiar from various live acts of the time, and has a distinctive housing, but I've never known what it is:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Paul_McCartney_during_a_Wings_concert%2C_1976.jpg

Not sure because he has a tendency to wrap his hand around the business end, but Plant may have used the same mic in "The Song Remains the Same":
https://screenmusings.org/movie/dvd/Led-Zeppelin-The-Song-Remains-the-Same/images/Led-Zeppelin-The-Song-Remains-the-Same-349.jpg

PStamler

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Mar 10, 2019, 11:35:02 PM3/10/19

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Looks like a Sennheiser MD-421 (the original).

slinkp

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Mar 10, 2019, 11:56:41 PM3/10/19

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Thanks. But it's got a barrel shape and slots ringing the end. Was there ever a 421 like that?
It's more akin to an SM-57 in its basic construction, and I wondered if it was some other Shure model, but I've not found it in some searching of old catalogs and the like.
Nor any AKG, EV, or Beyer that I've found so far...
Here's another photo ...
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/120617021016-paul-mccartney-birthday-gallery-7-horizontal-large-gallery.jpg

slinkp

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Mar 11, 2019, 12:11:20 AM3/11/19

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Found it! It is indeed a cousin of the 57.
Shure Unidyne IV 548.

https://pubs.shure.com/guide/548-SD-SH/en-US.pdf

How do they differ from the 57?

geoff

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Mar 11, 2019, 12:13:08 AM3/11/19

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Shure Unidyne ?

geoff

Scott Dorsey

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Mar 11, 2019, 10:28:57 AM3/11/19

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slinkp <sli...@gmail.com> wrote:
>It's familiar from various live acts of the time, and has a distinctive housing, but I've never known what it is:
>
>https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Paul_McCartney_during_a_Wings_concert%2C_1976.jpg

It's a 548. Pretty much like an SM57 but with better gain before feedback.

>Not sure because he has a tendency to wrap his hand around the business end, but Plant may have used the same mic in "The Song Remains the Same":
>https://screenmusings.org/movie/dvd/Led-Zeppelin-The-Song-Remains-the-Same/images/Led-Zeppelin-The-Song-Remains-the-Same-349.jpg

Also looks like a 548. It was the tightest microphone you could buy
for a short period of time before it was eclipsed by the 589.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

slinkp

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Mar 11, 2019, 1:32:06 PM3/11/19

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On Monday, March 11, 2019 at 10:28:57 AM UTC-4, Scott Dorsey wrote:

Thanks!

I wondered why the 548 and 589 are long gone, but the 57 remains.
Found this at https://www.shure.com/americas/support/find-an-answer/shure-548-microphone-element
"The 548 had a Unidyne IV mic element. This element was never successful. It was difficult to manufacture and customers preferred the Unidyne III element (SM57 and SM58.) The Unidyne IV was not used in the SM mic line.
The Unidyne IV element was discontinued in the 1980's."

That made me wonder what the retail prices of a 57 vs. a 548 were circa 1976. Haven't been able to find that.

Obviously since then, Shure has addressed the market for "similar uses but better feedback rejection than a 57" with the Beta 57a, which whatever you think of them has obviously been successful in the market ... it probably doesn't hurt that it only costs $40 more.

While satisfying my curiosity on the 548, I was somewhat surprised to learn that the 545 is still sold! I'm sure you all knew that already.

Scott Dorsey

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Mar 11, 2019, 3:33:57 PM3/11/19

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slinkp <sli...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I wondered why the 548 and 589 are long gone, but the 57 remains.

Probably for the same reason that all those wonderful omni handheld mikes
like the SM60 and 576 are gone. And the SM-11, a severely underrated tool
in the studio. And all of the Shure ribbons like the SM33, which were just
great mikes.

>Found this at https://www.shure.com/americas/support/find-an-answer/shure-5=
>48-microphone-element
>"The 548 had a Unidyne IV mic element. This element was never successful. =
> It was difficult to manufacture and customers preferred the Unidyne III el=

>ement (SM57 and SM58.) The Unidyne IV was not used in the SM mic line.
>The Unidyne IV element was discontinued in the 1980's."

A lot of those mikes were difficult to make and very low profit. In 1995
when Sydney died, they swept through the whole line and eliminated all of the
lower production items.

I remember talking to the Shure rep at about that time, lamenting the loss of
the SM80. He said they had sold so many tens of thousands of SM81s that year,
and nine SM80s, and that you just can't keep inventory on a $200 item when you
are selling only nine a year.

>While satisfying my curiosity on the 548, I was somewhat surprised to learn=

> that the 545 is still sold! I'm sure you all knew that already.

The 545 is still sold because it is the number one microphone in the Japanese
karaoke market. It costs -more- than the SM57, not less... they charge extra
because the Japanese love the steel finish.

slinkp

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Mar 11, 2019, 7:45:46 PM3/11/19

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Funny. It's all about the market isn't it. US internet retailers I've checked show the 545 for a bit less than the 57. Like $5 or $10.

Steve Culberson

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Aug 7, 2022, 10:07:50 AM8/7/22

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On Monday, March 11, 2019 at 6:45:46 PM UTC-5, slinkp wrote:
> Funny. It's all about the market isn't it. US internet retailers I've checked show the 545 for a bit less than the 57. Like $5 or $10.

I played for years and we used several 548's - one for lead vocal and two or three on drums if I recall.
Great sounding mics even then.