Shure 545

["George Brooks" <gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tom Ellis is probably the best qualified person on the subject of Shure
545s, but, with SPAH just days away, I'll bet he is really busy at the
moment.  I have a 545 I bought new in 1971 or so.  It has an XLR connector
and an on-off switch.  I think it's a great sounding mic.

I have heard that the 545 underwent some kind of change, and that the new
ones do not sound nearly as good for harmonica as the older ones.  I cannot
comment personally on this, not having played a recently manufactured 545.
It is my impression, though, that the change, whatever it was, came some
time after Shure went from a 4-pin connector to an XLR.

fjm speaks the truth.  His 545 had more output than my thirty year old one
and had a nice fat sound.  But, fjm, when was that one made, if you know?
You said it was given to you.  Is there any way to date it?

By the way, the dual impedance feature on my 545 doesn't require rewiring or
the use of a mic cord wired in a non-standard way.  You unscrew a set screw,
pull the XLR connector out of the microphone shell, and there, atop the
connector, is a tiny plastic fitting with two holes, one marked "H" and the
other marked "L."  This fitting is pushed onto a single pin.  If the pin is
in the hole marked "H", the mic is high impedance.  If "L", it's low
impedance.

You know, I love that mic so much I bought another one from Tom Ellis.  Same
set-up:  XLR connector, on-off switch, and same method of switching
impedance.  But when I got it, the mic would cut in and out.  Knowing Tom, I
wasn't worried for a second.  I called him and he told me that he had tested
the mic but that something had either gotten by him or the mic had been
damaged in transit, and that I should send the mic to him and he would make
it right.  What I got back in a couple of weeks was even better than the mic
I had intended to buy.  It was the same shell with a NOS element.  This one
might be the equal of fjm's, maybe even better, who knows?  There is a
simple enough way to find out.  I will bring it to SPAH.

George