[Harp-L] Re: Shure PE 545 Butterfield

[BluzeHarp@xxxxxxx]

Ron wrote -  While watching the video I noticed that your mic has a  black 
handle where the switch is.  I don't recall ever seeing that  before...
 
PE was Shure's abbreviation for Professional Entertainer.  There  were PE 
versions of several other Shure mic's as  well.  Another PE variant of the 
545 was labeled PE54.   The only difference is that the PE's had some small 
part done in  black instead of silver.  As far as I've been able to determine 
all  the innards are the same.  I think the PE variants  were mostly just a 
marketing thing.  There was also a PE45,  don't confuse it with the PE54, 
the 45 has a different capsule and doesn't  belong to the 545 family of mic's. 
 
 
On the older 545's the black area below the capsule vent was made of metal, 
 in later versions that part is made of plastic, probably the  same Armor 
Dur plastic that Shure has used in several other  mic's.  Many players swear 
that the older metal ones sound  better.  Regardless of whether or not they 
sound  different, the plastic ones can break if hit or dropped, over the  
years I've seen several with cracks or even jagged holes.   The metal ones are 
more like a Shure SM57 in that regard... pretty much  bulletproof.
 
Butter seemed to prefer the heavier pistol grip version over  the straight 
'stick' or 'wand' models.  Not sure if it was because  of how they felt in 
his hands or if it was for how they looked.   Maybe he thought the pistol 
grips sounded better but there are no sonic  differences that I can identify, 
the capsules were the  same.  Perhaps it worked better for throwing at the 
knucklehead  who was 'gussing' him out in the audience?
 
Christopher Richards
Twin Tone Harmonica Microphones
Harmonica Planet .com