Shure SM87A
A condenser vocal mic that spent its career as the capsule on somebody else's wireless handheld. Shure kept offering it long after the wired version stopped being the headline.
Overview
Most of what's documented about the SM87A isn't about the mic on its own. It's about the capsule. Shure's own literature treats the SM87A as one of a family of screw-on heads that drop onto a transmitter body, and that's where it turns up again and again - as an option, a variant, a replacement part. The mic exists as a wired handheld too, but the paper trail is dominated by its life as a capsule.
The clearest evidence is the accessory and replacement-parts listings. Shure's documentation groups the SM87A with the SM58, SM57, Beta 87A, Beta 87C, and the PGA-series mics when it lists the A25D microphone clip. One clip serves all of them. The same documents list the SM87A as a cartridge option under a replacement part number, RPW116, in a table that also covers the SM58, Beta 87A, Beta 87C, SM86, VP68, KSM9 in both finishes, and the Beta 58A. In practice that means it shares its mounting hardware and its capsule interface with the rest of Shure's handheld line.
The period press makes clear the SM87A was a standard choice for anyone buying into Shure's wireless systems. Mix (February 2000, p.48), surveying UHF wireless options, noted that Shure's U24/58 system offered four handheld mic choices - the SM58, SM87A, Beta 58A, and Beta 87A - and that the same capsule family carried across the range. A few years later, Mix (July 2009, p.28) counted the SM87A among eight optional capsule offerings for Shure's UHF-R Series UR2 handheld transmitters. It also noted the SM87A was one of the capsules available for the ULX2 handhelds - five were shared with the SLX2, but the SM87A was the extra that the ULX2 got and the SLX2 didn't.
The capsule-swap habit is the reason the mic is still findable. Mix (July 2009, p.28) framed interchangeable capsules as the fastest route to a different sound or an alternate pickup pattern without buying a whole new handheld, and named Shure as the most prolific provider of the option. The SM87A is one of those options. Owners who bought a wireless system with an SM58 capsule could move to an SM87A head, and the reverse. That's not a spec, but it's why the mic turns up loose and used more often than a fixed-capsule design would.
What the documentation actually says — and doesn't
The record on the SM87A is thin on the things collectors usually want. There's no reliable published frequency response, no sensitivity figure, no self-noise number, no max SPL, no impedance, and no pattern spec that the available sources confirm for this exact model. The capsule is a condenser, which is consistent with how Shure positioned it against the SM58 in the same lineups. But the numbers that would let you compare it to a Beta 87A on paper aren't in the material. Treat any spec quoted for an SM87A with suspicion unless it comes from a Shure document for the exact model.
What is documented is the interoperability. The A25D clip, the 31A1856 thread adapter, the C25J and C25F cables - these are the accessories Shure lists across the SM87A and its stablemates, and they're the parts that actually go missing. A used SM87A without its clip means hunting for a clip. The capsule itself is the other consumable. The grille and the capsule assembly are what wear, so have the replacement part number written down before you need it.
The wireless context also explains the mic's practical reputation. Mix (February 2000, p.48) described the U24/58 system's programmable LCD displays and battery-status indicators, and noted the handheld version could be ordered with the SM87A among its four capsule choices. A vocalist who specified the SM87A on a wireless system was choosing how the mic would sound and how it would behave on a loud stage. The capsule determines that, and the transmitter is just the pipe.
In the available record, the SM87A is not a collector's piece with a mythology. It doesn't have the ubiquity of the SM58 or the neodymium story of the Beta 58. It's a working capsule that Shure kept in the catalog because people kept specifying it, and it survives in the used market for the same reason.
Living with one
The practical case for an SM87A is the same as for any capsule in the Shure handheld family: it fits the bodies people already own. If you've got a Shure wireless handheld and want a condenser option, the SM87A is one of the heads that goes on it. The accessory listings confirm the clip, the thread adapter, and the cables are shared across the line, so nothing about the swap is exotic. With a wired SM87A the same logic applies in reverse: the parts are common and the documentation is findable.
The caveat applies to any capsule-based design: the capsule is the wear item, and a used example's condition matters more than its model number. A clean SM87A capsule on a tired body is a better buy than the reverse. Check the grille, check that the capsule seats properly on the body, and confirm which clip and adapter come with it. The A25D and the 31A1856 are small, cheap, and easy to lose, and a mic without them is a mic you can't mount.
Collectibility, honestly, is modest. The SM87A turns up because it was sold in volume as a wireless option and as a wired mic, not because anyone is hoarding them. That's good news for a buyer and neutral news for a seller. The mic's value is in being a known, serviceable, interchangeable capsule from a company that documented its own parts — which is a quieter kind of value than a rarity, but a real one.
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