Shure Super 55
A chrome-plated broadcast-era design, reissued with a modern capsule and a blue windscreen like the originals had.
Shure's 2010 launch materials for the Super 55 pitched it on a tailored frequency response and a supercardioid pattern for improved gain-before-feedback. It was aimed at stage, studio, and podcasting use (Mix Magazine, February 2010, p.9).
Overview
The Super 55 is the modern revival of Shure's Unidyne 55. That mic goes back to 1939, which makes it, by Mix magazine's reckoning, one of the longest-running products in audio history. The original Unidyne 55 was an immediate hit and became a standard for decades. The 55S body most people picture dates to 1951. In 1996 Shure renamed the line the 55SH Series II and put a modern SM48-style element inside the familiar shell. The Super 55 keeps the same die-cast zinc body and the same triple-chrome finish, but the engine underneath is substantially updated.
The big change is the capsule. The 55SH II used an SM48-style element. The Super 55 carries a new supercardioid capsule based on the Beta 58A. Working engineers will notice the polar pattern first. The gain-before-feedback is genuinely better than the reissue it replaces.
Shure's own published sensitivity figure — -53 dBV/Pa — puts the Super 55's output at a level that is a meaningful difference on a loud stage (Mix Magazine, September 2010, p.70). The frequency response extends out to 17 kHz, giving vocals some extra air and articulation up top, while the low end is smoother and more controlled than the older mic. That 6 to 7 kHz presence boost is still there, and it's the reason a vocal cuts through a dense mix without much help from the channel strip.
One detail divides people: there's no on/off switch. Shure left it off deliberately. A switch on a vocal mic can get knocked off mid-show and leave a singer with no voice in the mix. Engineers tend to love the decision. Singers who are used to muting themselves between songs will have to adapt.
For a lot of buyers the cosmetics are the whole point. The Super 55 keeps the chrome-plated die-cast zinc body and adds a royal blue windscreen that echoes the silk screens on early vintage models. Shure has leaned into that detail hard, and it makes the mic look retro on camera even when it's doing very modern work. An internal shock mount handles stage rumble and handling noise. The neodymium magnet and output transformer are there for sensitivity.
Pricing has moved around since launch. A Special Edition version with a black body and red windscreen was also offered exclusively through Guitar Center at $299 retail. Expect the street price to sit comfortably below list.
Shure positions the Super 55 for stage, studio, and podcasting, and the mic turns up in all three. It's a working vocal mic that also happens to be photogenic.
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