Shure 300C Vocal Master Head

[Jerry Overstreet]

Got one of these as a favor to get it out of their way in reciprocity for equal, maybe, barely, favors. Ha!

Blast from the past. Anybody ever use these things anymore?

shure.jpg

[Doug Taylor]

That sure brings back memories Jerry! Does it still work?

[Larry Dering]

I remember they were the PA to own back in the 70s.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Doug, it's funky, but they tell me it works. I haven't hooked anything up yet. It's still in the back of my Blazer! The columns weren't with it, only the head. I have a picker buddy who acquired the columns a few years back so he might want to complete his rig with this!

I'll check back in when I power it up.

The way vintage gear is steadily gaining favor and attracting premium prices, this thing might be worth a fortune!!

[Donny Hinson]

I have one just like it, and yeah, they were the cat's pajamas back in 1970.
Anything that old, though , is likely to need a cap job and control cleaning, so I'd be careful about plugging it in. They were nice at the time, 6 channels and rated at 100 watts total.. The anti-feedback controls also did a decent jobback in the days of omni mics.
A real "blast from the past"!

[Jerry Overstreet]

Yeah, prolly gonna be a wall hanger, rather table sitter in my buddy's vintage display rooms next to the matching Shure columns. Purely nostalgia most likely. Still pretty cool old gear.

[Bill A. Moore]

I worked with my first "real" band (one that got paid) in the 60's who used one of these. The 4-12? columns were pretty muddy, the bass player had a job installing outdoor PA speakers, and brought some huge horns to a practice. After playing with different combinations, they started leaving the speakers, and just using the horns!

[Donny Hinson]

The tall columns each had four 8" speakers and two 10" speakers, and the shorter (monitor?) columns each had two 10" speakers and one 8" speaker. It was a really classy-looking rig, and the panel on the head was backlighted for a totally awesome look when the stage lights were low.

Here's a pic I found of Twitty and his band fearturing his VocalMaster setup:

TwittyBand.jpg

[Doug Earnest]

Our high school, built in 1960, had one of those as a permanent installation in the nice theater style auditorium.
Two of the tall cabinets were installed on the walls to the sides of the stage. I think there were four overhead mics installed that could be used as necessary, and there were a few different models of EV mics for stand use.

It did a very good job for plays, band and choir concerts, school assemblies where the principal would address the student body explaining that we were all going to straighten up right now or else, and such as that. It didn't take much volume to cover the auditorium.

It was still in place when I graduated in 1977.

[Erv Niehaus]

I see John Hughey playing with Conway.

[Donny Hinson]

I see John Hughey playing with Conway.

That's right, Erv. John was in his band for 20 years.
Pretty steady gig, by Nashville standards!

[Erv Niehaus]

I understand he quit Conway when he announced there would be NO more raises.
He then went with Vince Gill, a totally different experience.
Vince had great respect for John.
There was a 2nd floor recording session coming up and Vince saw John unloading his equipment so he went down to help.
John said "but you're Vince Gill" and Vince said, "yes, but you're John Hughey!"