Remote/battery phantom power for Shure 55?

April 29, 2017 9:05 AM

I recently got a Shure 55 mic on the cheap. I'd like to use it for busking, but it doesn't seem to be battery-powered, and I'm not sure how phantom power works in a remote location. What should I use to operate this mic when I'm not near a power source?
posted by pxe2000 to Technology (7 answers total)

I believe the Shure 55 is a dynamic mic and therefore self-powered by the sounds it's picking up. So the only power supply you should need to organize is for whatever mixer or PA the mic is feeding.
posted by flabdablet at 9:22 AM on April 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

Confirmed/seconded: it's a dynamic mic and does not need phantom power. It should hook right up to a PA.
posted by BlackPebble at 10:07 AM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Unless the secondary question is, how to set up a PA that works without a place to plug it in... You will need a battery-powered PA system (generally available these days, it seems) with an XLR input for the mic, and a mike cable that is XLR to XLR connector (male to female). If you don't have a portable PA with an XLR connector for the mic you can get an adapter (I don't know anything about this particular adapter, but this is the idea). The mic has to connect to a mic-level input.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 3:37 PM on April 29, 2017

Response by poster: An amp counts as a PA, right?
posted by pxe2000 at 4:58 PM on April 29, 2017

Response by poster: Vox MINI3
posted by pxe2000 at 7:27 PM on April 29, 2017

So you'll definitely need a 1/4" to XLR adapter to hook a normal XLR into the amp or else an impedence matched xlr female to 1/4" male cable.

IME using a decent low-impedence mic on a quarter-inch input with a low-wattage amp will result in a pretty quiet mic if not actual distortion.

I'd follow spitbull's advice and "get a small mixer/preamp to take real advantage"
posted by aspersioncast at 11:51 AM on April 30, 2017

"IME using a decent low-impedence mic on a quarter-inch input with a low-wattage amp will result in a pretty quiet mic if not actual distortion."

That amp has a dedicated "mic"input already, I don't know what the point of it would be if it didn't already have a mic preamp--then again, I'm not sure I understand why it has a 1/4" mic input instead of XLR? In any case, the necessary cable or adapter should be cheap and there's no harm in trying.
posted by floppyroofing at 1:29 PM on April 30, 2017 [1 favorite]