Retro Mic Showdown: Monoprice Memphis Blue vs. Shure Super 55 & 55SH!

Shure Unidyne microphones sure do have a legendary reputation not only for great sound quality, but also for incredible visual appeal.

But do you really need to spend a lot of dough to go retro? Do you need a fork over a lot of cash to look like Johnny Cash?

Even though the Unidyne series of microphones have been around for a long time, these two are current models. I actually prefer the Super 55, the difference being that it's a supercardioid pickup pattern (that's where the “Super" comes from), but I also think that there's a bit of difference in sound quality too.

A lot of it just comes down to personal preference and workflow. I can tell you at the time of writing this, the Super 55 has an MSRP of $311 and the 55SH has an MSRP of $199.

For this comparison, every microphone that I'm talking was run through the Focusrite 2i2 with a Cloudlfiter.

The main event for today is the Monoprice Stage Right Memphis Blue. The reason that I went down this road in the first place is because I got really interested in the Unidyne style of microphone.

And then I started looking up the history of them and got excited! I decided to purchase one but I couldn't decide which of the Unidynes I liked more. The blue of the Super 55 stood out to me, but the 55SH has a standard cardioid pickup pattern, which is what I’m used to.

I ended up getting both of them so that I could compare them. In the video you’ll hear me switch back and forth and notice that the 55SH has a different sound than the Super 55.

But where this gets a little confusing is that the Monoprice microphone, which I'll just call it the “Memphis” form now on, has a blue wind screen inside of it just like the Super 55– but it has the same pickup pattern as the 55SH.

So if you're like me and you don't know much about these microphones, but you're kind of shopping around for retro microphones, it would make sense that you would think the blue microphone is a direct competitor to the other microphone with the blue windscreen.

But they're not. It's really more of a direct competitor to the 55SH. Both of them also have on-off switches, so that way you can just directly turn off the mic. The Memphis mic is a solid chunk of metal. If you ever look up the original Unidyne mics they were much bigger than the ones available today, very similar in size to the Memphis.

I think the Memphis is a pretty darn good sounding microphone, especially for the price (it has an MSRP of $59.99).

I don't think there is an objective best microphone. I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference and workflow, and all that kind of stuff. But I do think that the Memphis mic has a lot going for it, especially for the price. It's really kind of hard to beat.

If I personally had to rank these three retro mics, I would rank the Super 55 as my favorite, the Memphis as my second favorite, and the 55SH in third place as my least favorite.

I should also mention that all of these mics have a potentially problematic mounting system, where the mic stand mount is directly next to the XLR input. This is great if your mounting the mic to a traditional mic stand, but not so great if you’re trying to attach it to something like the Rode PSA 1 Boom Arm. It’s possible, but you’ll likely need to rig up something using a multitude of adapters.

Oh- and the Memphis is super heavy. In fact, it might be entirely too heavy for most boom arms. But it works great on tabletop stands.

Overall for the price it’s tough to go wrong, especially if you’re looking to get a retro style mic at a relatively affordable price. The Memphis’ size and weight might make it a challenge to incorporate into some podcast or streaming setups, but it’ll definitely feel right at home on stage or in a recording studio.

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