ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Live mixing console

Shure Vocal Master VA300/VA301

Shure Brothers Inc. · 1967

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

The Shure Vocal Master combined a six-channel, all-transistor mixer with a 100-watt power amplifier and built-in spring reverb in a single console chassis, driving a pair of dedicated column loudspeakers. Aimed at bands who could not afford custom touring PA, it became the ubiquitous 'bar band' and small-venue vocal system of the late 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s rock circuit. Shure continued to sell and service the VA300 line into the late 1970s, with the surviving factory operating/service manual documenting its six-channel mixer section, anti-feedback switches and reverb controls.

Introduced
1967
Category
Live mixing console
Intended use
Self-contained vocal PA (mixer + 100W power amp) for club and small-concert stage reinforcement
Production
Mass-produced by Shure Brothers; sold as a complete system (VA300-C console with VA300-S or VA301-S columns) through the 1970s

Equipment photographs · 1

Shure Vocal Master PA column speaker

1 / 1 · Shure Vocal Master PA speaker column

Shure Vocal Master PA speaker column·Daniel Christensen·CC BY-SA 3.0

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    One of the first fully packaged, affordable 'mixer-plus-speakers' vocal PA systems, putting multi-channel mixing within reach of working rock and club bands rather than only large touring acts.

  2. 02

    Its six-channel layout, individual volume controls and anti-feedback switching set a template later echoed by budget live-sound mixers through the 1970s.

Engineering record

Channels
Six mic/instrument input channels on the VA300-C console[1]
Power amplifier
Built-in 100-watt (RMS) all-silicon-transistor power amplifier driving the column speakers[1]
Effects
Onboard spring reverb with intensity and tone controls[1]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

Public price evidence was not sufficient to publish a defensible original figure.

Use in the field

Marketed and widely used from 1967 through the mid-1970s as the standard vocal reinforcement rig for club and bar-circuit rock bands across North America[1][2]

Manuals & original documents

Sources

  1. 1VA300 Operating and Service ManualShure Brothers Inc. · manual · 1978 reprint (product introduced 1967)
  2. 2Shure Vocal Master VA 300 Operating & Service ManualManualsLib · manual · accessed 2024

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