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 · 2

Shure Vocal Master column loudspeakers and mixer-amplifier

1 / 2 · Shure Vocal Master portable columns, 1967 (FOH Fig. 14)

Shure Vocal Master portable columns, 1967 (FOH Fig. 14)·FOH magazine; photographer not credited·Rights retained by the rights holder; reproduced for historical commentary

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.

  3. 03

    Kennedy's FOH survey calls the 1967 Vocal Master arguably the first successful packaged portable P.A., used for vocal reinforcement and stage monitoring and trusted by schools, churches and touring acts until newer designs surpassed it in the late 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
  3. 3100 Loudspeaker Technologies that Changed Live-Sound History, Part 1 (David K. Kennedy, 6 September 2026)FOH · reference · 6 September 2026

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