Shure SM33 sells for 50 grand!

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krinkelfish

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Johnny Carson Microphone Sells for $50,787 :eek:

DALLAS - An anonymous bidder Friday snatched a piece of TV history, offering $50,787 for the microphone that sat prominently on the desk of late-night king Johnny Carson until the 1980s. The offer was about twice that expected at auction.

The label on the 10-pound Shure model SM33 ribbon microphone bluntly declares: "Johnny's Mic... Not Ed's... Not Fred's" — a reference to announcer Ed McMahon and producer Fred DeCordova.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/ap/20050423/ap_on_en_tv/johnny_s_microphone
 
I have a Shure 330, and anybody that pays $50K for one of those is an idiot :p

If you see old cllips of the Tonight Show, you see how bad that mic got abused sometimes. I wonder how many reribbons it had :confused:
 
I have an SM33, which I picked up for around $300 on eBay. It's a nice microphone which I use quite a bit.

The ten pounds must include a desk stand!

$50K for any mic is ... crazy, when you think of all the other things that money could do.
 
hmmm.. lets see what i could get with 50 grand???? A lot more than just a mic. Johny carson was funny adn will never be replaced but i think that is goina alittle over board
 
Well, the guy didn't buy it because of it's usefulness for recording. It's probably going into a sealed box and stored in a a bullet proof safe. He's hoping that in 20 years someone will pay a million dollars to have the mic that sat on Johnny's desk.
This falls under the same category as paying tens of thousands of dollars to own Princess Leah's bra or a sandwich wrapper that Elvis slobbered on ;)
 
tkingen said:
Well, the guy didn't buy it because of it's usefulness for recording. It's probably going into a sealed box and stored in a a bullet proof safe. He's hoping that in 20 years someone will pay a million dollars to have the mic that sat on Johnny's desk.
This falls under the same category as paying tens of thousands of dollars to own Princess Leah's bra or a sandwich wrapper that Elvis slobbered on ;)
Click to expand...

See that's the part I don't get. If you want to blow money on collectibles as an investment, drop the $50K on an up-and-coming artist. That way you have something unique to display and enjoy, and you're contributing something useful to the arts community--cold hard cash :D

Carson's SM33 doesn't look any different than the thousands of others Shure produced, except for that silly label.
 
My guess is that the buyer was hoping that over the years, some of Johnny's DNA in the form of saliva wound up inside the mic. Now the attempt begins to clone Carson into an army of late-night hosts.
So insidious. So clever. So evil.
Bwahahahaha.
 
it's not about the money, it's probably not even an investment
(stop thinking like poor people)
it's most likely because he really likes Mr carson and wants a conversation piece


I, for the record, am porrer than you.
 
$50K was NOT for the quality of the mic for recording....

The added value was because it was Johnny's mic and therefore a personal item of a huge celebrity.

Personally, I think it should have gone to the Smithsonian and put on display for everyone to see in the Americana exibit (something that should NOT be missed if you get to D.C.)
 
It's A Great Microphone ... Carson Would Probably Find It Funny !

Carson Would have probably found it funny that his microphone went for so much.
When they rewired the sound stage, it didn't seem to bother him a bit when the
microphone was replaced with an AKG C414. I liked the sound though, on his
Shure (whether it was the SM33 or Shure 333).

I just had one of these marvelous mics re-ribboned by Dick Gardner in Minnesota.
Shure had originally gotten out of the Ribbon microphone business when the
4 women on the assembly line and the manager overseeing production, retired.

Dick Gardner asked for the exclusive rights to repair these mics. Shure said
yes but didn't give him as much as a blueprint. Dick had a machinist manufacture
a device to set the ribbon just right, and next to his harmonica repair business,
has been responsible for keeping these 50 year old, once staple mics of early
television and radio, still functioning.

I love the almost 'in your face' sound of this ribbon microphone compared
with the available ribbons today.

Amazingly, they turn up on ebay now and then. But you'd be more
apt to locate one at a garage sale, where they've been sitting in
someone's attic for a half of a century ... and I've heard people
picking them up for just a handful of coins. The Shure Mics are
a great mic and unique sound to add to your collection.

I'll sell mine .... at the unbelievable price ... No .. not 55,000 like
the Johnny Carson microphone, but at the incredible price of only
20, 000 .... :)
 
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