Sennheiser
MKE 600
Small-diaphragm condenser · Lobar (shotgun) · 40–20,000 Hz
- Runs on phantom power or a single AA battery, which is why it ends up on camera rigs that have neither a mixer nor a recorder with P48.
- Above roughly 2 kHz an interference tube narrows the pattern into a forward lobe — the diagram here sketches that lobe; lower down the capsule behaves like a supercardioid.
- A switchable low-cut on the body deals with the handling rumble a camera-mounted shotgun always has.
Frequency response
No response curve yet.
MicSense only draws a curve redrawn from a graph the manufacturer publishes — it never estimates one from the microphone’s class. No published graph has been redrawn for the MKE 600 yet, so the numbers are in the spec table below.
Polar pattern
A shotgun’s interference tube narrows the front lobe beyond any first-order pattern; the lobe drawn here illustrates the type — it is not a measurement of this individual model.
Specifications
| Manufacturer | Sennheiser |
|---|---|
| Model | MKE 600 |
| Type | Small-diaphragm condenser |
| Form factor | Shotgun |
| Polar pattern | Lobar (shotgun) (Supercardioid) |
| Frequency range | 40–20,000 Hz |
| Sensitivity | 21 mV/Pa · ≈ -33.6 dBV/Pa (with P48; 19 mV/Pa on battery) |
| Max SPL | 132 dB SPL (THD not stated; with P48; 126 dB on battery) |
| Self-noise | 15 dB(A) |
| Impedance | — not published by the maker |
| Connector | XLR3M |
| Powering | Phantom 48 V or battery (phantom 48 V, or one AA battery) |
| Weight | 128 g |
Specifications: Sennheiser specifications page · last checked 2 Oct 2026. These are the maker’s published figures for this model. A dash never means zero: “not published by the maker” means the maker’s documents give no figure; “not yet checked” means MicSense has not confirmed one yet. Spotted an error? Tell us.
MicSense notes
| Price tier | Mid |
|---|---|
| Introduced | — not recorded |
Price tier and “a rider regular” are MicSense’s own judgement, not the maker’s.
What it gets used for
- Broadcast
MicSense tags microphones by the job on a live stage, not by studio category — so you can filter for “kick in” or “monitor vocal” instead of working backwards from “large-diaphragm condenser”.
MKE 600 alternatives: closest in published specs
Based on published specifications only — always listen at soundcheck. These are the microphones in the MicSense library whose datasheet figures sit closest to the Sennheiser MKE 600’s for the same live job, with the reasons. It says nothing about how they sound.
Not compared for the Sennheiser MKE 600: response curve not redrawn yet.
-
Shure
VP83F LensHopper
- Same job: broadcast
- Same type: condenser (small diaphragm)
- Same supercardioid pattern
- Same form: shotgun
- About the same output — within the datasheets’ tolerance
- Runs on a battery — bring a spare
-
Shure
VP83 LensHopper
- Same job: broadcast
- Same type: condenser (small diaphragm)
- Same supercardioid pattern
- Same form: shotgun
- About the same output — within the datasheets’ tolerance
- Runs on a battery — bring a spare
-
Sennheiser
MKH 416
- Same job: broadcast
- Same type: condenser (small diaphragm)
- Same supercardioid pattern
- Same form: shotgun
- About the same output — within the datasheets’ tolerance
- Check: Needs phantom power — the original does not
Compare it against the alternatives.
MicSense lets you put up to four microphones side by side — spec table, overlaid response curves and polar diagrams on one screen. Free with a free Squaresmile account.