Recommend a 1000$ vintage console

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Keala

Active member
Joined
Aug 22, 2017
Messages
42
Hey folks!

I'm thinking about selling all my gear and buying new equipment.
I've been using a vintage Yammie for some time, and i really like the colored sound.

Would be great if you guys could recommend some nice vintage consoles.

No more than 8-16 channels

- Andreas
 
You could ask around for a used Soundcraft or something... I've seen those go for cheap.
 
L´Andratté said:
Well Soundcraft is not what I think of when I think of coloured sound ;)

That's true to some extent.. but then again I have nothing to compare, except for an Allen&Heath Zed10FX which I use in my studio (I've used a Soundcraft Spirit for live FOH)

I think it's a trade-off between features, flexibility, ease of use and preamp gain at the end of the day.
 
DerEber said:
The A&H Zed 10 sounds really nice imo..
I would take it over most vintage mixers in that configuration.

best,
Stephan

A&H mixers are just so boring.. I want something exciting and colorful.
Every time i walk into the room i want to to be able to look at my equipment and be excited about it. It's not a popular opinion, but aesthetics really mean a lot to me when it comes to gear. It makes my workflow more creative and fun.

People would rather drive around in a Ferrari Enzo with a Fiat Multipla engine, than a Fiat Multipla with a Ferrari Enzo engine.
 
Some of the older Amek/Tac are great desks,
probably not an option if your in the US though, heres one on ebay, just for reference .
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/amek-bb100-mixing-desk-x-2/162457963040

An Amek Bc3 is a great unit also ,Neve designed Mic amps and output drivers ,Langley designed eq ,its difficult to make things sound bad with them .Funky junk France sometimes has these.

Really for a coloured sound you probably need to be going back to early 80's or 70's and getting something with transformers  on the inputs at least, you'll probably pay a lot for something thats been restored  ,if not it could be a big job to renovate it back to factory spec .

Tac bullet might be one you could find stateside, they come in smaller frame sizes too.Sorry Im not too familiar with US gear from that era ,Im sure a few of the others will chime in with suggestions too though.

 
Tubetec said:
Some of the older Amek/Tac are great desks,
probably not an option if your in the US though, heres one on ebay, just for reference .
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/amek-bb100-mixing-desk-x-2/162457963040

An Amek Bc3 is a great unit also ,Neve designed Mic amps and output drivers ,Langley designed eq ,its difficult to make things sound bad with them .Funky junk France sometimes has these.

Really for a coloured sound you probably need to be going back to early 80's or 70's and getting something with transformers  on the inputs at least, you'll probably pay a lot for something thats been restored  ,if not it could be a big job to renovate it back to factory spec .

Tac bullet might be one you could find stateside, they come in smaller frame sizes too.Sorry Im not too familiar with US gear from that era ,Im sure a few of the others will chime in with suggestions too though.

I'm from Denmark

Thanks! I'll look into some Amek consoles.
I've also been looking a lot at old TEAC and TASCAM consoles. Mainly because of their looks :) but i'm hearing good things about them
 
I've been looking a bit on ebay.. here's my finds

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schlumberger-UPS-5124-Broadcast-Mixer/183064539320?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D48498%26meid%3D90a9c263da9444afaca7ce9e70f6c43f%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D173148361368%26itm%3D183064539320&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RCE-vintage-broadcast-18-channel-studio-console/173146535026?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D48498%26meid%3D64e5b8b1fc42441cac5d215a34f7d3ce%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D183064539320%26itm%3D173146535026&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Quantum-Audio-Labs-QM-168-16-Channel-8-Bus-Studio-Mixer-Console-QM168-30868/183036654041?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D48498%26meid%3D8d809634243c4266bb544e904f89e404%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D173146535026%26itm%3D183036654041&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sennheiser-M8-Mischpult-Mixer-Mixing-Console/122932656925?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D48498%26meid%3Dcb69bddf0e784f85a5f5717786a8aebd%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D122955560824%26itm%3D122932656925&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 
Tubetec said:
An Amek Bc3 is a great unit also ,Neve designed Mic amps and output drivers ,Langley designed eq ,its difficult to make things sound bad with them .Funky junk France sometimes has these.
That's a new one on me. Can you point to any reference for it?

Edit: I just found an BC3 manual and i does indeed say it has Rupert Neve designed TLA input and output amplifiers. But there is no mention of Langley EQ

Cheers

Ian
 
If it is working 100% and you can pay take the M8 and never look back!  /Off to gearsluts :)
EDIT: the shown model has no insert jacks, so no direct outs..., It´s never easy ::)
 
ruffrecords said:
That's a new one on me. Can you point to any reference for it?

Edit: I just found an BC3 manual and i does indeed say it has Rupert Neve designed TLA input and output amplifiers. But there is no mention of Langley EQ

Cheers

Ian

Here you go Ian
https://www.proaudioeurope.com/info/classic-catalogue/amek-consoles/amek-bc3-mixing-console
 
Tubetec said:
Really for a coloured sound you probably need to be going back to early 80's or 70's and getting something with transformers  on the inputs at least, you'll probably pay a lot for something thats been restored  ,if not it could be a big job to renovate it back to factory spec .

... Im sure a few of the others will chime in with suggestions too though.


Alice 828.

 
MagnetoSound said:
Alice 828.

Wow. this looks great!
British?
Discrete?
Belclare transformers?

I might just go ahead and buy two of these and smack them together in a fancy box

Thank you so much!

Edit:
It's impossible to find one up for purchase
If anyone has one, that they want to sell or have a similar mixer. Send me a pm

 
JohnRoberts said:
Buying an old console may be like buying an old house... the purchase price is not the total cost.

JR

Hey John!
I'm well aware of the cost of maintaining vintage equipment, if that is what you're referring to.

- Andreas
 
I concur on the Ambel:Tac. The EQ is great on those. The mic amps on Amek’s get better as you spend more. The mic amps on the TAC sound okay but distort pretty easily.  I  think you you have to get to a 2500 or so before you get great mic amps.
 
Gold said:
I concur on the Ambel:Tac. The EQ is great on those. The mic amps on Amek’s get better as you spend more. The mic amps on the TAC sound okay but distort pretty easily.  I  think you you have to get to a 2500 or so before you get great mic amps.

I've seen stuff like Amek, TAC Scorpion and Trident go for cheap too (the refurbished ones are a bit pricier)

You could also ask a theatre because they might have reasonably big desks too which haven't been used that much.

EDIT : from what I gathered the used Allen & Heath GL-series consoles have been usually toured to death

EDIT 2 : fixed
 

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