I finally was able to get one of these Yamaha Pm430 consoles on the cheap. Its dusty and has tape residue on it, but should clean up nice. Everything seems to work with some pots a bit scratchy. So, I want to couple this console as my analog front end and summing bus, with my Macbook Pro and Metric Halo 2882 doing all the signal capture and mixing respectively.
Now you may scoff at the PM-430E or even just the hype of the Yamaha PM stuff in general, but one thing is for sure, these PMs are each cool in their own ways and VERY easy to work on. I want to use this device more as a starting point and chassis/parts donor and reuse as much as possible, but I plan on tweaking and rearranging nearly everything.
From my examination today it looks like the individual preamp/EQ cards have two TA7136AP Toshiba made sips in the preamp and EQ sections. The Monitor sends and line amp both look to be discrete much like the PM1000. It does have a single inductor in the two-band EQ. The input transformer is a 600 ohm / 3k ohm type and is labeled GA8027. I don't have the schematic but will try to trace it out soon.
If anyone has a schematic for this model please let me know or just post a link to the thread. I have the owners manual for the 430 and the manual + schematics for the PM1000, but the PM-430 manual doesn't have schematics, only a block diagram.
So my mods for now will be:
Recap:
1. Replace electrolytics with Nichicon Audio series caps in bigger sizes.
2. Replace Tantalum and ceramic coupling caps with Wimas, also in larger sizes.
3. Tweak EQ a bit with some different size caps.
4. Rebuild and beef up Power Supply
Stage 1 Mods:
1. Eliminate all analog mixing capability
2. Direct outs from each preamp
3. Build 16 channel Passive mixbus with DB25 connectors feeding Master Section
4. DI input for Two channels
Stage 2 Mods:
1. Utilize the sends with the NE 80100 opamps as line amps for four of the preamp direct outs
2. Cascade monitor send gain stages on other 4 preamps for creative drive
3. Replace monitor master with parallel SSL mixbus compressor
4. Install a modern headphone amp
I think the recap and stage 1 mods should be fairly straightforward but the Stage 2 mods will be considerably more experimental but could be really fun.
It should be obvious that I am not looking for neutral sounds with this unit, instead I am on a search for some color, and unique color at that. I want to embrace the flaws of these circuits, improve and mod it where I can and just have something cool and one of-a-kind when I'm done.
Now you may scoff at the PM-430E or even just the hype of the Yamaha PM stuff in general, but one thing is for sure, these PMs are each cool in their own ways and VERY easy to work on. I want to use this device more as a starting point and chassis/parts donor and reuse as much as possible, but I plan on tweaking and rearranging nearly everything.
From my examination today it looks like the individual preamp/EQ cards have two TA7136AP Toshiba made sips in the preamp and EQ sections. The Monitor sends and line amp both look to be discrete much like the PM1000. It does have a single inductor in the two-band EQ. The input transformer is a 600 ohm / 3k ohm type and is labeled GA8027. I don't have the schematic but will try to trace it out soon.
If anyone has a schematic for this model please let me know or just post a link to the thread. I have the owners manual for the 430 and the manual + schematics for the PM1000, but the PM-430 manual doesn't have schematics, only a block diagram.
So my mods for now will be:
Recap:
1. Replace electrolytics with Nichicon Audio series caps in bigger sizes.
2. Replace Tantalum and ceramic coupling caps with Wimas, also in larger sizes.
3. Tweak EQ a bit with some different size caps.
4. Rebuild and beef up Power Supply
Stage 1 Mods:
1. Eliminate all analog mixing capability
2. Direct outs from each preamp
3. Build 16 channel Passive mixbus with DB25 connectors feeding Master Section
4. DI input for Two channels
Stage 2 Mods:
1. Utilize the sends with the NE 80100 opamps as line amps for four of the preamp direct outs
2. Cascade monitor send gain stages on other 4 preamps for creative drive
3. Replace monitor master with parallel SSL mixbus compressor
4. Install a modern headphone amp
I think the recap and stage 1 mods should be fairly straightforward but the Stage 2 mods will be considerably more experimental but could be really fun.
It should be obvious that I am not looking for neutral sounds with this unit, instead I am on a search for some color, and unique color at that. I want to embrace the flaws of these circuits, improve and mod it where I can and just have something cool and one of-a-kind when I'm done.