ramsa analog recording console. Good Console?

acel6s

New member
I am looking at a Ramsa Recording console. I don't remember the exact model number, but it starts with WT and I believe it is about 5 to 8 years old. It has 20 channels, 8 busses (actually 16 by flipping a switch), 2 eff sends per channel, full meter bridge (20 leds for the channel, 8 VU's for the busses and two VU's for L/R), 3 Band parametric EQ per channel (all 3 bands sweepable), individual phantom power on each channel, in line monitoring, phase switch for each channel, talkback mike, 2 phones outputs yadda yadda yadda.....

My question is: Are these good consoles? Relative to say, a Mackie 1604 or my current Alesis Studio 24? I am relatively new to this game, but there seems to be some school of thought out there that says that some of the older analog boards are "warmer" than current analog or digital models. Personally, I have found Mackies to be "dry" sounding in live situations, and found some people's recording mixes to be lacking "oomph" from these boards (I realize that this is VERY dependent on the engineer).

I would appreciate any and all advice anybody can offer me on this.

Thank You
 
I can't say I know much about Ramsa, but when the "older school" guys talk about the warm sound of the old analog boards, they're refering to the old $250,000 Neve consoles and $750,000 SSL's, not the $2500 Ramsa's!

Seriously though, I'd be hesitant to buy a board that's that old. Static has a way of creeping into old potentiometers and faders. Part of that "dry" sound you get from a Mackie is due to the purity of the signal as it passes through the board. I prefer that to the coloration that you have to account for in the older boards.
 
ramsa's are excellent boards for medium level work. i work at a radio station and we just switched over to mackies from our old ramsa board. boy do we miss the ramsa. the ramsa has a much better sound and feel. i HATE our mackies.

mackies dont have a great rep in the broadcasting industry. however, i do agree that buying an older board of any brand has its risks.

if you can, do a "try it before you buy it" deal. i dont think you mentioned how much you're looking to pay for the ramsa vs the mackie. that will certainly be a factor. a brand new mackie might sound hella better that an 5-10 yr old ramsa, depending on the conditions that the ramsa board has had to live through.
 
Yes, it's always a risk to buy anything used. Try before buying, and always cover your own back just in case a little later down the line. I bought a used 10+ year old Soundcraft 32-ch 200B about a year ago. It was one of the best moves I've ever made. As far as the Ramsa, I know they're repitable.
 
I thank you all for your replies. There is some excellent advice there.

I had a chance to plug a mike into the Ramsa and A/B with a mackie 1604vlz pro. Well, sort of A/B it. I had to move the headphone from the Ramsa to the Mackie. Anyway, I grabbed a SM58 as it was available and handy and tested it out by listening to the headphones.

The verdict? The Ramsa sounded instantly warmer, fuller and not as harsh. There is also 3 band parametric EQ on the Ramsa board. The EQ in general had a much better sound and feel to it. I could focus on a particluar high frequency and zap it or pump it up. Very cool.

The way I look at it, it comes down to comparing the advanatages/disadvantages of this versus newer boards.

The advantages of the Ramsa are: Tone control, (3 band para) channels (20), #of groups (8/16), full meter bridge (combo of LED for individual channels and VU's for groups and main L/R),phase switch for every channel, separate 48 volt phantom for each channel,in line console (vs mackie), 2 headphone outs, talkback mic, modular construction, retro cool

The advantages of Mackie/Alesis are:
Possibly quieter with greater headroom, portability and multiple purpose (Ramsa is about 3 ft by 3 1/2 ft, wieghs about 80 lbs), more sends on Mackie 1604 (only 2 eff sends on Ramsa, but also 2 mon sends), separate eff return level on each channel (Ramsa - must patch effects back to an unused track and then assign to a group - no "loop"), newer so there s/b fewer potential problems such as static in the old pots etc.

Decisions, decisions.

I would appreciate any comments from anybody regarding my list of advantages/disadvantages
and any suggestions from the more seasoned pros about which features s/b considered more highly when building a project studio.

Thank you

Alan
 
Well, if it's for the studio, weight is not much of an issue. One of the best advantages on the side the Ramsa is that's modular; not that I think you'd really have any problems with the Mackie. Actually, for live sound reinforcement, I prefer Mackie over any reasonably price board.
 
Back
Top