Ok, so I'll admit it, I'm an pro-audio equipment whore. I love the look of a big rack full of useful outboard equipment. I love having all the compressors, eq's and effects that I could ever want right there within arms reach. I'm pretty happy with my current rig, got everything I could want in terms of the above units. The only problem is all that stuff weighs some serious poundage. My rack a 12 space slat top combo rack weighs almost 300lbs (no that is not an exaggeration, I actually sat down and figured it all out). I'm getting really tired of hefting it in and out of the van and up and down about 4 steps at one of my gigs; usually all by myself.
So this week I did something about it. I went out and purchased a used Yamaha digital console (01V). This baby is going to allow me to replace all the equipment currently in my rack (except the power amp) with just the console itself (NOTE: all of my microphone receivers are already mounted in their own separate 4 space rack). The 01V, like all Yamaha digital boards, has built in compression on all channels (full featured compression not the single knob stuff like the MG series), 4 band fully parametric EQ's on all input and output channels, and 2 built in effects units. I'm really excited at the prospect of not having to deal with my big rack anymore.
I'm curious if anyone else has had the urge to downsize to save space, load-in time, etc and if so what solutions you tried.
Equipment Downsizing
Re: Equipment Downsizing
Personally, I've ALWAYS loved the look of a big rackletitrip wrote:I love the look of a big rack
But to be honest, I've always actually been happy with what I could get my hands on!
Sandy
New the 01V costs around $2300, probably not worth it for most. The one I found used cost me about a quarter of that. Considering it's in perfect working order and comestic shape, it's a pretty good deal.Bigdog wrote:What is the price of the unit new and used?
How big is it from front to back? Will you need a special rack box?
Will there be a big learning curve?
I'd be happy with an 18 year old bikini clad assistant instead.Talk about learning the curves.
Front to back it's about 12 rack spaces, so deeper than some consoles but not to the point of being out of the ordinary. I am getting a case for it, I've found plenty of places that sell cases to fit the 01V.
The learning curve for me is very light. I've used the much larger format Yamaha PM5D's, M7CL's and LS9's with the band. The interfaces and overall operations are pretty similar, just some minor differences in capabilities and interfaces. For someone used to analog consoles, there is a bit of a learning curve but the mixers are designed to minimize that.
Well the console showed up saturday. I already test ran it to confirm it's 100% functional and have it now completely configured for my karaoke rig (including EQ's, Comps, Ducking and effects). Thursday will be the test, I'm bringing my old console just in case. i'll be curious how people respond to the lack of a rack.
Well last night was the first run with the new console. All in all it worked out great. As you would expect though there were some gremlins I needed to work out and one I still need to work on. The board sounds great. And not having to lug that huge rack into the bar made the whole night more enjoyable. Took me a while to get used to managing the effects units and their respective sends and return channels, but got that going pretty quickly. Still gotta get used to making sure I select the channel before I try to adjust the EQ or Dynamic processors on them. I goofed a couple times and adjusted the wrong channel.
Customer reaction to it was very positive. I had a couple regulars who came up and were in awe of the flying faders (the motorize faders jump to their position as you page through different functions) and the bright electronic display.
So far I'm very happy with the switch. I'll give a few more weeks before I declare it a complete success but so far so good. Now I've got a nice combo rack full of equipment in our music room downstairs
Customer reaction to it was very positive. I had a couple regulars who came up and were in awe of the flying faders (the motorize faders jump to their position as you page through different functions) and the bright electronic display.
So far I'm very happy with the switch. I'll give a few more weeks before I declare it a complete success but so far so good. Now I've got a nice combo rack full of equipment in our music room downstairs
