Should i to get RAMSA?

[chicomac]

Hi, i am new here and i got a questions because i am looking to get a 24 channels console with meter bridge if this possible for summing or may be for mixing with good headroom and sweet sound, i saw good comment about Ramsa but i don't know what model, also i saw good comment about Midas, i can't spend much money, just about 4k or 5k, no more.

Can anybody recommend a good Ramsa model for this?

Thanks a lot

[tysonviolin]

Midas Venice 32

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by chicomac

Hi, i am new here and i got a questions because i am looking to get a 24 channels console with meter bridge if this possible for summing or may be for mixing with good headroom and sweet sound, i saw good comment about Ramsa but i don't know what model, also i saw good comment about Midas, i can't spend much money, just about 4k or 5k, no more.

Can anybody recommend a good Ramsa model for this?

Thanks a lot

I would never get a RAMSA.. maintenance terror.. deluxe.

sound is so so..

you can get a used modified ghost + cabling for this price.

[chicomac]

Thanks both for answer me

[chicomac]

Anybody else with any comment?

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by George Necola

I would never get a RAMSA.. mainenance terror.. deluxe.

sound is so so..

you can get a used modified ghost + cabling for this price.

Never had any problem with mine..... But I'd buy the Midas now..... in fact I did. The Midas will cost you more - so will a GOOD Soundcraft (be careful if you buy a Soundcraft used - some models blow mic pres) You should be able to get something like my Ramsa WRT820 (20x8x2) for under a grand......

Sound of the Ramsa ain't bad for a Japanese board - it's better than a Yamaha - but tr definitely is not British. Or American.....

[tommy_asakawa]

+1 Midas

[FreshSkweez]

I'm a happy Ramsa WR8616 owner (20 ch version, modded).

I know people on this forum only praise gear they own and I'm not saying it's the best desk ever produced, but I truly believe that for the money they go for nowadays you couldn't even begin to think of getting a board of this level.

1. Great Pres
2. Decent EQs (a bit weird at first, but very handy once you get used to them)
3. Great summing section with a beefy round tone but great detail in the top end and tons of headroom (the board sounds incredible 'driven into the red' a bit).

Routing is the only serious flaw of this desk (it's old-fashioned with a weird matrix system and busses you can't internally route into your master) but I'm working around it with no problem as well. As to reliability/maintenance - I've never had anything crap out on me. I keep a few spare modules at hand but never had to use'em. The boards an '83 and all faders callibrate perfectly at 0 (all of the Mackies I've ever seen were +/- 5db after a few months out of the factory). It feels and behaves very solid.

I mean if you have 5+ grad laying around you could get a better board then this (and even a much better one yet for 15+) but for less than that I personally couldn't be happier.

My 2c.

[Stratfreak]

I picked up a new Midas Venice 32 before the price increase. That thing sounds sweeeet. And when I'm not using it I'm staring at it like it's one sexy bitch.

That board is a work of art. My Soundcraft Ghost gets used much less even though it's got more features.

[chicomac]

Many people say Venice sound is better than Ghost

I would like to hear some audio sample from Venice vs others

[John Eppstein]

Ghosts aren't that great IMHO. (I have a Soundcraft DC2020 32 input with moving fader that's great!) I also have a 32 input Venice that I use live and as a sidecar in the studio that I love. Midas 4 ever!

That being said, for what you can get a used '80s Ramsa for these days you can't beat 'em with a stick!

[imloggedin]

Those of you who are recommending other things have probably never heard a RAMSA. My RAMSA is wonderful. Great preamps and good EQ. The thing is a beast in every sense of the word. I really doubt a ghost for 4x the price will be any better.

[steelyfan]

"Should i to get RAMSA?"

Yes.
I have the wrs-4424 and it rocks!
I bought this board used, it's punchy and round and sounds VERY analog, nothing clean about this guy. The e.q. is nice, has direct outs on all channels and nice feeling faders. Panasonic made very nice preamps for this board, to say this board is great in my book would be an understatement. You can find them used for @ $700-$1200, and in a world where everyone is complaining about cold and sterile tracks using computers, this board makes a dream front end for computer tracking or mixing. I love mine! Beauty is in the ear of the beholder...LOL!

Steely

[chicomac]

Hey "imloggedin and steelyfan" what about headroom in Ramsa consoles?

[steelyfan]

Originally Posted by chicomac

Hey "imloggedin and steelyfan" what about headroom in Ramsa consoles?

Plenty.

[Jim Williams]

I did a review for REP magazine in the 816 model back in the early 90's. I did complete Audio Precision tests on it as well. It had high THD. Crosstalk was poor. John Wendt, the "designer" called me and prceeded to bitch about the review saying I tested it all wrong and I was libel for presenting false information.
He contested the stereo crosstalk measurements I made were all wrong and that I set up that test wrong. He claimed one needs to invoke the band-pass band reject filter funtion as used in THD measurements. That sounded wrong to me so I contacted AP to review the test set up. They said his setup cancelled out the crosstalk measurements which explained how he was claiming - 81 db crosstalk. Drop out the band pass filter and it dropped to around -60 db at 10k hz.

The console used upc4560 opamps, that famous "Mackie Sound". FFT tests revealed lots of higher harmonics from that chip. Paying more than $600~$800 for one would be paying too much.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[imloggedin]

Thats one model. Did you do the same test on the Venice and Ghost consoles? I wouldnt discredit a whole line of consoles because of 1 technical review. If it sounds good, it sounds good.

[steelyfan]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

I did a review for REP magazine in the 816 model back in the early 90's. I did complete Audio Precision tests on it as well. It had high THD. Crosstalk was poor. John Wendt, the "designer" called me and prceeded to bitch about the review saying I tested it all wrong and I was libel for presenting false information.
He contested the stereo crosstalk measurements I made were all wrong and that I set up that test wrong. He claimed one needs to invoke the band-pass band reject filter funtion as used in THD measurements. That sounded wrong to me so I contacted AP to review the test set up. They said his setup cancelled out the crosstalk measurements which explained how he was claiming - 81 db crosstalk. Drop out the band pass filter and it dropped to around -60 db at 10k hz.

The console used upc4560 opamps, that famous "Mackie Sound". FFT tests revealed lots of higher harmonics from that chip. Paying more than $600~$800 for one would be paying too much.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

+

I'm no expert, and have never opened a mixer in my life, however I can tell you that every instrument or sound that has passed threw my board comes out the other end sounding much, much better compared to clean transparent preamps I have heard.The more signals that run through the Ramsa, the more the track starts sounding like a record. My friend has the Mackie
32/8 board, and I can tell you that from experience,they sound absolutely nothing alike. I'm using the Wrs-4424, and was made by Panasonic I guess around the mid-late 80's> The difference in sound is nite and day...... it seems unusual that Panasonic would have anything in common with Mackie style production in that time frame, but I'm only an outsider looking in, and only judging from my own expereinces with my board.

Steely

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by imloggedin

Thats one model. Did you do the same test on the Venice and Ghost consoles? I wouldnt discredit a whole line of consoles because of 1 technical review. If it sounds good, it sounds good.

I have not tested a Midas Venice but have tested the Ghost along with dozens of other consoles through the years. The Panasonics didn't do very well. These were objective tests, not comparisons or auditions.

Some folks like pig's feet and intestins. Personal taste, once again.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by chicomac

Hey "imloggedin and steelyfan" what about headroom in Ramsa consoles?

Headroom is not a problem - at all - in my WRT-820.

[chicomac]

Cool

[trashman]

I went through a lot of summing mixers over the past few years trying to find a solid system for mixing. I used api, dangerous, speck, ssl, oramsonics ...and while all were great, they lacked the "mixing" elements that I needed.

I picked up a Midas Venice 320 to give it a run and was I surprised. The sonics are fantastic: punchy, wide and musical.

I ran material through my api system and then through the venice with api 2500 on the mix bus and the midas easily held its own. As I began to use eq and filters the mix on the Midas sounded much better.

The midas has wonderful preamps and great EQ as well as multiple busses, send and returns lots of monitoring. It's a live board for sure, but when used for tracking and then for mixing it is fantastic.

Because the sonics are so top notch, you can easily drop high end EQ and compressors onto the channels (the Midas EQ can be disengaged) and really build out a sweet custom system.

I use an SSL xrack of comps, a few mix bus comps (SSL, API, Neve) and some vintage trident EQ with my board and I'm loving it. I just picked up two FMR RNC 4 packs from Humbucker's music and I've go compression on every channel.

The Midas Venice is the Lynx Aurora of mixing boards .... the mackies being the MOTUs of mixers.

Hope this helps.

I did love the other summing mixers for sure. I know that I will probably ADD one to my Venice system in the future. But for now, the summing on the Venice is wonderful.

There is a thread here with a blind test of the Venice versus the Dangerous system and the Venice was chosen over the dangerous time and again.

It is a great sounding board.

good luck

[Slate416]

I had a Ramsa WR-T820 and loved it. The pre's were good, and EQ's were very usable. It blows away the Mackie counter-part, but was by no means a Midas . But from what I remember they were alot cheaper as well..i got mine for well under $1000 anyway. And never really had any maintenance issues either.

-Chris

[steelyfan]

The Ramsa wrs-4424. They don't get alot of love around these parts, but neither does killer equipment for a reasonable price.


warm,beefy,and just a killer board for the $$$.
I use the mic pre's on this one for drums sent to my AKAi dps24.
Also have a compressor on the back side of aux's 1 and 2, and plug bass,guitars, whatever in and route through the compressor for some excellent affairs with mojo. E.q. is useable, nothing magical.

mines crusty and crackly.......i love it.

Steely

[chicomac]

Originally Posted by steelyfan

The Ramsa wrs-4424. They don't get alot of love around these parts, but neither does killer equipment for a reasonable price.


warm,beefy,and just a killer board for the $$$.
I use the mic pre's on this one for drums sent to my AKAi dps24.
Also have a compressor on the back side of aux's 1 and 2, and plug bass,guitars, whatever in and route through the compressor for some excellent affairs with mojo. E.q. is useable, nothing magical.

mines crusty and crackly.......i love it.

Steely

Ok, but between this model of Ramsa and Midas, do you prefer the Ramsa over the Venice?.

Thanks

[rty5150]

Originally Posted by steelyfan

The Ramsa wrs-4424. They don't get alot of love around these parts, but neither does killer equipment for a reasonable price.


warm,beefy,and just a killer board for the $$$.
I use the mic pre's on this one for drums sent to my AKAi dps24.
Also have a compressor on the back side of aux's 1 and 2, and plug bass,guitars, whatever in and route through the compressor for some excellent affairs with mojo. E.q. is useable, nothing magical.

mines crusty and crackly.......i love it.

Steely

got 2 of these and a 16 channel as well. i love the ramsa. the pres are sweet and has gobs of headroom. the eq is so so, but overall, they are tremendous values! now for the several thousand mark, get something else. for under a G, you'd be foolish to not get a ramsa.

[bwrecordings]

I have a Ramsa for sale in the classifeds its a great sounding desk

[crufty]

picked up an wr-t820. it is filthy! any ideas on what i can do to clean it?

denatured alcohol? some kind of crud all over it. also noisy but...to be expected! i love it so far. a huge step up, from well, basically nothing. can't beat the price on it--and the eq has FLOORED me: sweepable lows, mids, highs! HOLY SMOKES.

haven't put its thru its paces yet.

[steelyfan]

Originally Posted by crufty

picked up an wr-t820. it is filthy! any ideas on what i can do to clean it?

denatured alcohol? some kind of crud all over it. also noisy but...to be expected! i love it so far. a huge step up, from well, basically nothing. can't beat the price on it--and the eq has FLOORED me: sweepable lows, mids, highs! HOLY SMOKES.

haven't put its thru its paces yet.

YEA!

Man, I always wanted that one, with the brown arm rest.....those ebay experts always got me in the last 2 seconds. That thing just LOOKS like it would sound fantastic! Impressive e.q. ????..... do tell more, my WRS4424 e.q. is ok at best but the board sounds WARM AND FAT. If you mean noisy by you can actually HEAR the preamps turned up, I'd say that's good....you WILL have that sound after a few tracks are run through it, and it all adds up to yummy analog fairy dust.....congrats! hope you can get it all cleaned up, try DEOXIT it's a fantastic product for just this thing.

please keep up informed.thumbsup

steelyfan

[larry b]

ALL YOUR RAMSA ARE BELONG TO US