Thinking about buying a Ramsa board used..looking right now and wondering which series, model etc is best for studio work?

16 channels or so..interested in using it as a sometimes front end, and then also for mixing/summing..

Just wondering if there's a particular model to look for..thanks

I can personally vouch for WR-8616. The first generation of Ramsa pro analog consoles from late 70s. They sound amazing! Thick, warm and round (Eric Johnson's records, both of them, are a perfect example). Great features too. The downside is obvious though - it's been at least 30 years! You wanna be handy with a soldering iron or a have a tech on call to recap, re-solder connectors and just do a thorough cleaning job.

The next generation, WR-S44xx (24 or 16 in your case) still sounds pretty amazing, light years ahead of any Mackie or Tascam I've ever heard but is cheaper built than the 8616, no longer modular (so maintenance is more of an issue) and again you're lucky if you find one in good condition (after 25 or so years of service). The upside is that they are dirt cheap at the moment. I think gearslut SteelyFan has one of those so he could probably clue you in.

Then there's WR-T820 which is where they stopped. It was supposed to cater to the same market segment as WR-8616 (higher end project studios) in mid-to-late 80's and from my understanding achieved a certain degree of success. To the best of my knowledge Nirvana's 'Bleach' was cut on one of them. My personal experience with them was weird though. Even though the pres were still fantastic and eqs were a significant improvement over WR-8616 I found the master section lacking headroom for some reason (as compared to 8616). Reminded me of Mackie somewhat. But again my interaction with WR-T820 was brief and it could be a problem with that specific board so I'll try and stay away from outright negative comments. And most of them should be in much better shape than the WR-8616s at the moment. Btw the ones mentioned in Dave Derr's Q&A are T820s. Check it out!

Hope this helps.

I just got my WR-8616 back from a neighbor and I'm really looking forward to hooking it up. It doesn't have any serious issues that I know of. My neighbor used it in his studio for several months to do pro level work.

I would love to hear some clips of stuff that was recorded and mixed on a WR-8616. Once I get up and running I can post some clips of my own.

I'm sitting in front of a WR-S4416 typing this and I use it for 1 or two extra channels when tracking a band, occasional summing and some general routing and headphone stuff. It's clean as a whistle - there's not a single scratchy pot or fader on it and I got it for next to nothing. For what it is I couldn't be happier - there's no particular mojo (and I didn't expect any) but it's very useful - like I say, I got it cheap - IIRC, it was $300 with a case and I sold the case for a little over a hundred - hard to beat that for something that does exactly what it's supposed to and functions flawlessly.

Good luck!

i picked up a RAMSA wr 8210 a few months ago.. Great price or the pres ad eq alone...

I also forgot to mention these boards are incredibly well-built so chances of finding one in good condition are actually pretty good.

mojo...I get the impression that these Ramsa boards do add a flavor of sorts..not sure if it's via preamps, eq or general circuitry.

Wish i could hear some clips of stuff that was mixed through these pups. Anyone?

Thanks for all your re's..cool

I'm home sick but I'll post something as I get to the studio. Preamps are very linear and eqs are a bit weird and take a lot of getting used to. That 'mojo' everyone's talking about comes from channel circuitry and master section and to my ears is sounds like some HD at 600-900Hz and some extra crispness above 12K.

Agree.

RAmsa? thumbsup The mystery board that's loved by it's few owners.

I'm using the WRS-4424. The e.q. is workable and does what it should, but nothing surgical.....does have a sound , don't mix through it much cause everything is mostly tracked how I like up front and I don't really mix much music I don't record myself. The board has a sound I dig, the preamps to me are in a nicer league than anything I've heard in the $1000-$5000 range with newer mixers. I HAVE mixed through this board though and really like how it sounds with over 10 tracks running. Faders have a nice feel too, wide and smooth. Beefy, warm machine to be certain, couldn't imagine life without mine......... then again love what you have and be happy so you can make music and get yur head out of catalogs. LOL!

steelyfan

I currently own the WR-130. Although I'm sure its smaller than what your looking for I have to say that its sound really nice. I run anything through it when I get the chance. It really adds a ton of analogue beef. Still wish it had direct outs and phantom power but it is what it is. I will deffnitly be looking for a RAMSA when I buy a bigger board.

where are you located? I have a Ramsa WR-S 4424 that has a few issues, but if you can pick it up in salt lake city it's all yours! I used it as a bank of preamps into a firepod (via the insert points on the back of the board) & got good results, but it's big & more that I need in my small space

Johnny,

Im in chicago, to far//cool, thanks for the generous offer.

Pchicago, there's a couple of WRS 16 channels with 4 aux sends on EBay right now. Snag one that's in good working condition and don't look back!
Don't think you'll be disappointed with these Ramsas.


BTW, the link under my sig sends you to some of my music. All the drums, and some bass DI and other random things were recorded with the
WRS-4424. Might give you an idea of what the machine sounds like before you pull the trigger on one......don't blame any bad sounds on the Ramsa though, I'll take full responsibilities for any engineering short comings! LOL!.

cheers,
Steelyfan

I'm resurrecting the dead, I know...But I've got a local CL listing for a WR-8616 for $300. Right now, I'm ITB with some mid-level mic preamps and a Tascam US-1641 interface, but I'm wanting to upgrade to a new interface and try my hand at some OTB mixing. Is $300 a pretty good buy on one of these? It appears to be in great shape.

For $300, I'd grab it. Wish I'd find one near me for that price.

I snagged it earlier this week. Gave the guy $150 cash and a Bellari RP220 preamp for it. I have yet to put it through its paces, but I'm definitely excited about it.

Let's just say you'll hear a world of a difference well worth a whole lot more than $300.

Beware of the eqs though. They are broad. Even broader than 1073s and company. This board will make you want to put out fat and warm sounding mixes so if you're trying to be competitive in the whole scoop-and-brighten game you'd need a decent surgical subtractive eq at hand.

I'm probably just ignorant, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to route things with this board.

I'm trying to figure out where to run the line-out from my DAW back into the board WITHOUT it running back out the busses. I want to be able to setup monitor mixes without using my crappy Behringer as a monitor submixer. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure I follow. Converter line outs to board channel line ins. But that's pretty obvious I'm sure. Disengage buss sends on your line channels so nothing's going back through the busses. I'm pretty sure I'm not seeing your problem clearly.

Maybe if I describe my setup (a bit simplified) it would shed some light.

Aurora outs to Ramsa line-ins
Mic snake from the room to Ramsa mic ins
Ramsa direct outs to Aurora analog ins
Ramsa Busses 1-4 to Aurora analog ins

This way if I need a monitor mix I run it through 8616 channels in Line mode and send it to the performance room through Aux sends. The rest of the channels are at my disposal to get mic signals and send them into DAW through their direct outs or board busses.

Hope this helps

Gotcha. That helped a lot. Thank you. I was trying to figure out which return (effects, send, buss returns, etc) to run from my DAW. I had to solder a couple cables since I didn't have any TRS to XLR's handy, but running it to the stereo ins makes things a lot simpler. Thanks man!

I have all of my direct outs wired to my patchbay, along with the busses and main outputs, so I can send exactly what I want to the Lynx inputs. When I get my 2nd Ramsa, I have everything ready to go from my patchbay to the inputs of the 2nd Ramsa. This way, if I want to take any outputs from my Lynx and send them through the ramsa, I can just do so with a patch cable. Lovin the sound of this board (WR-S4412).

So, I've finally upgraded my interface and have been able to mix OTB with my WR-8616 the last month or so. WOW!!! I'm in love. AND....

I'm leaving work in about an hour to go pick up ANOTHER WR-8616!!! I think years and years ago BSU bought several of these boards, because it's odd to me that there'd be two identical ones in the Boise area...But I digress.

I'm stoked, because the left master on mine is starting to give me fits. This way, I'll have a whole board for backup modules and stuff should mine give me problems. I picked my other one up for $150 and a Bellari RP220 preamp...and this one I'm getting for $300 cash.

Dude!
If you're planning on using the new board for spares would you consider selling a few 8101s? Ideally I need 6 but could settle for 4. What do you say?

Hey man, I might be able to part with 4. I'm kinda reluctant since I've got two whole boards that are both in great condition...But, I might be persuaded. PM me what you're thinking price-wise, and I"ll get back to you after I go through the board with some Deoxit/Faderlube and make sure I've got enough good channels to spare.

Maybe someone can help;
I just bought a Ramsa WR8616. Anyway, i'm wondering, I'm trying to track through the direct outs of the console. And my problem is as soon as i turn up the fader to hear what i'm tracking the direct signal goes away! It's fine if i return through another channel, but i'm tracking 16 instruments (my Ramsa has 16 WU8101 channels) at once. is there a way to make the direct out pre-fader? or am i routing thing wrong?


Any help would be VERY much appreciated!

I know this is an old thread, but I recently acquired a Ramsa 4424 and the only way on my unit currently to monitor via headphones is to PFL the main bus!? I'm assuming there must be something wrong with my master module. Can someone who has experience with this console kindly confirm that a functioning unit exhibits more predictable behavior?

Thanks Gearslutz!

I'm the proud owner of a mint wr-s208.....very very impressed by it.....anybody got a manual for this in pdf form....please let me know.....

Ditto. I just picked up an s208 and I always like to have the manual on file . . . Any luck?

sorry..i could never find one....even in pdf form...