RAMSA DA7

[Mickstape]

Hi people,

I have an opportunity to pick one of these up pretty damn cheap.

Has anyone had one of these? Any bad stories to tell? GS and the other forums seem to love em. But i tend to take most of GS punters opinions with a healthy dose of "lets wait and see what you lot have to say first".

It seems like a reasonably good console for the price >$1000 with patchbay/looms etc. It would be a welcome addition to my room, if not, just for the price! Hah the buy it bug is on me again, impulse buying is my forte...

Would appreciate your comments and advice.

Mick

[Mickstape]

Also spare parts etc, any recommendations on where to source them locally?

[Suburban Studios]

No idea about spare parts availability, however I've heard very good things about the older Panasonic/Ramsa gear. It is apparently very good build quality, and the pres are meant to be great utilitarian pres for their vintage. The rack version of these pres are also well regarded. I'm assuming the board tops out at 48KHz, which is no big deal personally, and you might want to check on which interface cards it has (possibly ADAT or AES) as I'm not sure what comes standard. I have an old Mackie d8b digital board which I use as a digital patchbay and router which has the same sorts of capabilities and limitations. It also might be worth checking if you can use the DA7 as a MMC master (Midi Machine Control) to potentially control your DAW if you use one. (ie Cubase/ProTools etc...). It might have HUI capabilities or have keys that are MIDI assignable. The d8b does, so its handy to use as a controller for transport, shuffle, track-arming, etc. Hope that helps.

Cheers,
George

[Chinagraf]

Hey Mick, long as it's not coming for the US, California... one was stolen recently.

[Mickstape]

Hi guys.

I'll address Andy's post first. Got a serial? And Does this one fit the description?

To my knowledge the console is a mk2 with meterbridge and looms and is mounted on a custom rack stand, it's been living with an FOH guy from Tamworth, he says he has had it for a couple of years. I figure he is on the level, if not i have all his details anyway as i sold him the Presonus Live a couple of days ago. Maybe PM the serial/identifying marks in case he is a TR lurker.

George, according to old mate the console has 2 adat and 1 aes cards which is apparently the maximum expansion for the desk. Suits me fine, 16 analogue and 40 digital i/o is plenty when i consider the rest of my setup. I just need another ensemble or maybe upgrade to an x-symphony system and i'm sweet. Actually guys would this be the most sensible option for getting max i/o? I don't "need" 64 channels atm but in a year i may so perhaps it would be wise to consider the upgrade? I figure 32 analogue ins is plenty enough for recording when combined with the ensemble and various pre's i have.

And as you mentioned the pre/eq's are supposed to be quite good, i guess i'll have to be the judge of that. Plus i cn now run PT9via this console, it has HUI so i get a midi controller to boot.

Get at me with that info Andy if you can.

[Chinagraf]

Hey Mick, if the guy's in Tamworth and you've dealt with him before I highly doubt it's the one I'm talking about. I'm also not implying anything about seller or buyer, but always worth mentioning things. I'll pm you the serials, but this one was from Hollywood, so if you aren't purchasing from OS I'm sure it's all good.