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Yamaha mixers are bullet proof

Balog

Balog

Supporting Member
Mar 19, 2009
1,961
1,552
Everett, WA
#1
It's close to three years now since we started our little church plant. We've replaced almost all of the PA original setup, but still have the (sub $1k) Yamaha MG24 board in it's original flight case. Three years of almost weekly rolling in and out of trailers, thumping and bumping over rough pavement, getting dropped, getting things dropped onto it, and having raw untrained techs learn how to mix on it. The case is battered and dented, but the board still works like a champ.

I'm sure other manufacturers make higher quality boards, but for the price I'm constantly amazed at how sturdy this bit of kit has been.
 
#2
We have a 16-channel Mackie that is in similar state. It's the old board from our youth room. We use it for mixing a recording feed for special services.

For some reason, it was replaced, despite the fact that it was in pretty much perfect condition. The replacement board has died twice since then...
 
#8
I used to have an MG12/4 that I used in my recording set-up. I also took it out on a few gigs. It worked for years and years and basically sounded okay too. When I sold it (I now have a MixWiz16:2) it was still in perfect condition.

I don't know about the new plastic-bodied MG-series mixers but those old MG series were bullet-proof. A church I used to go to installed a MG32/14 and that thing was also very solid. For the price, they are very good value.
 
#9
Three examples of yamaha non bullet-proof desks off the top of my head:
1. Mixing Sunny Day Real Estate at the Norva in Va. on the Rising Tide tour. Yamaha pm4000. Channels dropping out during the show.
2. Stone mixing Thievery Corporation at Stubbs bbq in Austin, Texas. Yamaha pm3500. VCA goes bad and somehow inverts gain on entire VCA module. You turn it up, it kills the mix assigned to VCA's.
3. Mixing a bluegrass festival at State Theater in Va.
Yamaha PM3000. L/R doesn't match in gain. After an hour of trouble shooting, the issue is remedied (for the evening) when I push down hard on the center of the main buss module (where the slot connection to the module lives). I learned this trick reviving a few channels in example 1.

I really like Yamaha analog desks, mixed plenty on all their digital desks too, still do (the pm5d, m7, and ls9 are pretty much my last choice of any digital desk but I rarely get to choose. When I do it's a Midas).
but my real point is this:
No console is bullet proof.
Expect the unexpected.
 
#11
Well, the term bullet proof would lead one to believe you mean otherwise.
Sorry to shoot holes in the theory (zing!) but equilibrium can be a good thing.
I've mixed hundreds of shows over the years on Yamaha desks without issue, and will undoubtedly mix many more.
I think it really comes down to the caretaker 90% of the time.
 
#12
Since the term obviously is not meant literally (unless you think I'm saying you can shoot your mixer ;) ) I suppose the exact interpretation of that bit of slang is ambiguous. I generally just think of it as "something that is very reliable."
 
#13
Bullet proof. Some people take it to be literal. I sold a former guiatr friend of mine a screaming Marshall VS 265. Fantasitic amp. His idea of quality was to pick it up over his head and smash it into the ground as many times as he could. I was glad that he already paid for but pissed becaused this was a fantasic amp. After smashing the hell out it he want his money back.

That wasn't about to happen. I did however become less tolerant of drug use by others.
 

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