Used board w/ Meter Bridge

[jkowtko]

I recently swapped out the theater's original Mackie CFX-20 for a Soundcraft LX7, 32 channels.

I would really like to get something with a meter bridge though. The latest booth reconstruction has put me in a central, open-air location with a rather large area to work with, so I can hold a 30" x 50" board without too much difficulty. Here are some options I'm looking at (all are 32 channel):

* Soundcraft Ghost ... one WITH MUTE AUTOMATION and upgraded preamps is available locally for $3k, from someone who has upraded to a vintage, much larger format studio board. Seems like a great buy -- is it? I particarly like the fully parametric mids.

* Soundcraft Series Two? Has adjustable LPF which people seem to like, as well as mute automation. One is also available locally for $3.5k

* Soundcraft Spirit 8 or Live 8? None for sale right now, don't know if it is priced less than the Ghost.

* A&H boards, I don't know of any with channel meter bridges. However the GL2200 and GL2400 have 4-segment LED meters per channel. Not sure if this is sufficient to gauge level readings without constantly soloing. And I know I can get a Gl2400 for just under $2k, and a GL2200 for hundreds less than that ....

* At this point not particularly interested in Mackie 8-bus or Behringer MX9k

* Cannot really go digital because it's a community theater and other laymen will need to use the board without huge amounts of training.

Or is there anything else in the $2-3k range used that I should be looking for instead?

Ideas and opinions will be much appreciated.

Thanks. John

[soundlight]

Get the Series Two if you have the money. Great board, great EQ, basically the essential Soundcraft board - classic aux/bus layout, classic EQ, everything is easily accessible, etc. Plus, I really like the raked format of the board.

I just think of the Ghost as much more of a studio board, I guess.

[SHARYNF]

Series two is a classic, but keep in mind it is late 70's early 80's. no matter how minimally used, it is still vintage electronics, there is one on ebay close to you which I am guessing you are talking about. If you search around a bit i think you should be able to get the price down about a grand, there is one on craigs list in anchorage for 2500 and a while back one was listed for 3 grand. IMO 2500 is about right, 3500 is high


Sharyn

[waynehoskins]

I don't know the price, but I know Soundcraft's GB8 series can be fitted with a meterbridge. I worked a show with that once, we were the opening band so there wasn't a lot of flexibility .. but it worked fine.

For me, the four-bar meters on the GL Series work plenty fine usually. It all depends on what you're trying to do. Usually I PFL to double-check more finely the signal level, and to finely adjust EQ. Most everything else I need to know the four-bar meter tells me plenty fine. For me, Signal, 0, +6, and Peak is plenty to have all at one time. I don't think I'd use a meterbridge if I had one. But again, that's just me.

Don't get too caught up in the little details.

I'd probably take a Yamaha PM series console, Soundcraft 800B, even a Yamaha MC, these days still. I've got a GA32 that it's taken some time to get reaccustomed to (no Idiot Lights) even though I worked on one for several years a few years ago.

I wouldn't let the lack of a meterbridge sway me away from an otherwise good console. But I would try to get one with Idiot Lights, those are really handy.

[soundlight]

Originally Posted by SHARYNF

Series two is a classic, but keep in mind it is late 70's early 80's. no matter how minimally used, it is still vintage electronics, there is one on ebay close to you which I am guessing you are talking about. If you search around a bit i think you should be able to get the price down about a grand, there is one on craigs list in anchorage for 2500 and a while back one was listed for 3 grand. IMO 2500 is about right, 3500 is high


Sharyn

That was the "Series 2". The "Series TWO" is a much more up to date board, only discontinued a few years ago when the GB series became the popular board in that range. In the Soundcraft Discontinued section, here. The one on ebay is definitely the Series TWO not the Series 2, despite the listing.

[Eboy87]

I was gonna say, which Series TWO were we talking about? Answers that question.

+1 for it. If you really want a full meterbridge for each channel, it'll give you one. And I guarantee you that for theater, you'll start making use of the (mute) automation on it.

[jkowtko]

Yes, it is a Series TWO that is on my list. I didn't know the age of this model, but there are no new boards listed for sale anywhere.

The Ghost, on the other hand, is also a discontinued model but is still showing some boards for sale new -- so is it a more recent vintage? No one has commented on the Ghost -- maybe because it's more of a studio board -- but it has the fully parametric mids that look appealing (especially for my theater which is feedback prone due to the flex layout). And I would think the Ghost would have better sound quality being a studio board, no?

Thanks. John

[waynehoskins]

In my experience, studio boards are usually stupid at doing live sound. They don't have the optimal featureset. The ability to drive monitor mixes from pre-fade auxes, especially in large number, is usually lacking. They like to split up the EQ strip in a stupid way and have those tape loop connections.

I've used one live before, and it works, but it's not my cup of tea.

Studio board sounding better? Well, maybe, but only with studio mics plugged into it in a quiet recording chamber. With SM58s or wirelesses on a live stage with other things and monitors and the like, the studio board's not going to sound any better. Plus it's out of its element.

[TimMiller]

We have a ghost we send out to theaters for different productions. Its a very nice console. I have also used the RS232 built in to run sony cd players and such so I do not have to reach down and hit play. The programmable mutes make a big difference. Another console i have used in theater with programmable mutes is a crest series X8. I got one for sale . We are upgrading to a M7CL.

[jkowtko]

I have been leaning heavily towards the Ghost because of the fully parametric mids and full meter bridge, and the mute snapshots and reputation for overall sound quality certainly don't hurt -- but I think I need to take some time to think this through since I don't know these boards well at all.

Tim, please send me information on your Crest x8. They have been mentioned several times in response to my similar post in ProSoundWeb, but the crestaudio.com web site doesn't have any info.

Thanks. John