Recycling Older / Vintage Mixing Consoles

With the popularity of digital mixing consoles these days, their older, analog counterparts are being forgotten about. Daily, I see online ads for all sorts of older / vintage analog mixing consoles for sale. So many of these great, older consoles are destined to end in landfills or forgotten about in storage.

These classic workhouses are still very much useful for all sorts of audio jobs. Just because, digital mixers are the norm now does not mean that we have to forget about analog all together. With all the large format consoles up for sale on Ebay or Kijiji, there are some really great deals out there for the right kind of buyer.

Personally, I have noticed that many sound production companies are selling off all their older, analog gear once they have converted over to digital. Many of these larger consoles are still in perfect operating order and would be a great addition any number of venues requiring a great mixing console.

Large bars/clubs could make use of a large format console quite easily. Think of all those bars that only have a 16 channel mixer. Add a 32, or 40 or 48 channel console to the venue and you would be set. Especially, if the venue already has all the required signal processing racks, amp racks, and loudspeakers. Many of these older, analog consoles are selling for a steal!

The only issue a venue may have is not having the required infrastructure for hooking up a large console to the rest of a system. Analog snake cables with high input counts are still really expensive. In my research, I did find that some people are selling the larger consoles along with the matching sized snake cable and even the road case.

Recording studios, rehearsal spaces, community theatres, churches, and other venues could easily make use of a large format mixing console. As long as the venue has enough space to allow for a large format mixer to be installed. I am sure that is a problem with many venues and groups. They just don't have enough space for a big old mixer! For the venues that have enough room, you can score a great deal on a larger console.

Today, I was browsing around the Kijiji Classified ads and I found a vintage, Soundcraft 600 mixing console for sale. Asking price is only $1800.00. This console has a full patch bay attached to it which would make it useful as a recording console. 

Click on the link to view the ad: http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-pro-audio-recording-equip-SOUNDCRAFT-600-w-patchbay-W0QQAdIdZ572412979

Here is another example of a Ramsa 40 channel mixing console for sale $1000.00. That price is a steal!

Click on the link to view the ad: http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-pro-audio-recording-equip-Ramsa-S840-40-Ch-mixing-console-W0QQAdIdZ564250089

Those were a couple of examples of great, older, analog mixing consoles for sale that could easily be put back to work for the right person in the right venue. It would be sad to see so many older mixing consoles taking up space in landfill sites around the world. Do you agree? Disagree? Comments on this subject would be welcomed.