Jump to content

Roland M-480 mixer on eBay


bruto

Recommended Posts

  • Members

The big daddy of all rack mixers: Roland M-480

 

I bought one off eBay about 8 months ago and just love it. I have everything I own plugged in and still have spare inputs. Nice. Effects and Aux sends/returns are nice too. Loads of flexibility.

 

When I bought mine, there were 3 posted in succession, and I was the only bidder on the one I got. I don't check eBay daily, but this is the first one I've seen in a while. I believe that some of the professional musicians Roland tapped for design input were Tony Banks and Nick Mason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I, on the other hand, didn't fare as well.

 

I bought a Roland M-160 off eBay back about a month or so. It worked fine for a short time, then I noticed the left master channel would just cut out--no sound out of the left channel.

 

I haven't put it up on the repair bench yet, but I did get the service manual and schematics from Mark Glinsky's site ($8 PDF).

 

I'm hoping to fix and sell it, and get a Rane SM82 instead.

 

Glad yours is doing well for you. :thu:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

i haven't plugged this thing in yet (currently the LM3204 is installed in the rack and everything is plugged into it, and of course i want visitors to see how amazing this thing looks) but i'm wondering how clean it is, and also where unity gain is.

 

the manual states that 10 on the channel volume control is "nominal" signal level, but i'm kind of thick so i don't know if that means "unity gain" or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

i haven't plugged this thing in yet (currently the LM3204 is installed in the rack and everything is plugged into it, and of course i want visitors to see how amazing this thing looks) but i'm wondering how clean it is, and also where unity gain is.


the manual states that 10 on the channel volume control is "nominal" signal level, but i'm kind of thick so i don't know if that means "unity gain" or not.

 

 

My M-480 is the cleanest mixer I've ever owned - no circuit hiss or a scratchy pot anywhere. Remember, these retailed for $2995 when new in 1991. Roland used top shelf electronics throughout. Still, one never knows what use and abuse a particular one has been through. Mine came out of a Nashville studio that fell on hard times. It had a price tag on top for $1295, so that's likely what the studio paid for it used. I paid $300 for it off eBay.

 

Like any mixer, you'll have to experiment with it to get the volumes you want. Remember to pan the A & B for stereo ins. I use the Aux sends for my multi effect module. Its nice to be able to use the dry/effected/or a mixture of the two.

 

When I got mine, I set it up on a table and ran various routings until I figured out how it worked and what I wanted to do effect wise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

i moved to the M-480 because i needed to be able to route channels to my looping rig _or_ mute them, and i was having signal level issues. my current mixer is an LM-3204, which retailed for half of that 3 grand figure.

 

having six sends available at once, as opposed to the 4 sends i could only use 2 at a time of, is going to be wonderful for me as i tend to be very into effects processors. the Eventide will be part of the looping rig, but other than that i've got the Lexicon Vortex, MX400, and PCM-80, and a Digitech Studio 400, and this mixer will let me route _all_ of this {censored} around. it's going to be great.

 

the Speck Xtramix was the other one i thought of. however, i finally got to use one and it is pretty obvious it is not a mixer you can "mix" with as part of a performance. the M-480 is jam-packed tight, but extremely straight-forward and has conveniently-placed mute, sub, and send controls.

 

not having EQ is something else i'm very excited about. i hate shelving EQ with a passion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • Members

Does anyone want to buy my m-480? I know this thread is old, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

 

It is in mint condition and has been kept in a science lab for about 15 years. It was used for neuroscience research (actually by a nobel laureate at rockefeller university).

 

I've seen this mixer being sold for many different prices, so best offer takes it. I live in the Los Angeles area, so if anyone in that area wants to pick it up that would be best. but I'll ship, too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...