How much is that AW4416 worth?

[onelife]

I am brokering a deal between two friends for a Yamaha AW4416.

 

The seller wants a "fair price" for the unit - he has not used it in more than one year - and the buyer is willing to pay a fair price.

 

These are still great workstations and I would like to get a feel for what you think thay are worth.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Someone was just asking me about that on another thread. He got his, missing a few knobs, for $250, but said that they normally appear to be going for about $600 or so on Ebay these days.

 

I used to have two of those - they're cool units that sound quite good, and the automation on them rocks hard. Main drawback is the somewhat limited HDD size and the backup to CD-R's; since the burner is only 8X, it takes a while to back up your data.

 

Check out www.socialentropy.com/aw4416 for lots of info, tips, FAQ's, software update links, utilities, etc.

[onelife]

Thanks Phil

 

That seems a shame - the price being so low when you consider what we paid for them new. I'm still using mine and it seems to have much more value than that.

 

I guess "fair price" would be something that both parties could agree on.

 

It's amazing how much old guitars cost compared to old technology.

[PKO]

I remember when I bought mine way back in 2001 I paid over $3,000 for it and got {censored}loads of use out of it.I would rather go out today and by an M-Box and run Pro Tools LE then a Yammy AW4416.I sold mine 2 yrs ago with an expansion I/O card and flight case for $1,100.I would'nt pay more then $500 for the bare unit today.It's a freakin dinosaur!

[Phil O'Keefe]

But it's still a great sounding dinosaur.

 

If it had 100mm faders and USB for backup, I might still be using a pair of them today. The automation on those things is also really quite good.

[Lee Flier]

Yeah, agreed. I still own mine and am mixing some live recordings I did on it as we speak.

 

Honestly its disk management is the only drawback to me. I really, really like using the machine, it sounds good and is flexible and IMO, intuitive to use (especially for someone who came from a tape-and-console environment). If you do a lot of editing, you probably wouldn't like it, but I do almost none (and I just transfer to a computer DAW if I need to).

 

Backing up large amounts of data to CDR though, is a real pain. The only alternative is external SCSI disk. Also a pain. That's probably the most serious drawback the machine has though, I still like it a lot otherwise, and my band did its first two CD's on it.

[GZsound]

There is one in nearly new condition for sale on my local Craigslist for $500 or best offer right now.

[Phil O'Keefe]

The ability to grab it and go where you want is also a big plus. Yes, you can do similar things with a laptop and external interface, but the AW makes it really easy to do things in alternative environments; you can take it to a performance hall with a nice piano to track an overdub, bring it to band rehearsals, or record drums in a warehouse...

 

As Lee said, the disk management is a big drawback, especially if you record a lot. And if you're used to DAW editing, the AW4416's editing features will feel pretty limiting by comparison.

 

Yamaha does have a newer version of the AW (AW2400) that address a few of the AW4416's shortcomings, and for anyone in need of a good all around studio in a box, that's what I'd recommend checking out. But for someone just starting out, or someone on a relatively limited budget who needs a lot of bang for the bucks and leans more towards live recording with punches (as opposed to doing lots of edits), a used AW4416 would be an excellent choice IMO.

[Kendrix]

My 4416 remains at the center of my rig- coupled with Cubase on PC.

If you would pay the money for "control surfaces" that are meant to drive DAW's -then this baby looks like a great bargain.

It can be used as such even without using the on-board recording and mixing

I agree with its weakness being related to editing and archiving.

For me these things are totally bearable.

[SeanithanEgan]

How are the pre's on this thing?

 

I had an AW16G and the pre's were just awful.

[Kendrix]

 

How are the pre's on this thing? I had an AW16G and the pre's were just awful.

 

 

The pres are not a strong point- but they dont suck either.

They are fairly neutral and are quite acceptable tone-wise.

However, they are a bit gain -challenged.

And, like many pres, they do get noisy when set near the the top of their gain range.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I'm not as familiar with the details of the AW16G, but I would agree with the comments Kendrix posted 100%, at least in regards to the AW4416 / AW2816.

 

FWIW, the ones in the 01V96 are significantly better, and definitely less gain challenged, and I believe the ones in the newer boards (AW2400) are closer to that than to the previous AW's.