Carvin MX1688

Spent the pandemic fixing this console up.

Includes power supply.

Pros:

• Pres sound good, you can get some interesting distortion from them if you give them a push.

• EQs work well, haven't played with them much but I see on forums that people find them useful.

• Lots of routing - including direct outs for each channel (including the busses, 2 monitor outs, and two mono FX send/returns); this board could work well in a modern setup as a collection of character channels + the 8 busses could maybe be used for a summing mixer if you are looking for something to add character and grit to a mix.

• Looks cool. The colors of the knobs and faders is very pleasing to the eye. VU meters make you look like you know what you are doing. Wood panels - who doesn't like vintage stuff?

• Some kind of history of being used to record Broken Social Scene's early music. Need more details from the previous owner.

• Service manual is easy to access so you can fix it up or modify the circuits if you feel so bold. (people seem to like trying different op-amps in the channels)

Cons:

• Minor cross talk on all busses from any channel routed to it that has a signal and isn't muted. Signal has to be fairly loud before the crosstalk is noticeable.

• Had to replace 6 dual-pots for the preamp section. They are not 41 detent like the rest of the pots ( they have no detent at all) as I couldn't source that specific part. Only a problem if you need that specificity of the detent.

• VU meters 5, 6, and 7 are sticky. They work but get physically stuck when returning to resting position until a big voltage kicks them out of their holding state. I have replaced VU meter 3 + 4 with new ones, if you want to replace the rest I can give you the item on amazon I used to replace them.

• VU meter 8 has a different colored LED (orange compared to blue). I just don't have blue LEDs on hand and wanted to finish the project. You can put one in easily if you are comfortable soldering.

• One cracked VU meter case that I couldn't repair. Just aesthetics, the meter itself works.

• Many minor dings and scratches. Main silkscreen is well-legible but you can see it's been worn down if you look closely, not to a point where you can't tell what any dial of fader does though.

• Built like a tank - this is a con because it is HEAVY and has a lot of idiosyncratic screw placements so taking it apart to service it can be tedious until you've done it a few times. Taking out the VU meters is especially tedious. Power supply is not too bad but it's got some girth too, probably 15lbs. The entire thing is over-engineered but it's certainly not fragile.

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