Yamaha Stagepas 600i/400i Summer Namm Review
Yamaha Stagepas 600i
What’s happenin Zombies?? It’s been a bit since I’ve been able to post but I’m back here with a ton of cool stuff after returning from Summer Namm 2013 In Nashville.
My first post comes from the Yamaha booth who always has great equipment. Here we checked out the Stagepass 600i personal PA. For starters this thing is KILLER. They demoed this for me while I was there and it is loud and clear. And in a small package that one man shows would love and 2 man shows would probably feel like they’re cheating. The entire package of the 600i weighs in at 56lbs for the mixer and speakers and the 400i is 39lbs. That weight is for both speakers, mixer and bag, stands are separate.
The powered mixer fits in the back of one of the speakers and can live there or be pulled out and stand mounted. The 600i has 10 mixing channels 4 mono mix/line + 6 mono / 3 stereo line analog inputs. It also includes a USB audio in for iPod and iPhone exclusive operation.
The mixer has a simple reverb that is adjustable depending on what you’re after and can be controlled by a foot-switch. It also has built in feedback suppressor, Phantom Power, Sub Out, High Z switch. Pretty much everything you could think of.
While looking at this, I first thought of all the people I know that do 1 or 2 man acoustic shows. The set up ease of just putting a couple of speakers on a pair of stands and plugging your stuff into the mixer and you’re off and running. Yamaha has done a great job of labeling the ports as well by thinking ahead of any possible connection you may need so you don’t have to have adapters floating around in cases.
Then you also have the iPad integration. Not only are people doing more and more acoustic shows they’re also doing a lot with backing tracks. With this ready to take an iOS device with it’s on-board USB port you’re ready to just hook up and go.
Other applications, a vocal PA for practice or small venues. This has more than enough gas for the practice PA and with feedback suppression, reverb and EQ the 680 watts of the 600i would be more than enough same with the 400i at 560w. I can also see jazz, or blues bands being able to utilize this with no BS sound for small shows. All in all it truly is a killer out of the box set up. Stands are sold separately and before you poo poo at that, have you ever purchased anything that included stands? They’re generally an after thought. So i’m actually proud of Yamaha for not trying to cram them in there. The speakers do include pole sockets with StageLok so you just order what is going to be best for you. Not that I think for a minute that Yamaha would skimp, but the amount of features they packed into this package I think the user will more than get their moneys worth from this rig alone.
All in all my opinion is this is great. Not just saying that because i’m doing a write up but really I think it’s a great product and a great price. I found it street prices for $899 for the 600i and $699 for the 400i with all your common online retailers. So depending on what your needs are either one is an affordable price point for a great Yamaha product. For more information, please visit the Yamaha Link Below.
