Yamaha Launches PA Demo Space At guitarguitar Glasgow

Yamaha has unveiled a new PA demo space at guitarguitar in Glasgow, where visitors to the store can listen to and compare the sound of all Yamaha’s D-series powered loudspeakers. To launch the new facility, Andy May - longtime Front of House engineer for Status Quo and other high profile artists - hosted a free live sound masterclass.

The new PA demo space is the result of a shared vision between Yamaha Pro Audio and guitarguitar, a key destination for musicians throughout the UK with branches in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Birmingham, London and Epsom.

As well as instruments, guitarguitar sells equipment for every aspect of both live and studio production, making it the ideal partner to showcase Yamaha’s full range of powered D-series PA loudspeakers, TF, MG and EMX series mixers.

The demo facility features a bespoke switching matrix, using Yamaha’s flexible ProVisionaire Touch app, which allows customers to quickly switch between systems by simply touching an iPad screen. They can try all of the D-series loudspeakers - from the flagship DZR, through the DXR, DHR and DBR models, adding or removing DXS and DXS-XLF subwoofers, as required.

“We believe this to be the best D-series demo space / experience of its kind in Europe - and quite possibly the world,” says Chris Irvine, Yamaha MIPA Product Manager, UK and RoI. “It enables customers to really hear the difference and find the right live PA configuration for their needs.”

As expected, the live sound masterclass was both highly informative and entertaining, with Yamaha’s Tom Rundle asking Andy May about his career and approach to live mixing in front of a sold-out audience. A long-term user of Yamaha mixing consoles, Andy was happy to share his years of live sound advice, along with a number of memorable road tales.

“I’ve owned and toured a Yamaha PM5D-RH digital console for over 18 years. It’s an amazing piece of kit, nobody could have better value out of a mixer,” says Andy. “My take on being a live sound engineer is that, first and foremost, you need reliability and the predictability of the sound you’re going to get. This is ingrained in all of Yamaha’s live sound products, so I was more than happy to help launch the new PA demo space at guitarguitar. It was a good night and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“We were very happy to welcome Andy to our Glasgow store and enjoyed hearing his stories of life on the road, as we introduced our customers to this superb demo facility,” says guitarguitar product specialist John Buchanan, himself a former live sound engineer.

“Every musician is a potential live performer and we are committed to investing in our bricks and mortar stores to provide all they need. The quality of Yamaha products speaks for itself, we want to grow our PA business and Yamaha is the perfect partner.”