What mixer do you use?

[Tomis17]

Hey guys,

I'm just wondering what mixer you all use and what you think of your mixer.

[modulusman]

I have three, a Soundcraft LX7-24 channel, a mackie onyx 1640 and a PeaveyPV10. I like them all. The PV I have had for about 6 months and has only been used for rehearsals for the money it is a great board. I have had both the soundcraft and mackie for about 4-5 years and both have been reliable with no problems.

[Tomis17]

Hey Modulusman, it's nice to see you on talkbass. Kind of a familiar name. It's tough to get through the day here at work with HC forums down.

Anyway, I haven't tried the LX7 yet but I own an Onyx 1640 as well as a PV14 and recently added a Studio Live. The Studio Live is still in shipment. I have had my Onyx for about 4 years too and it has served me very well. Considering all the crap that people say about Mackie products I find that the Onyx has been very reliable. Sound wise I think it's very clean. My favorite feature is the firewire card. I use it to record our demos and works like a charm.

The PV14 is a nice bang for the bucks. The built-in effects are bottom end stuff but usable for live situations.

I am really excited about the Studio Live though. With all the hype it has gotten it better not disappoint me. It makes me shiver thinking about it.

[hbarcat]

Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro


It's been a reliable workhorse but frankly I'd rather upgrade to a different board with higher quality preamps even if I had to give up some channels

Still, I got it used and it didn't cost me a lot because they're very plentiful.

[Phalex]

Carvin 1644. It's pretty awesome. Onboard effects, and the Anvil case is super nice to have.

[GregShadoan]

I own 7.
Soundcraft Eourpa 40. Decent. Gates on all channels. Fairly reliable.
Yamaha PM3000C . Ok ish, high maintainece
Peavey MK8. Ok ish, also high maintainence.
DDA CS3 32. Great sound, smallish
Behringer 24 something, 16 mic pres, ok, nice and small
Yamaha Promix 01, 8 mic pres, use as my test mixer in my shop.
Soundcraft 24X8 monitor. Decent. High maintanence.

Club I manage the audio for has 6. well actullay 8
Ramsa SX1 52, great sound, hard to maintain.
(2)Yamaha PM3000C's, one for use, one for parts.
Yamaha M3000, pretty good, feels cheapish - monitor
Soundcraft 600 32X12 monitor - we dont use it
New DigiDesign SC48. Killer sound, and capibilities.
(2) Ramsa 1642's. They come in handy.

[D.A.R.K.]

monday
yamaha ls9

tuesday
soundcraft gb8

wednesday
midas heritage (korg kross4 for video)

thursday
digidesign venue

friday
midas heritage

saturday
midas xl8

sunday
digidesign venue

i love every one of them, but prefer the analog ones...
and next week it will be different....
thank god it's not every week...
gots to play some bass too!

[Tomis17]

For those who can actually afford a Digidesign console, I HATE YOU!!!

[GregShadoan]

Damn D.A.R.K. .. where you been touring, looks like summer to me. Wouldn't catch me doing any outdoor stuff this time of year in Oregawn :-) WAYY to damn cold. And wet LOL.

[Tomis17]

I would trade you Greg. Over the last week we got 12 inches of snow and average temp on Thursday and Friday was -5 degrees here in Central Wisconsin. I wouldn't dare haul my stuff in the cold. That's suicide.

[D.A.R.K.]

Originally Posted by GregShadoan

Damn D.A.R.K. .. where you been touring, looks like summer to me. Wouldn't catch me doing any outdoor stuff this time of year in Oregawn :-) WAYY to damn cold. And wet LOL.

i've toured 30 countries now in the last 15 years.
just finished a uk/france/spain leg, talk about wet and cold...
1.5 days of sun out of 12.
i've been in oregon a bunch..crystal ballroom, alladin theatre, doug fir lounge, a few more little places of course... love it out there.
these are actually not consecutive photos, but i will run into that many desks in a week on an average tour... i take pics every few shows.
i own none of these desks of course, i just use them....
some are venue installs, some are rider standard rentals, some are from tour supply.
i got sucked into this because i learned to eq monitors when i played full time... bass is my #1 love though.

[srxplayer]

Allen & Heath Mix Wizard II. Great little board. It's the only board I use now. Used to have a couple of GL2800 32 channel boards also great analog boards.

[N.F.A.]

Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro

[TimmyP]

The first I owned was an old (by the time I got it) Soundcraft 200. Save for the lack of mid sweeps and the ability to route the channels to L/R, it was a nice console, and easy to work on. (Now that I think about it - I still own it.) Then it was a GL2200. Not as easy to work on, but much easier than the more common (around here) mixers (that have only a single mid sweep, which I hate). For three years the venue had a MKVIII, which had a weird Aux layout, and was easy yet a pain to work on (those who have worked on one will understand). It was just replaced by an LS9-32 - sweet.

[gumtownbassman]

SoundCraft spirit 24 for gigs, and a Behringer PMP1200 for practice. The behringer is a 1200 watt 16 channel powered mixer, the size of a briefcase, been using it for a few small gigs too, easy and lite.

[georgestrings]

Soundcraft fx16 for mains, and Soundcraft f1 for monitors and rehearsals - both have worked very well for me...



- georgestrings

[Munjibunga]

Small gigs with no PA support for instruments, Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro
Medium gigs with PA support for instruments, Mackie 1604 VLZ
Medium to large gigs, especially if recording, Midas Venice 240 - excellent preamps

[Passinwind]

Club: Allen & Heath GL2400-24. OK sound, has been mostly reliable so far. Guest engineers are all used to them, which is very helpful.

Personal: Crest XR-20 (pre-Peavey). Sounds great, compact, versatile for its footprint. I can do maintenance or repair work on this (or the A&H for that matter) myself without too much cussing, when the need arises.

[kalle74]

This year I´ve been using the following, some on many accounts(not listing all, just the ones popping in my head now...):

-Yamaha LS9 (both 16 and 32 channel versions). Quite OK, especially for the price. Some older models have dusty faders, so calibration can be off a bit. Not good for monitor mixing (cue options lack)

-Yamaha M7. Pretty good, intuitive on operation.

-Soundcraft K3 and MH3000. Both OK, but I´m not crazy about their EQ or pres... Of these, I prefer the MH.

-Soundcraft Series 5. Good, but the one i used was in a bad shape.

-Digico D1. Super sound, a bit hard to grasp in the few minutes I had for soundcheck...

-Crest X-VCA. A bigger one with 40+channels. Nice sound, but some broken features (crackly pots and buttons, broken links due to internal ribbon cable problems)

-Crest XRM´s X-20´s. Read above.

-Mackie TT24. Really hated the UI. Unlogical in places. Not to my liking.

-Older Mackie large format desk. 48ch, (I think) 10 or 12 aux. Kept well, fixed installation. Actually quite OK.

-Midas Venice. Nice pres, but the short faders and lack of auxes drive me crazy. Lots of problems with EQ´s (squealing when adjusting freq).

-Midas Heritage. My fave. Works like they all should. Sounds really good.

-Midas XL200. The old workhorse. Still one of my faves.

-Soundcraft GB4/GB8 and some G-series 16 channel (the model skips my head...). Quite OK, but problems with lack of aux sends and cold-sounding pre...

-Yamaha DM1000 and DM2000. Neither good for live work (really difficult setup for the inexperienced, lots of menu skipping), but good sound.

-Allen&Heath GL (nearly all models in the GL series). Weird cheap-ish sound, and even more weird EQ´s. Def not my fave.

-APB Dynasonics Spectra 32ch w/VCA. Quite good sound, weirdly behaving EQ´s (you really need to crank the pots)...

-TAC SR 6000, 48ch . Actually very nice, and decent EQ´s

-Older TAC Scorpion. Albeit being large (40 odd ch), lots of features missing (like HPF)... Average sound. Really heavy and robust.

I´m sure I left out lots, but here you go...

[TimmyP]

Originally Posted by kalle74

Yamaha LS9 (both 16 and 32 channel versions). Quite OK, especially for the price. Some older models have dusty faders, so calibration can be off a bit. Not good for monitor mixing (cue options lack)

What do you want it to do that it does not?