Looking for a good starter mixer

[atlst7]

Hi, I'm in a small time band and we are looking for a mixer because the one we were using was borrowed and it is now time to return it.

Something like an 8-channel mixer with a couple of effects(Echo, Reverb, ext.) I am willing to buy used, and am looking to spend something in the $400-$500 range. We only really use it for vocals. Also, are all mixers powered mixer? As in do they all have an amp inside them to power speakers and monitors?

Thanks for any advice you guys have

 

[Steve Strings]

You cannot look past the Soundcraft range I believe. Great EQ!

Behringer also do a budget power desk (PMP range) that I believe is pretty good for the money. In general you get passive mixers and power mixers so check before you buy. The latter are more expensive.

Steve

 

[t0aj15]

Here's a couple affordable ones:
$300-no efx..https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=S16

$400-with efx..https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=C844U

 

[acorkos]

do you need a powered mixer, or do you have separate power amps? what kind/how many speakers are you planning to drive? do you have any other PA gear....EQs, compressors, effects?

 

[plumptone]

Not all mixers are powered. A lot of people these days roll with non-powered mixers and powered speakers to get around having to buy a separate power amp. Powered speakers are expensive, but sound awesome. They are also very heavy.

In the $400-$500 range you're going to be limited in terms of quality and power if you go with a powered mixer, but the suggestions posted are decent. Also look at the Yamaha powered mixers. They are decent and pretty good value for the money. I would caution against sinking money into a low powered small format mixer though, because if you're in this for the long haul you will end up needing more inputs and more power.

Another word of caution - read the specs on these units carefully. Some of them claim to capable of pumping out 500 watts. But if you read the fine print, this is only if you have 4 ohm loads attached. Most PA speakers are rated at 8 ohms, so the output is significantly reduced in these cases. Be very careful to match up the speakers power handling capacity with the output power of the mixer. Most importantly, don't be fooled into thinking that speakers rated at 500 watts will work if the powered mixer is only rated at 300 watts. Under-powering your speakers will cause serious damage.

What my band uses is a Mackie CFX12 Mark II. It's an unpowered 12 channel board and is about $500. An awesome unit - built-in effects, loads of cool features if you want to run inserts and send sub-mixes. We power our Yamaha mains with a 500 watt (per side) QSC power amp, and this works great.

Mackie also makes a great powered mixer that can power mains and monitors as well. It's not cheap (probably around $800), but you get top quality, TONS of power, incredible sound and a lot of very cool features. It's definitely worth checking out. I think it's called the PPM1008. Trust me - this is the real deal, and worth every penny.

FWIW, my experience with the lower-end Soundcraft units was not good. Although soundcraft boasts stellar eq, on the lower end units they only give you limited graphic eq capabilities, and I didn't feel they got the frequencies right.

The PA is a huge investment, but if you get the really good stuff, you WILL sound better.

 

[kiff]

I've been in a few bands that just rented per gig. Why spend all the money, time loading up trucks/cars, breaking your back, spending the additional time setting up when you can rent one for $120 for a 2 night weekend. Of course, that's assuming you can find a local guy that will do that and also have a quality PA. It sure is nice when you can....

 

[ned]

Buy once, cry once.

If your going to get a mixer just buy the Allen & Heath MixWiz3 now.

 

[Blasted]

I bought a Mackie 1604 off of craigslist for $200. Its great. No on-board effects, but for that price, you'll have cash left over to buy speakers and an amp (or powered speakers). All used of course, but hell, if you're buying Mackie, it will last forever.

I would recommend against anything Behringer. They're great deals, if you ignore the fact that the sound like **** and fall apart.

 

[edward]

Mackie or Carvin, used. I've used both ...great stuff and generally great bang-for-buck. Pwr'd vs not is up to you ...depends on how "simple" you want to keep your set up/tear down. Oh yeah, used a Yamaha powered, too ...worked well and survived lots of use.

Edward

 

[Shep]

Why is this in the vintage amp thread?

 

[atlst7]

Ok, I think I need a PA system with a built in power amp. Is there a good brand of these available for around $400-$500?

 

[acorkos]

mackie and yamaha are the powered mixers i see around most. buy used...check your local craigslist.

how many speakers do you plan to drive? the mixers come with different power levels...do some research on the mackie and yamaha websites to determine which units will meet your needs best. personally, i would look for the unit with the most wattage available....probably 500 watts in the mains and 500 watts in the monitors.

 

[atlst7]

Right now we have two 15 inch monitors, and that's all we really use. But in the future there will be some mains too. I am going to check the websites, and then go on to ebay and craigslist. BTW, sorry about posting in the vintage amps section. I didnt really even think about it becasue this is the only section I really go to. Thanks for the info guys. Go Mark IV!

 

[t0aj15]

Ok, I think I need a PA system with a built in power amp. Is there a good brand of these available for around $400-$500?

For under $500: https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=XP880

 

[acorkos]

a nice feature to have on a powered mixer are line outs for both mains and monitors. that way, you can use all the onboard power, for example, to the mains, and take the monitor line out to a 31-band EQ to a separate power amp to drive monitor speakers. the line outs give you the ability to expand. in fact you can keep adding amps and cabs to both monitors and mains as your needs change.

 

[acorkos]

Ok, I think I need a PA system with a built in power amp. Is there a good brand of these available for around $400-$500?

For under $500: https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=XP880

the problem with that carvin is that there isn't a lot of power (volume). this guy's band's vocalist is competing against his mkIV. 250 watts per side on the mains at 4 ohms is about 175 watts at 8 ohms....8 ohms is probably what his single 15's are rated at. 175 watts into 8 ohms is maybe what you'd get from the monitor amp, too.

i'd go for this for a powered mixer: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Soundcraft-GigRac-1000st-8Channel-Powered-Mixer?sku=630930
500 watts per side @ 4 ohms is about 350 watts @ 8 ohms.

 

[atlst7]

Wow, guys, thank you so much for the information. You are all so knowledgeable. That carvin looks exactly like what we need. I really appriciate all the info. I will let the board know what we decide on. We're going to buy it this week. Again thank you

 

[trey85stang]

I bought a Mackie 1604 off of craigslist for $200. Its great. No on-board effects, but for that price, you'll have cash left over to buy speakers and an amp (or powered speakers). All used of course, but hell, if you're buying Mackie, it will last forever.

I would recommend against anything Behringer. They're great deals, if you ignore the fact that the sound like sh!t and fall apart.

The pre VLZ mackie mixers are awesome and cheap. I got a 1202 used a few months back for $75 shipped.

 

[plumptone]

Ok, I think I need a PA system with a built in power amp. Is there a good brand of these available for around $400-$500?

For under $500: https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=XP880

the problem with that carvin is that there isn't a lot of power (volume). this guy's band's vocalist is competing against his mkIV. 250 watts per side on the mains at 4 ohms is about 175 watts at 8 ohms....8 ohms is probably what his single 15's are rated at. 175 watts into 8 ohms is maybe what you'd get from the monitor amp, too.

i'd go for this for a powered mixer: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Soundcraft-GigRac-1000st-8Channel-Powered-Mixer?sku=630930
500 watts per side @ 4 ohms is about 350 watts @ 8 ohms.

STAY AWAY FROM THE GIG RAC. This unit is crap. I bought one a year or so ago, and it sounded great in the store, but in a gig situation it is completely inadequate. It's got tons of features that appear to be cool, but do not be fooled.

True, it's about 350 at 8 ohms (I think the manual actually says more like 320), but don't forget that what you're actually going to get is 250 per speaker if you're dasy chaining two 8 ohm cabs together - which is what you have to do if you're also using the unit to drive monitors. To get full power out of this unit you have to use it as a stereo mains only head, and run one 4 ohm speaker (or two 8 ohms in parrallel) per side.

That's only part of the problem - the other thing is that the inputs come with a 20dB pad. It's there for a reason. Using the standard SM58, the input is overloaded into distortion VERY easily. You have to engage the pad to get clean output. This effectively (to my ears, anyway) results in a HUGE loss of output power to your drivers. So much so, that I had to run the mixer at 90% or more of its power to get even close to decent volume and clarity for your vocals. When you're running the unit that hard it will overheat and shut down.

Also, the graphic eq is not good, and the internal effects are totally anemic.

YMMV, but I would defniitely NOT recommend this unit to anyone. It just doesn't sound good at all.

Once I realized it didn't have the power, I bought a true 500 watt per side (into 8 ohms) power amp and fed that with the stereo direct outs from the Gig Rac. That solved the power problem with room to spare, but the eq was still very strange. I ended up, as I posted earlier, with the Mackie mixer, and this set up sounds insanely good now.