Which mixing desk?

W

WarmJetGuitar

New member
I'm out looking for a good, cheap studio desk as we're forced to feed our Tascam 38 from four (!) different units if we want to do eight tracks at once. Sound wise it's fine but it's a mess to work with as the T38 don't have any input level knobs.

The desk needs to have direct outs and between eight and 16 channels to suite our needs.

Been looking at used Fostex (80's and early 90's) as well as new Allen & Heath desks. How do you like these brands?
Is there any criminally underrated fully analog desk that can be had for cheap? I'd prefer one without Lexicon or any other kind of digital effects - or at least these should be possible to bypass completely. Actually I'd prefer an old one sounding similar to 70's Yamaha powermixers - especially for their spring reverb and warm sound.

I live in Europe and the MCI desks you're all putting in high regard sound and look very appealing to me but is pretty uncommon here, at least to my knowledge.

By cheap I mean below $1000/£500. I hope you're up to sharing your opinions and experiences.
 
Thanks Sweetbeats! I'll check them out.
It appears Fostex is more common here than Tascam when it comes to prosumer gear. Or maybe it's just because the owners keep their Tascam gear.
 
From the newer camp, Soundcraft makes some good little mixers for good prices; I keep an FX16ii around for general utility use (does have effects but completely bypassable, your signal will NOT be forced through digital conversions on analog mixers with dfx sections unless you use the dfx--you're in control of your analog signal). I've used the EPMs and MPMs which don't have any dfx and are quite well priced--have a look at them. They're very clean sounding mixers, summing and EQ are satisfactory enough, pres are better than expected. Only catch is they only have a couple subgroups.

If you want an old-school fatter/darker sort of sound and the tape itself isn't getting you there, the above rec for old Tascams should get you there. Keep an eye out for the older, smaller Studiomasters too--maybe they're more prevalent in Europe.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all your suggestions. Great to have some brand and model names to research for when my financial situation gets better (payments on Rickenbacker 330 is soon over).
It's for a setup with a Tascam 38 and a four track Fostex called A4. It would be the far most practical to have both recorders connected at the same time as we plan on switching between the recorders for different tasks and not at least tape situations as quarter inch tape is much cheaper than half inch, for bouncing between the machines, the oppurtunity to do 12 tracks at once and sync on DAW, you name it.

A darker sound would be nice as cheaper mics often seems a bit on the trebly side..

The Studiomaster seems to be available for local pickup at reasonable prices on second hand sites. I'm a bit sceptical of buying a desk from Ebay fearing that something goes wrong during transport.
 
Of all the desks mentioned, by far the nicest sound would be Allen and Heath. Their pre-amps are lovely and musical/warm and, should you ever need to use channel EQ (unlikely when tracking but you may do something live I suppose) it's very nice.

A close second would be something from Soundcraft. Things like Yamaha and Tascam can be pretty reliable but not so good on the sound unless you go very up market on the Yamaha range.

Not cheap, but if you can find a second hand A&H Mix Wizard or GL2200 that you can afford, you'd have a lovely mixer.
 
I recommend the Fostex 812. They're often for sale in good condition for very low prices. I had one before I upgraded my studio (needed more channels) and it served me very well.
 
James K said:
I recommend the Fostex 812. They're often for sale in good condition for very low prices. I had one before I upgraded my studio (needed more channels) and it served me very well.
Click to expand...

Sure, it sounds like a desk within my pricerange. There's a 20-channel Fostex 820 on sale used for around 430 $ right now. It should be in good condition except for some noise on the masterfader. Does it sound like a good offer?

When it comes to A&H I bet you're right they're nice units. Took a look at one down at the gearshop a few days ago and it seemed like a very good one, built like a tank and with some nice feautures. My problem here is money as I'm a student and rarely makes any money playing music. I try controlling my GAS so much I don't end up with too much dept :o
 
The older Alesis Studio 32 is a fairly underrated unit. It's not great, but does a good job for a very modest price.
 
Analog consoles (used) at least around these parts are very cheap. Take a look around your part of the world and see what you can come up with.
 
After installing my new console I'll be putting up my old one for sale. It's a Tascam M-3500, 32 chan with meterbridge. But I think the price will be about double the price you were considering. (I live in Stockholm, Sweden)
 
OT: regarding cheap trebly mics.

Do you mind building your own? I am in the process of trying this out. I have some PCB's for the "RoyerMod" coming to modify a MXL 2001 microphone. Also, your fellow Dane Jakob of Gyraf Audio has a design called the G7, I have PCB's for that coming as well, it is more complex design then the Royer mod, and I've estimated production cost to be between US$350 to $650 depending on the parts used. I plan to start out as cheap as possible, in part because I have not built something like this before and want to learn first. I'm going to do the RoyerModded MXL 2001 first, then maybe try the G7.


EDIT:
With all new parts, the MXL2001 or similar mike can be Royermodded (without changing the capsule) for US$190 or so. Capsule prices are anything from US$45-300 or more. There is a US$45 K67 type capsule on Ebay, and hte Royer mod is designed with that in mind. It probably still has some high end bump, and other people have used the circuit with K47 type capsules.
 
Last edited:
I like my Carvin MX1688. I bought it just to "get me by" till I got something better. But, its actually a pretty good board.
 
Dan Ö said:
After installing my new console I'll be putting up my old one for sale. It's a Tascam M-3500, 32 chan with meterbridge. But I think the price will be about double the price you were considering. (I live in Stockholm, Sweden)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great unit for a decent price, but yeah; it's kindda overkill for our setup right now. I'll text you if I should ever get a dirt cheap 24-track.

Alesis? Sure! Didn't know they did mixing desks but their reverb units is kindda nice so sounds like something I better check out.

@Blue Jinn: I'd love to build my own mics but I'm a disaster with a soldering iron. Do you make your own? Sounds really interesting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top