mixer pres

[guitarfreak12]

IYHO which mixers carry the best preamps, SNR, sound etc.?

[Middleman]

Soundcraft, Allen Heath then Yamaha. The rest fall off below these.

[LemonTree]

I'm more than happy with the pre's on my Allen & Heath Saber

[deepwater]

Soundcraft, Soundcraft, Soundcraft, Soundcraft and nothing else!

[Hard2Hear]

Well, you put an "other" category...and technically all these Neve pres that people lust after are just "mixer" (if you wanna call it that) pre amps that have been racked. So my answer would be........

H2H

[LemonTree]

Originally Posted by deepwater

Soundcraft, Soundcraft, Soundcraft, Soundcraft and nothing else!

try living a little

[noisedude]

What about the cheap Soundcrafts (such as the E12)? Are they as good?

[distortedrumble]

LOL...ok I'll go ahead and do it lol.......BEHRINGER BABY!

[flatcat]

Other: Allen & Heath

Find a MixWizard 20:8:2 if you can. They pop up on eBay every once in a while. Nice pres - better than my old Mackie's (less haze/buildup over tracks), but not as nice as my RNP. Damn good though. And the channel EQ is excellent. Great mixer.

[boingoman]

Other- I got to mix on a Midas XL-4 and I thought I was going to cry. Everything sounded, well, like it really sounded. I've never not had to EQ anything before.

[Hard2Hear]

Was that in a studio or was it a live show? We use a (live sound)company that uses Midas consoles, they are wonderful. I've always wondered how they would do in a studio.

H2H

[Light]

Neve, Midas, high end Yamaha, API, old Tridents. SSL's are pretty cool too, but kind of sterile, but then so are the Yamaha's. I like the Crest ones too, but they are not as nice as the others in that list.

Most of the time, I like Neve and Midas for rock, and the others for anything else.

Of course that is all high end stuff, not in the price range of Mackie et all.

By the way, Midas is now making a smaller board, the Venice Series. You can get an eight mono, 4 stereo board, with 16 Midas preamps, for only 3,300 list. Not bad if you ask me. I want it.

The Midas EQ is also great by the way. It actually works, which is more than I can usually say about Mackie EQ. I want a Venice, very much.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[sdelsolray]

For inexpensive mixers like the ones in the poll, Soundcraft M Series (not E Series), as well as Allen & Heath.

[MISTERQCUE]

My Topaz 24/8 provides more than acceptable perf & quality.
Not much coloration w.a certain degree of "warmth" and providing a healthy gain on a few of my hi-sens mics when amp-micing, I believe the Topaz w/b a good choice if you're looking for a mixer with good pres (rec'mnd by Harvey G. during a chat a while back when HR had a chat-room, I got mine used a coupla' yrs back for $1500).

But if you're REALLY looking for a board with GREAT pre's, ya' just gotta' audience a GHOST!!!!!






BTW, you should be taken out and SHOT for mentioning BEHRINGER in your poll!!!

[guitarfreak12]

ok, point noted! But one thing I do want to know, whats the best brand with a price range of $500. I reallt would like to have one with individual outs for each channel, which pardon me for saying behr seems to have in my price range, or am I missing something.

[noisedude]

Which Behringer has direct outs?

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by guitarfreak12

ok, point noted! But one thing I do want to know, whats the best brand with a price range of $500. I reallt would like to have one with individual outs for each channel, which pardon me for saying behr seems to have in my price range, or am I missing something.

The Soundcraft M Series has direct outs.

[noiseportrait]

what's wrong with the soundcraft E series. Do soundcraft's budget mixers suck?

[boingoman]

Originally Posted by Hard2Hear

Was that in a studio or was it a live show? We use a (live sound)company that uses Midas consoles, they are wonderful. I've always wondered how they would do in a studio.

H2H

It was live. The thing that made me notice was that I had mixed the same band on the same system with the same mics a week before with a different mixer. It was night and day. I'm sure the rest of the mixer helped too, but soloing and listening to the channels(cause i was blown away at the difference) brought it home how good things sounded going into the board, not just out. I don't know enough about what is required in a studio board in terms of routing and such to say, but yo, man give me one these for any live gig. If I could I'd lug one for a two person coffeehouse gig .

[Paj]

Soundcraft.

Paj
8^)

[EddieRay]

I sold my Behringer MX802A after acquiring a quieter, more versatile Soundcraft F1 (Folio). Where do the Folios fit in the pecking order?

[deepwater]

Both the Soundcraft M and E Series have the same pres

[guitarfreak12]

Originally Posted by noisedude

Which Behringer has direct outs?

The UB 2442 has 8 in/outs

[noisedude]

But no direct outs? Hmmm.

So the Soundcraft E and M ones have the same pres? I heard the M series ones were their ones from high-end consoles?

[deepwater]

There web site says they both have Linear Mic pres and the other Soundcraft Spirit stuff has the Ultra-mic pres