Mixer choosing too

[eah32]

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum...a buddy in another western PA band just turned me on to it. Knowing the collective knowledge that I've read here, I toss this in to your capable hands....

Here's the deal, we (my band, Scratch) currently use a studiomaster 16 ch. board. It's been in service pretty hard core for about 6 years now and I'm looking to upgrade (I say 'I' because I'm not involving the band in the purchase).

At any rate, my budget is roughly $1,500. I've narrowed it down to generalizations, but not specifics. Each of these manufactures have boards in that range: Soundcraft, Mackie, Allen & Heath, Yamaha, and Beringer. I'm leaning toward and A & H. The board will need to be as flexible as possible w/ no fewer than 16 balanced inputs. Direct channal outs are required as is phantom power. The board will be used for 1 - 4 live shows per month and ALL recording (my own DAW, Cport based and no, I've never had a problem w/it , so obviously, it will need to be road worthy.

Now, I have ZERO experience w/ any of these boards. I currently use a small Peavy for my recording projects and truth be told, it's not that bad. However, I do want to upgrade.

Thanks in advance.

[xstatic]

Personally, i would scartch Behringer and yamaha off the list. That leaves Allen Heath, Soundcraft, and Mackie. Normally I would scratch Mackie off the list, but ny very limited experience with the new Onyx series has been MUCH better than that of all other prior Mackie's. However, like I said my experience with those has been very limited. I would avoid the Spirit line by Soundcraft, but there seems to be a lot of hype about the newer "M" series Soundcrafts. I have used these little M series boards on a few occasions and in my opinion, they don't even come close to the hype that I constantly hear on some of these bulletin boards concerning their sound quality. That being said, I also think that they aren't a bad board by any means and they do come at a decent price point. I am not sure however if they make an "M" series console as large as what it sounds like you are looking for.

Since it looks like your budget won't support a Midas Venice, than I would have to reccomend the Allen Heath line. For $1500 you should be able to get into a GL2200 or maybe even a GL3, but my bet is that the 16 channel Mix Wiz will suit you just fine. The older Mix Wiz boards had a "decent" sound, and offer more features than little Mackie consoles do. The newer mk3 Mix Wiz line sounds a little better than the older Mix Wiz offerings and has a couple new features as well. The built in FX are really not that great, but I am betting that they would sound a lot better if you download the Allen Heath FX editor and customize some of the parameters.

If there was any way you could extend your budget to get into the Midas Venice consoles, you would certainly not regret it. A venice offers all the features you are looking for, is very durable, and the preamps and EQ sounds worlds better than the Allen Heath and the Soundcraft options in the same price range. Another option might be to look for a used Soundcraft 400 or 200. The sound on those little guys is quite a bit nicer in my opinion than their current offerings.

[eah32]

Thanks for the info, which leads to another question; what is the main difference between the mix wiz series and the PA series? From what I've read, I like the options on the PA series.

[xstatic]

On that I am not really sure. Is the PA series powered? If so my gut says to avoid it. As far as the PA series goes, I haven't heard anything really good or bad about them. My money doesn't buy one until I know more about it.

So what options was it that you liked better on the PA series?

[eah32]

Upon further review, I think that I do like the wiz better. The wiz seems to have the top of the line mic preamps, that I don't think that the PA has. The PA comes in both powered and non...I wouldn't get powered.