How good are Samson mixers?
- Thread starter Nik D
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tyler657recpro
Member
i;d rather have a behringer.
Michael Jones
New member
Do you like the sound?
Does it work for you?
If you answered yes to either one of the above questions, then it's good.
Does it work for you?
If you answered yes to either one of the above questions, then it's good.
tyler657recpro
Member
What are you talking about?
porphyrous
New member
jitteringjim
Insert Custom Title Here
'tis a bad thing to ask "how good is a..." when you already have one. 
After you've already made the plunge for gear, you have to let you own ears decide if it works for you.
A lot of decisions are made here, right or wrong, without actually hearing the product. The rule of thumb with audio is kind of "99% of the time, you get what you pay for."
To clarify - if Samson, or Nady or whatever were in that 1% of awesome "bang for the buck" products, it would be all over this forum.
Not to say that your board sucks - just that you have to decide at this point if it works for you. If it sounds good, it is good.
More clarification - from a personal experience.
I do a bit of freelance FOH mixing for local clubs/bands. One of the club systems uses a Peavey Unity mixer. Whatever. I just set up the system and do my job - I'm getting paid either way. One night the Peavey goes down. Actually, it gets soaked as there's a leak in the soundbooth and we get a huge downpour. Luckily, one of the bands has their rehearsal mixer with them, a Behringer Eurorack something or another. I hook it up and DAMN - I'm able to get the best sound out of it that I've ever had in the room using the POS Peavy.
(As we know, Behringer is much maligned around here.) It worked great for me, so - it's all relative.
Why am I typing all of this? Uh, I dunno.
After you've already made the plunge for gear, you have to let you own ears decide if it works for you.
A lot of decisions are made here, right or wrong, without actually hearing the product. The rule of thumb with audio is kind of "99% of the time, you get what you pay for."
To clarify - if Samson, or Nady or whatever were in that 1% of awesome "bang for the buck" products, it would be all over this forum.
Not to say that your board sucks - just that you have to decide at this point if it works for you. If it sounds good, it is good.
More clarification - from a personal experience.
I do a bit of freelance FOH mixing for local clubs/bands. One of the club systems uses a Peavey Unity mixer. Whatever. I just set up the system and do my job - I'm getting paid either way. One night the Peavey goes down. Actually, it gets soaked as there's a leak in the soundbooth and we get a huge downpour. Luckily, one of the bands has their rehearsal mixer with them, a Behringer Eurorack something or another. I hook it up and DAMN - I'm able to get the best sound out of it that I've ever had in the room using the POS Peavy.
(As we know, Behringer is much maligned around here.) It worked great for me, so - it's all relative.
Why am I typing all of this? Uh, I dunno.
tyler657recpro
Member
well when you compare it to those peaveys, anything will sound great. And all the faders don't break off!
Well, I didn't just go out and buy it yesterday, I've had it for like 2 years or something. Actually none of the money came out of my pocket either. I used to be in a band and we wanted to record a cd, but we didn't have the cash for a studio. So we saved up enough for a mixer ($300) by playing shows, winning battle of the bands, etc. At the time I didn't know a thing about recording short of "I have Magix Audio Studio, and some radio shack mics! Lets do it!" That was also before I really got into the recording thing. So that's why I have it, and it was a good deal for $270 on Ebay, so we got it. I've never had another board, although I'd like to get a mackie or some other quality one in the future. It seems to do it's job fine, all 16 channels work, and I get pretty good recordings I think. So there you have it, the history of the mixer.
porphyrous
New member
Okay, another follow-up question....
When you get what you pay for, and you don't pay much, what specific problems can be among the consequences?
So if, for example, I get the Samson PL1604, and it's a mediocre mixer, what exactly about it is going to be mediocre? What are the things that are going to set a good mixer apart from a mediocre one?
-----
DAVID VESEL -- synthpop recording artist
The new single "The Caves v2.0"
The new album Calliope
Now available from Situation Records
http://www.ampcast.com/davidvesel
davidvesel@pobox.com
When you get what you pay for, and you don't pay much, what specific problems can be among the consequences?
So if, for example, I get the Samson PL1604, and it's a mediocre mixer, what exactly about it is going to be mediocre? What are the things that are going to set a good mixer apart from a mediocre one?
-----
DAVID VESEL -- synthpop recording artist
The new single "The Caves v2.0"
The new album Calliope
Now available from Situation Records
http://www.ampcast.com/davidvesel
davidvesel@pobox.com
Midlandmorgan
New member
What consequences will depend on a lot of factors and how much of the weak point of a piece of gear is used. For example, some mixers have weak summing busses, so a signal by itself my be acceptable, but blending that signal in with 8, 16, or whatever more signals may cause eq boost/cuts that weren't intended, audible distortion, fluctuating levels, etc. Power supply problems can result in a noticable sag in the signal when the mixer processes a lot of information (great for guitar amps, bad for audio...) Frequency separation between eq bands, inconsistent performance between channels, the list goes on and on...
There are some bypass techniques, though. Example: if you think the weak point in your mixer is the mic preamp, use an external pre and go to the line in of your board. If your board is weakest at the aux/cue level, minimize the amount and reliance on auxes and use a separate submixer.
The only real consequences, though, are in the sonic quality of your finished product. Look for the most obvious gear if you are not satified with the end result. If you have decent mics, a good DAW, decent enough cables and convertors, but a low quality mixer, its most likely a mixer issue...
I have no experience with your mixer, but can tell you that it will ALWAYS be good for something...even if its just to rough mix the studio headphones....
Upper end mixers like AMEK, Neotek, Euphonics, SSL....they have all (allegedly) overcome the weakness issues....and that's why they tend to cost up to $700,000...
Bottom line: use what you have, learn its limitations, and work around them until you can get what you want. It is a never ending battle, though, as there's always gonna be something out there better than what you have....regardless of what it is
There are some bypass techniques, though. Example: if you think the weak point in your mixer is the mic preamp, use an external pre and go to the line in of your board. If your board is weakest at the aux/cue level, minimize the amount and reliance on auxes and use a separate submixer.
The only real consequences, though, are in the sonic quality of your finished product. Look for the most obvious gear if you are not satified with the end result. If you have decent mics, a good DAW, decent enough cables and convertors, but a low quality mixer, its most likely a mixer issue...
I have no experience with your mixer, but can tell you that it will ALWAYS be good for something...even if its just to rough mix the studio headphones....
Upper end mixers like AMEK, Neotek, Euphonics, SSL....they have all (allegedly) overcome the weakness issues....and that's why they tend to cost up to $700,000...
Bottom line: use what you have, learn its limitations, and work around them until you can get what you want. It is a never ending battle, though, as there's always gonna be something out there better than what you have....regardless of what it is
@Midlandmorgan: Thanks for an unbiased contribution which was what the original question required. I am not a very experienced sound guy and, judging from the original question, I assume that the originator of the thread is not either. Thanks for your low- tech answer and suggestion.
Sound is just a hobby which must support itself financially (thanks, dear) for me. I have compared the specs on the Samson L2400 to the other, more reputable (expensive) brands and have determined that until I have more experience and earn more whith my equipment, a Samson will fit the bill just fine.
Sound is just a hobby which must support itself financially (thanks, dear) for me. I have compared the specs on the Samson L2400 to the other, more reputable (expensive) brands and have determined that until I have more experience and earn more whith my equipment, a Samson will fit the bill just fine.
witzendoz
Senior Member
Compared to a Neve or an SSL the Samson does not sound good.
Now back to the real world of Home Recording, the Samson is in the same league as Behringer and Alto and the cheap Mackie's, it will sound fine for home recording and in fact I reckon that you could get great results from it with a bit of care. I have been suppressed over the years how good some of the cheaper stuff on the market sounds, when I started out in recording (in the so called good old days) we would pay $1000's for a mixer and some of them would not sound as good as the Samson. Now if we are talking about build quality that's a different story, mixers like the Samson, Behringer, Mackie, etc, are built to a price so don't expect them to last for 20 years like the old stuff, but for the price if you had to buy another one in 5 years so what? If the Samson sounds good to you then it's doing its job.
Alan.
Oh S@)T I just realised I got sucked into an old thread resurrection Arghhhhhhhhhh!
Oh by the way, did the Samson mixer last the 10 years this thread did?
Now back to the real world of Home Recording, the Samson is in the same league as Behringer and Alto and the cheap Mackie's, it will sound fine for home recording and in fact I reckon that you could get great results from it with a bit of care. I have been suppressed over the years how good some of the cheaper stuff on the market sounds, when I started out in recording (in the so called good old days) we would pay $1000's for a mixer and some of them would not sound as good as the Samson. Now if we are talking about build quality that's a different story, mixers like the Samson, Behringer, Mackie, etc, are built to a price so don't expect them to last for 20 years like the old stuff, but for the price if you had to buy another one in 5 years so what? If the Samson sounds good to you then it's doing its job.
Alan.
Oh S@)T I just realised I got sucked into an old thread resurrection Arghhhhhhhhhh!
Oh by the way, did the Samson mixer last the 10 years this thread did?