cheap mixer v cheap pre amp

M

mikeshead

New member
Looking through some old treads there is a debate about a new mixer v a new pre amp. Although the final consensus was to go for the pre amps many people expressed the view that cheap pre amps sounded much the same (Cheap meaning under £200). Again the consensus was that the problem with “cheap” (there’s that subjective word again) mixers is that their pre amps are..... err crap (thought I’d get a bit technical).
So how cheap can a mixer be before the pre amps are only slightly crap (in my terms good enough). I suspect anything would be better that what I’m using now (Rolls £20 mixer). Looking at spending about £100 or less. Please don’t ask me to save up, the current fiscal outlook means that I need to spend now before I have to sell my organs (biological not musical) to feed my growing recording habit.
Your august thoughts would be appreciated by a this cheapskate newbie.
 
mikeshead said:
Your august thoughts would be appreciated by a this cheapskate newbie.
Click to expand...

Unless you're made of money, don't worry about which preamp you use. Other than obvious junk, like a $50 Radio Shack PA mixer, all preamps are more alike than different. There are much more important things to worry about, such as your monitoring and room acoustics. Those have literally 100 times more affect on the quality of your work than what preamp you use.

--Ethan
 
Price/quality aside, mixer' vs outboard pre is as much a choice of which functions are needed. Even at the modest end they are similar and fairly decent.
 
Many thanks o wise ones your comments make much sense. So your suggestions for a cheap but very cheerful mixer would be ....?
 
mixers

if you're constrained by a budget, then a cheap mixer offers the flexibility that a pre-amp can't. You will get good enough results to judge how well you are doing, and you can save up and progressively upgrade.

There are heaps of little mixers around that will take a couple of mikes, instruments and line-ins. Yamaha, Behringer, Tapco, Alto and others are all reasonable value for money. Do a search on the web and see what you can find.
 
I've been using a Behringer analog mixer for a €150 for the last couple of years....6 inputs, 4 of'em with phantom power....we two get along just fine!

Like Ethan said, room and monitors are more important.

Cheers
 
i'd put my money into a behringer mixer - they're good things and the preamps on them arent half bad. i've used 2 or 3 behringer mixers in different churches i work at for the last 4 years or so, and they've never let me down. get the biggest one you can afford with a couple of subgroups on it and that way you've got enough options in the future - buy more channels than you need right now, you'll always want 'just a couple more'...

edit: after a quick bit of research, i think this looks pretty good for what you want:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/8541
this is a behringer xenyx 1202 - its got 4 mic channels (with preamps) and 2 stereo channels ontop of that, so that's 6 faders to play with. it's the smallest in the behringer range that's got faders, which i'd say is worth it, faders are far easier to work with that rotary controls. 2 subgroups and 2 aux-sends ontop of a stereo main send, that gives you plenty of routing options and more than enough to play with. its listed on dolphin at £106, which is pretty much the top of your budget from what you seem to say, but im sure you could find a cheaper used one, or see if you can find an american deal somewhere, ebay it, have a look around.
 
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Many, many thanks for your collective contributions. Strangely, the Behringer mixer was one I was considering initially but reading through other comments on the forums (from many sources) I detected a distinct lip curl when the name Behringer was mentioned. Perhaps, this apprehension was from being who had a higher acoustic understanding than myself (not difficult) and are now on a higher astral plane regarding the recording world. The Behringer certainly seems to offer the most facilities against price (I managed gracefully not to mention the cliché “more bang for buck) (Oh no I just said it!) What country do they hail from? (That is the Behringer not the bangs for ... etc).
Just before I dash off to Brighton (a town on the south coast for all you citizens of the world that do not know the UK) to secure my purchase I have another question to ask my venerable brains trust: I will be using the mixer with a boss 9oo unit. I have heard that it would be best to get a digital mixer but I assume that we are talking loads of money again. Also do I assume all mixers that do not say they are digital are actually analogue. O dear, I feel another subject creeping up about the benefits of digital over analogue mixers. Will I ever learn enough to just get on a play the music?
 
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