Opinion on the Alesis 1622?

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krisjprice

New member
I was just given one by a client as payment for services and was wondering if anybody had any opinions on using one, how they sound, and wether or not they'd make a good recording mixer to run into my Pro Tools setup?

Thanks!
 
The Alesis 1622 is an odd piece of gear. I doubt it would be ideal as a front end for a Pro Tools rig but it has its uses. I doubt the preamps are all that great.

One of the weird things about that board is that all the pots are inductive rather than resistive. From what I've heard you can clean them by opening up the unit and wiping off the plastic inductive panel with a damp sponge. The pots (rotary and linear) have a gritty feel to them which turns off people used to the smooth feel of conventional controls. It does have 100mm faders and it's very light.

There are 8 XLR mic inputs, each with a post-fader direct output. The eq is simple 2-band, but you could insert more comprehensive eq if needed (I picture a rack of M-EQ 230s). Each channel has two pre-fader (monitor) sends and four post-fader (effects) sends.

If I were mixing in adverse conditions, dust blowing around or something, I'd rather have a 1622 than my Soundcraft GB2R. It's cheap enough so I wouldn't feel bad if it got wrecked, and the inductive pots would be less vulnerable to dust and moisture.
 
Very cool. I was planning on opening it up soon and cleaning it all out and somewhat restoring it. The gritty faders and pots did kind of turn me off a little.

I have one of these and a Mackie CR1604 without the expansion. Given the two options, which would you prefer for just, a general studio atmosphere and why?

And speaking of the 1604, if you know anybody willing to sell a Mackie XLR10 (The 10 XLR expansion port), let me know. No one seems to have one at a fair price.
 
I have a 1604VLZ Pro, had two for a few years. But the original CR1604 is weird in several ways. The faders have the zero point at the mid point of the travel while every other mixer I've used has the zero mark nearer the top. The inserts are post fader so they can double as direct outputs. The gain knobs are on the back panel rather than on the top. That's just what I can remember after a bunch of years since I've used one.
 
Oh, you had me worried it added weird things to the sound. Yes, it is a bit odd in that respect, but I think it just adds to my versatility.
 
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