re Small Live Mixers

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swzoo

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I have recently been looking at the Allen and Heath Zed 10 and the Mackie 1202 VLZ4 and have visited a lot of forums. The all speak of pre amps, effects, EQ etc…but only one comment mentioned the sound of one of the boards (by this I mean how it translates a piece of music put in one end and out of the other with nothing added or taken away) and this is the most important thing to me. Let me explain, I use a small VLZ in my studio and it is very accurate, this one comment I did read about the actual sound was about the A and H and the writer said it was lacking in bottom end. I know this can happen as I have a Yamaha MG board and it is rubbish at the bottom end. I am attracted by the features of the A and H but have no real idea if it sounds as good as the Mackie because apart from this one comment, no one seems to talk about these things.
 
Unfortunately, it's all relative. Personally, I don't like the sound of any of them.

The Mackie has two strikes against it. It only has one sweep able mid and it doesn't run at a standard line level. (It's nominal level is 0dbvu instead of +4) so it is too hot for a -10 system but is also not quite enough to push a +4 system. If you don't have a good handle on your gain staging, it can sound harsh.

The zed 10 is decent, but suffers from simply being a cheap, low end mixer.

If you are really looking for premium sound quality, you will need to raise your budget by a factor of 10. You will also need to put together a PA that will deliver that pristine audio. Oh, and a room that won't screw it all up.


Basically, without spending tens of thousands of dollars, you are fighting a losing battle. The sound differences between these boards is minimal, once you plug it into a budget system in a room that wasn't designed as a show room and isn't treated as such.

You are better off going with the board with the better features, or at least the features you need.
 
Farview said:
The Mackie has two strikes against it. It only has one sweep able mid and it doesn't run at a standard line level. (It's nominal level is 0dbvu instead of +4) so it is too hot for a -10 system but is also not quite enough to push a +4 system. If you don't have a good handle on your gain staging, it can sound harsh.
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In most cases the Mackie mixer's line output level is +4dBu when the meter says +4. The difference is the metering, not the output. And anyway unless the headroom was stupid low running 4dB hot isn't a big deal.

And the A&H also has only one sweepable mid.

The only real strike against the Mackie is the lack of built-in effects, but external effects are more versatile and often sound better. They're just a little less convenient.
 
Just for the heck of it.. What about some of the digi boards?
 
It's not the line out that is the problem, it's the channel strips.
 
All of the mixers you listed are OK for the price they charge for them, higher price = better mixer. We have a Yamaha MG 6 channel that I use for small gigs with my band and it sounds fine. None of the mixers listed have fantastic EQ, they have all right EQ, maybe the secret of the good sound we get is to have a good sound at the source and a good 31 band EQ after the mixer, we don't use the mixer EQ much at all.

If you want a better mixer why not look around for a good secondhand mixer? Better value for money and with all the digital live mixers coming out now there is a lot of good secondhand analog mixers on the market.

Alan.
 
Will the OP ever return? It really depends on how he's using the board. Is this for a full band? What's he using for speakers? What type of venues. Overall sound is a result of all these factors.
 
Now that I think about it, the problem with the line level is much more of an issue when mixing from a multitrack that is set to +4. If the recording levels are a little hot, the board gets really brittle sounding.
 
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