Should i buy or should i go?

[mojnebatje]

Bad pun i know..
However, I kinda want to record my songs at home and kinda learn how to do it. I have a pc and a guitar and im getting a mic any day now.
So i got a opportunity to buy a used Fender lx 1506 powered mixer for around $130. Should i take that or should i rather go for a new but cheap usb sound card?

 

[mjbphotos]

Before buying anything .... do lots of reading.

I suggest you read this excellent thread about mixers and home recording.

 

[tooloud61]

You should skip the mixer and the sound card and get an audio interface. It does the same job as a sound card but much better for recording.

 

[ecc83]

Bad pun i know..
However, I kinda want to record my songs at home and kinda learn how to do it. I have a pc and a guitar and im getting a mic any day now.
So i got a opportunity to buy a used Fender lx 1506 powered mixer for around $130. Should i take that or should i rather go for a new but cheap usb sound card?

Are you a one man, non gigging band? If so pass on the mixer and buy an interface. There is nothing any good really under about £100/$150 new and my reccy at that level would be the Steinberg UR22. If cash is really tight look for second hand units at whatever passes in your neck of the woods for Cash Converter shops. AI's are very reliable and tough wee beasties so a S/H unit is very unlikely to be faulty. Look for an M-Audio Fast track pro or a Tascam US 144. Check here first before you buy anything else. There are some very good older AIs about but they do not like Windows 7 or8.

If perchance you DO have musical mates get them to come on board in buying the mixer/PA as it will be useful for gigs and still can run into an AI for recording.

Dave.

 

[mojnebatje]

yeah ill try to get the interface for recording, I still bought the mixer for jamming

 

[Nytshade]

I would also skip the mixer for whatever reason and get an audio interface.

 

[ecc83]

I have not as yet found a manual for the OP's specific mixer but the signal diagram attached is for another Fender powered mixer and cannot I think be far off?

There is clearly a monitor output with level control and this can be used to feed a line input as is done in countless mixer-PC setups (tho not so much these days I shall concede!) My standard setup is in fact an A&H ZED10 feeding a 2496 soundcard, a card I commend to the OP!

Sure he can feed the signal into the crap PC soundcard it will work, sometimes quite well, the OBsound on the i3 HP laptop I am typing on is actually pretty good. Yes, overload is the thing to watch. My zed is far too hot for the 2496 (by about 18dB!) but if you just go by the DAW software meters all will be fine. (as ever ~-20dBFS and 24bits 44.1kHz).

The mixer's power stages will not mind being unloaded, mind you a couple of "hi fi" speakers could be hooked up as monitors...DON'T hit 'em too hard and not bass guitar at all!

Dave.