BillFitzmaurice.info

I'm going to buy a live audio mixer soon. I'm going to be using for outdoor outreaches with live bands mostly. I need it to have 16 mic pres and 4 subgroups. I need onboard effects. I was looking at the Mackie CFX20 and the Peavey 24FX. In your opinion, which is better? Is there another brand in the price range you would suggest?

I like the Yamaha MG series, if that helps you.

I have a smaller version of that Peavey in the practice studio, and the FX are terrible. The rest of the features are so-so.

Peavey have a good reputation for mixers and I think you pay over the odds for the Mackie gear.

I have the CFX12 (Mk I) and it was an OK mixer, but it wasn't worth the money paid. After a month or so not being used it developed a number of faults.

I don't know what the MkII is like but I also give a big thumbs up for Yamaha desks.

My band has a Peavey 24FX and we're very pleased with it. The effects are fine (although we only use them sparingly with vocals). The big selling point for us was the six seperate aux outs (especially the four pre-fader) so that each band member gets his own monitor mix. IMO it's a great mixer for the price.

I second the motion on Yamaha. They consistently offer very high quality at every price point, from $200 to $200,000. Yamaha owns the high end pro-touring sound market, so they know good sound. Neither Mackie nor Peavey make any high end ($50k and up) pro-touring mixers.

Thanks for the advice. So, do you think it would be a good idea to buy a used Promix 01 or a used 03D from ebay? Which one would be more suited to my purpose?

hoovie87 wrote:Thanks for the advice. So, do you think it would be a good idea to buy a used Promix 01 or a used 03D from ebay? Which one would be more suited to my purpose?

The 01v is in a class by itself.

I have a used O1v I picked up off Ebay. Once you go digital, analog becoems such a pain with not having all the built-in features. I'd love to be able to recommend SAC on a laptop with 16 channels of preamp, but that's going out of the price range you're looking at. $500 for SAC, at least several hundred for a decent laptop and probably $700 or so for an 8 channel interface and another 8 channels of preamp. Nice part is it's modular, it can use any VST or directX plugin so you can get studio quality reverbs or other FX and it scales way beyond your needs if you want to grow it at some point in the future. I'm building a 32 channel system now for under $3K but for another $1600 or so I can expand it to 64 channels. With the right interface you could go 16 channels now and expand to 24 channels for about $200, the cost of a second 8 channel expansion. I guess I am recommending it, but it's not going to come cheap. It doesn't sound cheap by any stretch of the imagination though.
http://www.softwareaudioconsole.com

I have one last question. So, I'm guessing you would tell me to stay away from something like a Behringer Eurodesk 2442? I've used a Behringer before, but it was a pro. They claim the Xenyx Pre amps are way better than the old ones. For a person starting out, would you even recommend me touching this board? The thing is that the Eurodesk 2442 has all of the features that I want and more. Unless I get an expensive Yamaha, it doesn't even have the subgroups I need. Has anyone actually used a new Behringer Xenyx board and can give me a review? Are they really that bad?

hoovie87, save your money and be patient. Scour E-bay, craigslist and anywhere else for a Yamaha 01V. I scored a lightly used 01V from a church in Texas for around $550 last fall. I am still learning about all the features it has to offer.

As far as the Behringer Eurodesk 2442, I have to working experience with them, but bands I know that use them are satisfied with them. But, they are not using them with high efficiency systems, like Bill's designs. One group I see occasionally uses all Behringer gear, including speakers, subs and monitors, and were happy with it, until they heard my BFD system. "Awesome", "Clean" and "Punchy" were just a few of the comments they made, and "Wimpy" was what they called the Behringer system. YMMV.

My only complaint about Behringer analogue mixers is there cross channel noise and poor mic pre amps. As for their digital mixer, the DDX3216, I prefer it to the Yamaha 01v.

Where the circuitry is concerned Behringer gear is top notch. But every piece of hardware, from jacks to pots to ribbon cables, is the cheapest Asian knock-off they can source. Considering the hardware count on a mixing board I'd stay clear of anything not using 100% Neutrik connectors and Alps pots. Their digital board was a price to performance winner, but was dropped from the line 2 years ago, probably has issues.

To echo what others have said, Behringer mixers are "OK" only. I have several pieces of their gear, most of it good, but the Xenyx mixer developed a bad channel just sitting unused in a climate controlled building for a few months. The sound is good, better than a Mackie SR24-4 it replaced (first gen) but it will be replaced as soon as funding is available for SAC.

Behringer EP amps and processors have given me no trouble.

I have the 24.4 VLZ Pro (non-Onyx).
It gets ragged a lot, but one thing is does flawlessly: It works.

I had a conversation with Tom (Camry..) who is a console tech.
He said this console is bullet proof but for the 16v power supply IC.
It needs to be reseated with quality heat transfer paste (Artic Silver V) and some additional cooling for hot weather.

There is room inside for a pair of Panaflo A/C fans.
These can be wired in series for a 1:2 voltage drop (read: quiet operation and long life).

DJPhatman wrote:hoovie87, save your money and be patient. Scour E-bay, craigslist and anywhere else for a Yamaha 01V. I scored a lightly used 01V from a church in Texas for around $550 last fall. I am still learning about all the features it has to offer.

As far as the Behringer Eurodesk 2442, I have to working experience with them, but bands I know that use them are satisfied with them. But, they are not using them with high efficiency systems, like Bill's designs. One group I see occasionally uses all Behringer gear, including speakers, subs and monitors, and were happy with it, until they heard my BFD system. "Awesome", "Clean" and "Punchy" were just a few of the comments they made, and "Wimpy" was what they called the Behringer system. YMMV.

If I can get approval, I plan to sell my used O1v in the near future. Includes ADAT expansion card. Lived in a studio before I purchased it and travelled gently with me on the road since. $200 for a Behringer ADA8000 and you'd have a 20 channel system with 4 band fully adjustable parametric EQ's per in and out (2 band on the 8 expansion channels), 4 mon (only 2 on the 8 expansion channels ), 2 fx channels. What do you "need" 4 subgroups for? The O1v has 3 fader groups where you can lock all the channels in a group together. Otherwise I just mixed individually.

+1 on the avoiding Behringer mixers. Too much to fail inside, all the channels are on one board as well instead of being independent replaceable strips. That's probably common to most low-cost boards these days. I've never used one that didn't feel cheap and/or have multiple problems. I wanted to buy an old 32 channel board of theirs way back when. Boy am I glad I didn't. Look for a used Yamaha MG32FX on Craigslist or eBay. Nice board, clean sound, well built. 24 mic channels , 4 stereo ins. They make a 24 too with only 16 or 20 mic channels.