The analog Mixer thread - have a favorite?

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Was curious for those of you all using analog mixers, what are you using and why?

I use a Mackie Cr1604. It has the known overdriven sound but I really like it because it has a lot of flexibility where I can add pedals as track inserts and also use my Boum as a master insert. Plus it has a good amount of Aux’s for my stereo verbs and delays.

What I dont like - its older and channels are starting to go out. Also the EQ is pretty bad. No stereo channels which makes it tricky for me to get a balanced stereo out from my mpc when I track out. Plus running 2 channels hard panned sounds off when I dial in the stereo aux fx. Not sure a way around that one.

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#2

Allen and Heath zed14.
Why? It has more channels than my old mixer A&H zed 10.
I really like the eqs, massive travel faders, stereo channels, 4 aux, alt out, mono out. Drives nicely, I love the sound I get out of it. Built like tank. Each channel is a seperate board so really easy to repair.

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#3

Allen Heath GL2800

  • clean Sound
  • huge Headroom
  • 10 Sends
  • 8 Groups
  • compact size for the features
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#4

The zed14 overdrives? Wow, didn’t know that.

#5

Overdrive/saturate what ever you want to call it. The 10 did as well.
Most analogue mixers will, as far as im aware.

#6

Mackie LM3204 simply because it has 16 stereo channels, 4 sends (2 switchable pairs) and the mute can be used to send to outs 3+4 for recording. Quite hard to find these days though.

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#7

I feel like my choice of mixer is largely limited to my budget.
I’m using a Mackie 1642VLZ because it has enough sends, sub outs, with a few routing possibilities.
I’d rather have a Midas Venice U24.
I definitely like the sound of the Allen Heath Zed’s, but they are missing some flexibility I’d like.
The GL2800 seems bad ass, it’s just massive.
I’ve often considered an Allen Heath Xone 464.
I’d REALLY love the DB4 but more channels, and I’m not sure I’m willing to fork out that kind of money for those high priced DJ mixers.

I used to have a Rane MP26, loved that thing, but it had some wonky stuff about it.

I also used to have an Ashly MX-508, that thing was incredible, should’ve kept it.

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#8

oh yes it does… the AR with just a touch of distortion from the input of the zed14 sounds really nice. a little boost on the highs gives the right fizzle. I’ve not tried a lot of different mixers but I have two Allen and Heath and I like them a lot.

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#9

I’ll be following this thread… curious too. For a few years I thought I could easily mix/route through “zero latency” digital devices with, like, 8 I/Os, until I realized this meant the sound was going through an AD/DA pass. Trying to avoid that extra AD/DA pass now.

Right now my Yamaha MG10XU is pretty nice. It does have some downsides (only a few of the I/O are balanced, limited analog sends, etc.) and upsides (fun digital FX section, nice USB routing options, phantom power, small).

In the past I had a Boss BX600, which was super-cute… but I couldn’t get the scratchiness out of the old pots. Had to get rid of it.

I used to record to a Tascam 388 which was dreamy. But I (1) couldn’t find someone local to service it, (2) was broke and (3) moving thousands of miles so it went to a friend. Last I heard it was in Nashville.

For a minute, I had a Rolls rackmount mixer, but never used it much.

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#10

Yeah but not at all sound good doing it, so thats good to know.

#11

I love all my current mixers.

Favorite one is A&H Mixwizard WZ16… (will fill in the blanks in a bit). I believe it’s the last of this series that was hand made in England. It sounds so good, it’s clean but drives well, just sounds very warm and sounds have more definition than my other mixers. Six Aux:) Only downside is that it has only mono channels so you have to pan some. Not an issue for set and forgot tasks.

Mackie 1202 VLZ4. Got it for live approach to mixing, fits on the table with my Elektrons and modular. Sounds pretty good still, and is the smallest mixer I know with two Aux, for a reverb and delay send it’s enough for most of my setups. I don’t really have an issue with pots for volume instead of faders, I’ve found.

Zed10. Don’t really use it since the Mackie. Sounds good but it has some I/o missing compared to the 1202.

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#12

Are you finding the L/R channels are equal? I’ve read elsewhere here that one can be off by like 1.2 dB or so… depending maybe on the manufacturing conditions.

#13

No they’re definitely out of wack lol. But if I set them all a bit to the left they’re centre again ha

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#14

A&H Xone 96, 6 stereo inputs plus 2 stereo returns, 2 stereo sends, fantastic performing eq, 2 filters…

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#15

Midas Venice 320 is my choice. The 32 channels allow me to use individual and cue outs from all my gear.

Headroom is great, eq is great (a bit aggressive but powerful), preamps are really good and there are inserts & direct outs from the 24 mono channels as well as the 4 buses + the A and B mains.

It’s very clean sounding and powerful. Only things I’d love for it to have would be inline inputs (I’m using a patchbay where I run either instruments or DAW outputs to the mixer - would prefer that integrated in the console with a switch) and 4 more buses.

But it’s great and I love it - highly recommended!

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#16

Cool thread!
I got lucky enought last year to find a good condition and not too expansive Studer 961 (still over 2000 euros but still half price of what those are selling now). I have been looking at either this or a Calrec Minimixer for my studio for about a year before this one poped up on the internet, in France, so it I couldn’t resist.
It simply awesome. I had a A&H GL2 before wich was great but crap compared to this one (even tho as most “cheaper” console it had a great overdriven sound, wich this one does not have at all).

I also love to buy very old and crappy mixer for overdrive test and no-input mixing, this Teisco was a lot of fun but I ended up selling recently as it was way too big for the little use I made of it:

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#17

I had the Mackie 1202 but it was too big for me. Now I have an 802, which is missing a send, but gains a separate headphone volume control.

I also use a K-Mix digital mixer.

I like the K-mix for its routing, and that you can address all ins and outs directly from a computer over usb.

I like the Mackie for the fact that it sounds better if you clip the inputs, not worse. It also looks cooler :slight_smile:

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#18

i didnt either… the GL2800 doesnt … well it does, but not in a way that one likes it. For my main console i prefer clean sound with huge headroom instead of muddy saturated sound all over the place

#19

This!

Used a GL3200 for years when I was learning to do live sound properly. Awesome desks, can flip it into ‘monitor mode’ with all the auxes using the group faders and do 8 separate mixes!
Seems like nothing nowadays with digital desks mind :wink:

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#20

Oh, that’s an actual topic for me and a longer story. I tried different mixers and approaches.
I absolutely love working with analog mixers and doing with them 1-take live jam recordings.

First idea was to get a mixer with integrated audio interface and I went for a Allen & Heat ZED-R16. But that was not satisfing. You could only send the channels pre fader/eq to the computer and with the not so small latency of the integrated audio interface you had timing problems with not send channels to the daw. You couldn’t also drive the channels because you would immediately clip digital. Didn’t liked the workflow.

Than I got a new Mackie 1604 VLZ4. The layout and routing was excellent, but not the other things. I didn’t liked the sound. And it had a small sweetspot. Either channels disappeared and were to low or overwhelming. The overdrive sounded really bad. EQ was for me not useable and when I connected two devices in series in the master insert (heat + compressor) I got hum from the power supply.

After this I got a Midas Venice 160. And this was a big step up ! Excellent sound, good EQ, great overdrive (especially on the kick), good routing. Was happy, but not enough channels and it started to break! So, I went for a Midas Venice 240. Got one “serviced” although I think it was more cleaned inside. Was 1,5 years happy and now its falling big time. whole channels fail and must be serviced. But I have nobody in my region who can do this and it would be very expensive and time consuming. I have no time to learn soldering and do it myself.

I was thinking a bit to get a Soundcraft Ghost 32 and had a chance to get one in good condition. That would be my dream mixer with an amazing EQ and sound, but after a lot of thinking about it and chatting with folks in different internet groups I passed. It would be again 1300,- € invest, that thing is 54 kg and it could break anytime, because this good desks are all 15-25 years old and now starts the time that they need recapping. So end of story I am a bit crying to loose the direct and fun experience to use a analog mixer, but connected now everything to my soundcard (24/24 ins/outs). Will see this week how I can work with this and how latency is a factor with Abletons “external audio effect”-device.

From my experience and my requirements there is only one great new mixer on the market and that is a APB Dynasonics H1020. But it has slightly too few channels for me, although I could tackle this with a patchbay. It has great sound, super good EQ with a variable 12db hipass-filter from 0-400hz on every channel!, amazing routing, 100mm faders, mute switches that don’t click and a really good build quality. But very pricey !

If you go for a vintage mixer, and now most of the good stuff is kind of vitange, than be prepared that they can break anytime and you better have the skills to service it yourself.

Here the APB H1020 in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qChJxLoNpxI

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