gnomatron Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I'm looking for a tiny little mixer, with at least one stereo channel with gain and EQ. it needs to be small enough to sling in a rucksack along with all the other crap (tools, tape, gameboy) I normally take to a gig. So far, I've found the two very small ones behringer do, which are bloody cheap and would probably do the job, but I was wondering if there are any other ones I should look at? It doesn't have to be great, I basically just want it to connect to my mp3 player for recording gigs off the desk. I had an annoying situation at the weekend where I was recording a dj set for a promoter and the sound desk we were running the dj's mix through didn't have a decent record or sub out, leaving me with sod-all control of the recording level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris999998 Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I'm looking for a tiny little mixer, with at least one stereo channel with gain and EQ. [...] So far, I've found the two very small ones behringer do, which are bloody cheap and would probably do the job, [...] It doesn't have to be great, I basically just want it to connect to my mp3 player for recording gigs off the desk. [...]<{POST_SNAPBACK}> As far as the behringer ones go, I've got a UB802, which I use for running different sources into my hi-fi amp (CD player, PC, etcetera). This has 2 mono channels (XLR and Jack, with preamp, pan and EQ) and 2 stereo both with 3 band EQ. This sort of thing would seem to be ok for what you want. I've had no problems with this desk, although I haven't moved it around a lot so can't be certain on the ruggedness as t'were, though it seems pretty durable. HTH,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Alternatively, what about a recording device which you can control the recording level from that rather than the desk? My minidisc recorder can do something like that (badly). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnomatron Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 I just spent 250 quid on a shiny new iriver - 40gb hdd mp3 player with line-in - and the reason it won over the ipod was the recording capability. I'll be damned if I buy another recorder now! :unsure: (unless I end up wanting a proper one) It has recording levels, but they can't be changed while it's recording, which is a bit rubbish. I figure a little mixer would let me control the level well enough, and it's likely to be a handy thing to have lying about - the behringer I was looking at was the UB802, that chris999998 has. actually, that's a thought - does it have pfl at all? on the pictures of it I've found I can't see any pfl buttons. It's not vital, but, y'know, it'd be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 actually, that's a thought - does it have pfl at all? on the pictures of it I've found I can't see any pfl buttons. It's not vital, but, y'know, it'd be nice.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>No PFL. I've had one for a while now, and taken it around a bit but not really abused it. I quite like it and have found the tape in and out useful to monitor the recording of audio onto a VTR before. HTH PN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Si Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 what about the Spirit Notepad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Another option would be the Samson mixpad range - they do 4,9 and 12 channel versions. The 4 ch has 2x mic/line inputs, individually switched phantom, and 1 stereo line input. I used to have one of the 12 channel ones, which was fine. Quiet enough for what I was doing, only criticism was that the knobs were a bit fiddly - but what do you expect from a small mixer :unsure: Don't know if they're still being manufactured. They were ridiculously expensive at list price, but you sometimes see them on ebay for about 50 quid.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Folio notepad, cheap and good. Has external psu with funny connector though. The release tab broke off the connector on my notepads pawer supply, and now I have to use a fingernail to release the connector. Mackie 1202, very good, much higher quality than the notepad, have used its bigger brother the 1402 quite a bit, and the 1202 a little. Behringer stuff, same as the folio really, slightly cheaper. [edit] Mackie do a 2 mic, 2 stereo mixer in their tapco budget range. Can't remember its name/number though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Actually, I'd almost prefer a Behringer over the Notepad.... Notepad psu's have done funny things (desk appears to be working but psu has "locked up"), gain range seems insufficient, etc. However, we tried using a small Behringer for Smaart, and found it had mains hum problems.... Ended up using a small Mackie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 The notepad that is sitting next to me right now doing the in/out routing for my mini studio, works fine apart from the psu problem previously discussed. The gain range is a bit small and the preamps aren't then quietest in the world, but it mixes 4 mics, 2 stereo channels and costs about £80 at street prices. What more do you want for the price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 What more do you want for the price?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> erm... reliability I guess. I've wasted plenty of time trying to get the three or four Notepads we use to work. The Behringer ones are less than half the price and I can order them as consumables. Plus, the little Behringer hasn't broken down on me in two years.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Fair enough. In my experience I haven't had any trouble with my notepad and it goes to very gig I do in case I need an extra input on the desk, or a submix for some backstage feed, or to use a headphone preamp when I'm drumming. The behringer stuff I have worked with, excepting the DDX3216, seems to be very unreliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Behringer UB502 - 1 (!) mic input plus 2 stereo line ins. GBP 24 from Digital VillageBehringer UB802 - 2 mic inputs plus 3 stereo line ins. GBP 32 from Digital Village At those prices, it's silly not to! I've got one of the previous UB802s (4 mic inputs and 2 stereo line ins) and a UB2222FX which both work a treat. The 802 has been going for about 5-6 years with regular (more than weekly) use. The only minor drawback is the lack of an internal PSU on the tiniest mixers, but I think you'll find that to be the norm on pretty much all of them. Gives the potential for lower noise, but still another piece to lose/break. Or, for flexibility, there's also due out soon the UBB1002, 5 mic inputs, plus some line combinations. A bit bigger, but with the option of running off a battery - 4 hours from a PP3. List price GBP 78.http://www.behringer.com/UBB1002/index.cfm?lang=ENG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnomatron Posted July 6, 2005 Author Share Posted July 6, 2005 hmm, nice. I think I might go for the ub1002 - 2 mics and 4 stereo ins! very nice, for under 40 quid... (edit) - yeah, just bought the ub1002 (this one); got it, including postage, for about 41 quid from bluearan.co.uk. The problem with buying it from Turnkey or digital village was they had a flat fee of 10 quid postage! Sod that on a 35 quid mixer :P I'll let you all know how I get on with it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilthigore Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Folio notepad, cheap and good. Has external psu with funny connector though. The release tab broke off the connector on my notepads pawer supply, and now I have to use a fingernail to release the connector. Similar thing happened to the ones I work with. It really is a design problem: why can't it just use some kind of normal connector (wouldn't a 4-pin XLR do what they want?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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