Hi,

We are looking for roughly a 16 channel un-powered desk on a budget of about £800. Although it would be nice to be rack-mountable it is not necessary. Ideally 6 auxes, 100mm faders, all the normal when mixing a band really. Doesn't need to have effects built-in as this will be done separately. I have found the Allen & Heath MixWizard 16:2 but wondering what else there is on the market for about the same price, we could stretch a bit, probably £1000 is very tops, I just would not get a few wanted microphones straight away!

Thanks

Andy

I don't think you'll do much better than the mixwiz at that price point - they're great desks.

Agreed. I highly reccomend them as I have used a 16:2 mixwiz at a lot of gigs. They are great, and the on board effects do come in handy, when you weren't previously planning on using any effects, or if all your effects processors are being used.

Just out of intrest how much did you find the mix wiz for?

Graham

another vote for the mix wiz, but I also am a fan of the yamaha MG series, dont know how much that frame sells for though, but if you do a quick google im sure it will turn up results.

the 16:2 is my workhorse. a great desk! the aux fed mono out is great for running subs etc too!

Another vote for the mix wiz 16:2. I have a secondhand one I got for peanuts and after spending 60quid on new faders its a top desk. Eq is very nice and the 6 auxes come in great use. The effects are OK but I use external effects so that doesn't bother me to much. I would definately get a mix wiz again if mine got stolen!

Fogg

Also, my employer rekons his mixwiz has payed for its self several times over (bought 4 years ago I think).

Another vote for Mixwizard, you can build it into a top rack, and place a CD/comps/ whatever else in the space underneath Clicky here for example

Great desk for the money, some of the effects are really not that bad.

The MG series is to the mixwiz what ford is to BMW. No comparison.

Thats Slightly harsh I feel, I am saying I would take the mixwiz over the yammy, but im also saying that I wouldnt be overly disappointed with the mg in certain situations. we have one in our studio space and its simple, yes, easy, yes, walk up to and operate job, which is good. plus I have seen alot more bmw's on the side of hte road broken down then I have the old faithful ford escort

of course you get what you pay for, its like saying would you like a digico or a behringer mixing desk, but for the price the mg I feel is good value for money.

just my £0.02

Another vote for the A&H. Nicely made so long as you dont leave the swing jack plate loose or you'll need new ribbon cables after a while..

Well, I might as well join the mutual admiration society. In that price range, there's nothing to touch the MixWiz.

As for the MG series, they're a fine mixer and I've recommended them in situations where a low price point and ruggedness are the deciders but sonically it's not in the same league as the A&H.

Bob

The only other desks I could think of suggesting would be the midas venice 240 (tho that won't quite fit into a rack), and the apb dynasonics prorack. I haven't used the latter, tho both desks have a reputation as being very nice sounding little desks, but will be significantly more expensive.

Having said that, I'd probably go for the mixwiz!

M

There is also the A&H ZED range, just got a ZED420, it's not rack-mountable but it's a great desk and has what you want on it.

isnt the venice grossly artificially overpriced though? like 3 grand or something. you can get a GL2800 for that!

Hi Andy,

Only one to go for in my eyes. Mackie Onyx 1640, has all the required spec. Long faders, 6 auxes and the eq and output is quite frankly far superior to AH in my humble opinion. Usually nearer the thousand mark but sure you can get one nearer your budget if you look around. Possibly even one with the firerwire card, which is handy but shouldn't detract from the quality of Onyx's.

TTFN..

Is that a joke? I'll let Bobbsy do the rest...

It's worth noting that your user profile shows that you're a dealer who sells Mackie products (along with Soundcraft and Yamaha) but doesn't list any A&H on your website. Where there's a commercial interest connected with a recommendation, we prefer to have that noted.

That said, the Onyx series from Mackie is rather better than the earlier VLZ mixers which were pretty horrible, both in terms of sound quality and reliability. The Onyx has replaced the very brittle and easy to overload pre-amps with ones that sound pretty good and the EQ is considerably better than the almost-unusable rubbish featured on earlier models.

That said, I find the Onyx sound still isn't quite in the same league as the A&H. I haven't used an Onyx enough to comment on the reliability--no problems so far with any that I've tried but it's early days. However, in case of the need for service, A&H is second to none, at least here in the UK.

Basically, if it was a £500 mixer I'd actually rate the Onyx fairly well; at just under the thousand I don't reckon it represents very good value. My recommendation is still on the A&H.

Bob

Guys that's great, thanks for all your opinions, I haven't searched the cheapest price on the A&H but that will come, if the person interested in the price has a deal for me then PM me! I do also have an older A&H desk that is starting to fail, the master section seems to have somewhat died. I no it would be possible to get fixed and probably not for a huge sum but do u think its worth it? I would say the desk is 5 years old at least and is very 3-4 times a weeks for about 4 hours. It's a GL2200 I believe!

Andy

I have replied directly to Andy - Allen & Heath has a good network of Service Centres around the UK (I run one in Devon) - but there is also one in Wrexham - where he lives!

Certainly worth getting a GL2200 fixed, they are useful mixers - his will live on for many years after repair.....