Behringer SX4882

[Dan Bishop]

Our school music department has just flooded and we need to replace some kit. We had a Yamaha MG32/14FX and need to replace this. We're thinking of a behringer SX4882 (http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/SX4882.aspx)

 

It needs to be suitable for use as a desk in the recording studio, but also as a live desk for shows and large concerts.

 

I know that there are varying opinions on Behringer but just wondered whether anyone had any experiences with this desk or it's predecessor, the MX9000.

 

Many Thanks,

 

Dan Bishop

Head of Sound

PGS Tech

 

Pate's Grammar School, Cheltenham

[Mixermend]

I had a quick look at the Web page for this item and was amused to read the following:

 

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Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

 

This baby’s got buttons. Do buttons look cool? Yes! Is this why they are on the board? No! They’re there because you need them all! But many mixers don’t have all these options, which may be why some sound technicians are missing a lot of their hair.

 

One word of caution: You may have to contend with adoring masses asking if you really know what all those buttons do.

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Clearly a serious product - designed for serious applications! It is certainly priced as a serious product - around £1400.

 

So for this kind of money there is some competition - from Companies that specialise in designing and making mixers - and also support their products throughout their lifetime, with ready availability of spares, schematics and any other back up required.

[mervaka]

the shift buttons on those auxes is a big dealbreaker for me. terrible idea. wouldn't really say I'd put my faith in something like that for the centrepiece of a "large" concert, either. I've just never really trusted behringer to make a reliable desk with a low noise floor. on the plus side, the mix B will be useful in the studio for making monitor mixes.

[Matt Riley]

Behringer have no real pedigree for making mixing desks of this size, and their previous offerings have consistently not lived up to users expectations, even considering the price. They especially fall down with regard to the quality of the preamps, and the eq section which are obviously very important in a recording scenario.

 

If I were thinking along those lines, then I'd be reaching for a GB4 or a GL2400 with 24 real channels depending on the deal you can get. Alternatively, if you're using the desk and not the students, consider the yamaha 01V96 with a behringer AD converter (8 auxes, 20 mic channels, 4 line channels) , as this will be by far the best sounding and flexible solution. All of these will still be similar in price to the behringer 4882, with the added perk of actually having a resale value, and a solid reputation.

 

M

[paulears]

This desk seems to be a 'new' version of the old Mackie look-a-like that's been around for years. Behringer did rather well with them, I even had one until about 2003. So Behringer seem to have a pedigree with this size desk - bearing in mind at the price, and I think my old one was £899 when I bought it in around 199-2000ish? I can remember some of the issues being talked about at the time. The preamps are not bad, can't speak about the ones in this desk, they could well be different. They were pretty quiet until you dialed in lots of gain. Mine was pretty reliable until I started moving it about a lot, when the ribbbon cable linking the boards together fell off! A large amount of silicone type goo was applied over the connectors, and eventually one worked loose. The connector to the external psu was plastic, but it never broke.

 

Bad design features. The desk is a variation on the split recording desk. Each channel strip has two inputs, and the idea is you could plug in 24 mics, and then the returns from a 24 track recorder. One pathway has pretty ok eq, the other very basic. One has the full size fader, the other path uses a rotary pot. So for mixdown, you switch and use the big faders and full eq on the recorded path, using it live, means the return path can be used for sound modules, returns from fx, line level sources etc. Aux sends really mean 4, not 6 in terms of using them.

 

I liked the sound of it, and suspect this reincarnation will be similar. If you can find the spec for the old 8000 and 9000 mixers, you will see the thing is practically the same.

 

It is certainly good value. We had one in college in one studio, and it was pretty student proof - that's why I bought one myself. As a teaching mixer, they are excellent simply because they are big, you can get plenty of people around it, and it's simple enough for everyone to use. It is OK for a live mixer, just a little unorthadox compared to ones like the A&Hs.

 

 

The only other thing memory says people moaned about, reliability wise, was that the PSU tended to overheat if left on permanently, and the airflow restricted. If I was buying one now, I'd simply put it in a decent flightcase and never take it out!

[Dan Bishop]

Many thanks for these replies, It would only be senior crew using this desk really, we have a smaller 12 channel desk which runs most of our live sound, but doesnt really have the capabilities for the biggest events that we do (as I said previously.) We're not talking sellout gigs here, just more than 8 mics going to a master.

 

Mervaka and Paul, I agree about the aux shift situation, its a shame but then again with 8 subgroups usable as outputs too, 4 aux's should satisfy our needs.

 

Let's just hope the insurance men fork out for it!

 

Any more comments, do let us know.