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I need a 6 to 8 channels mixer for a small church. Does not have big budget for premium board. Need a good sounding yet durable unit. The budget is probably $300. I have read some postings and Mackie seem to be a good bet. Allen & Heath is better sounding and better quality but a lot of dough. Your advice is much appreciated. Also need advice on what features to look for, analog vs. digital board, filters for accidental bass thumps, or anything else that would be nice to have at that price range. Thanks in advance.
Howard
Follow Ups:
Check out the Mackie DFX 12. I use a DFX 6 I've used on the road for over 2 years and never a problem. Sells for $250 at Musicians Friend.
Howard, let's review: You want 6 - 8 channels, good sounding, and durable, with pickles, mayo, and lettuce (aka filters and other features). And you're willing to spend $300. I have two questions: When do you plan to replace it? And, how much will the budget be then?Mackie (www.mackie.com) is well-liked for the qualities you seek, but even their smallest Onyx mixer is about $600 at Guitar Center. Maybe you can find something used, but is that a good decision for your needs?
How small is a "small" church: 150, 300, 500, 800 people? Surely, even at 150, it is likely that you can get each member to contribute $10. I'm saying: TEN DOLLARS TO BETTER HEAR THE WORD OF GOD. Who can say no to that? That's $1,500. Get an appropriate, quality, mixer that the church won't have to replace in 3 years for another $500. Get it?
If God wants you to preach His word, the money will come. You have to quit listening to the audio-moron church elders. Give them a dose of the real world (well, at least the world they're living in now). God will thank them later, if they actually "believe".
And yes, Mackie makes some very nice stuff, and I'd recommend it.
I hope this helps to get your feet back on the ground and tell it like it is. Now stand up, raise that budget, and raise that money! You'll be a hero, maybe even a saint.
The mackie 1402vlz or 1402vlzpro can be purchased on Ebay for the budget mentioned. This mixer is 6 mono mic/4 stereo line channels. It has inserts on the mono channels, three band eq and two auxes on each channel. It is also the only compact Mackie mixer that has seperate Master LR faders. I used to have one and loved it. If you need more mic inputs you could buy an Audio Buddy mic preamp and plug that into the line inputs. I believe there are other inexpensive mic preamps available.On the other hand, a used 1604/1642 vlzpro mixer would be a much better option. You would have more inputs avaiable, more eq, more auxes, and better routing abilities.
As the previous poster said, $300 is not enough to be spending on the sound system. Get a bigger budget.
I'm assssuming ;) that your Ebay option is for a used mixer. That's a good option for some situations. I know a middle school band director who just picked up a little (4? inputs, TRS outputs) Mackie mixer on Ebay for a hundred bucks. You can't beat that, as long as it's just for non-critical use, like an occasional recording of a rehearsal or something.But for essential and ongoing needs, I wouldn't buy anything used unless I can see it, touch it, and check it first. In the original poster's case, the "sight unseen" used approach is a gamble that doesn't need to be taken.
If you buy new from a dealer via ebay, fine.But if you buy from an individual, beware. A friend brought a small mixer via ebay, got a great deal he thought, $90. But it was noisy, some of the features did not work, such as EQ. One aux input was dead.
Then he spent another $100 for repair by the manufacturer (who charged much less than I would have) and shipping both ways. This was just a few bucks short of the dealer cost of a new one.
Dear Sir
Special considerations for church mixers. It is often ignored
and should be pointed out that depending on denomination differing operational conditions exist. For instance in the case of Greek orthodox the heavy use of incense could cause early failure of components such as faders whereas with Roman catholic church mixers the sprinkling of holy water tends to cause intermittent faults in mixing levels and risk from electric shock. Great care has to be undertaken to avoid the ingress of water into inline joins in microphone cables, as this usually results in loss of phantom power. So I would humbly suggest not using condenser mics with this denomination. It has also come to my attention that mixers of eastern origin may have been built by Buddhist or Moslem labour and in the case of certain southern Baptist chapters my require a blessing from the pastor before proper operation can be achieved. A good get around for this problem is to use Beringher as the design of the mixer was probably carried out by Roman catholic Germans even if the components and construction are not. I could go further but as you have not seen fit to furnish us with any further details about the particular denomination this mixer is to be used with, having taken on board the afore mentioned operational concerns Vis a vis environmental issues such as the likelihood of the ingress of snakes etc. I feel unable to help you further in this matter.
Regards Mark Fairfax-Harwood
Engineer: Cradle of Filth/ Agnostic/Wican
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