What's the MT-71s of consoles?

[MrJoshua]

 

Some of my nieces and nephews are getting into music, and I'm thinking about giving them my practice room PA for Christmas.  As I got to looking at what I'd need to replace to do that, it dawned on me that since I use my studio space for band rehearsals as well I should at least give thought to the option of going with a small studio console that I could use for mixing outside the box (even if only stems) plus running the PA mains.

 

Now, I'm a small project studio.  I mostly do personal stuff, although I do have local bands come in and record sometimes.  I really consider myself more of a dedicated hobbyist since I don't make my living with music projects.  I have converters, a pretty decent preamp rack, and what I consider a decent mic collection for a personal project studio (because I'm single and don't have any kids to spend money on, so it has to go somewhere, right?  Right).  Possibly my most prized microphone would be my Microtech Gefell MT-71s, which I consider to rank extremely high on the value category - it isn't cheap, but it's WAY less expensive than a lot of mics and sounds fantastic.

 

So, is there a console equivalent of that?  Not necessarily cheap, but something that will give good quality results in a small project studio for a reasonable price?  I've been eyeballing the Toft consoles but I've read a lot of really mixed reviews.  I have a two-channel mic preamp/EQ from Toft and think the EQ sounds fantastic.  The preamps are fairly meh, but that isn't really a concern because I have preamps already (API, Great River, Neve Portico, Chandler Germanium, etc...).

 

Maybe it's a pipe dream and there isn't really anything in that medium range worth checking out, but I thought I'd ask.  I'm probably willing to go into the $5-7k range if it's something really usable, especially if it would replace some of my existing gear so I could sell a few things to help fund it.  And maybe this will just reconfirm that for my particular situation I'm better off in the box.  But this is a good opportunity to do some exploring, anyway.

 

Thanks for any input!

[witesol]

It might depend on what you're after, great summing or something that could track a band and run a PA. Sometimes those two functions don't go together that well. If you have good preamps already, maybe something simple like a ZED R16 would do both faily well. You'd get firewire, A/D a pile of decent preamps for a live band session, mon sends, 4 subs. $2k. 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Yeah, an A&H might not be a bad idea.

 

[mistersully]

 

i'm very happy with my midas venice f24 (also comes in 16 or 32)... it is firewire though (or you could use your existing convertors)

 

here's a pretty big thread about them on gearslutz http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/529512-midas-venicef-series.html

 

i can't see myself going back to completely ITB any time soon

[CME]

As an A&H iLive user I can recommend their digital boards. They've got a new small one qu-16, and their GLD also looks very interesting. I'm pretty sure the GLD can use the Dante option card. That would be a slick set-up for recording.

 

And if you want something analog I like their mixwiz mixers. My dad's band has one that is really a great mixer for less than $999. Not sure how well it would do in the studio but I've recorded them off the direct outputs with good results.

 

Theirs also the presonus studiolive that seems popular. I also used to own a couple of ddx3216. So behringer's new digital mixers also iterest me.

[DanBAP]

If you want analog and have some space, you should keep an eye on ebay for used live consoles. Older 40+ch top-of-the-line touring desks are going for sickeningly cheap these days, like Midas and Yamaha desks for under $5k. There was a PM4000 listed a couple weeks ago for $1700 including shipping.