Most indestructable small mixer

[stunningbabe]

I have the Alesis Usb Mixer. Love it!

[agedhorse]

So buy 5 of them, if one did happen to fail, you're covered and you still saved a ton of money.

The point is to avoid failure rather than recover from failure.

[agedhorse]

I have the Alesis Usb Mixer. Love it!

 

 

Another unit that does not fit the application profile.

 

What is it with folks that do not understand this market segment and do not understand the reliability factor but are all too glad to offer advice that is back to bottom of the barrel?

 

We are talking about a couple of bixers that have an expected lifespan BEFORE FAILURE of >30 years. Install it and no more worries, no phone calls, no excuses... it works and works.

[IsildursBane]

 

Another unit that does not fit the application profile. What is it with folks that do not understand this market segment and do not understand the reliability factor but are all too glad to offer advice that is back to bottom of the barrel? We are talking about a couple of bixers that have an expected lifespan BEFORE FAILURE of >30 years. Install it and no more worries, no phone calls, no excuses... it works and works.

 

 

Any opinions on the ProRack?

 

-Dan.

[agedhorse]

Any opinions on the ProRack? -Dan.

 

 

Haven't worked on one, so I don't know. I would expect, based on their reputation from folks that I trust, that it's in the same high class. Also priced in the same range.

 

I used to be a Crest service guy, so I am pretty familiar with the general approach of the line.

[Dogoth]

FWIW the rest of the system is not bad. MRX mains w/QSC power. The crossover & GEQ are "B" as well (the EQ could be taken out of the circuit as there's about 3db of 1 freq pulled out and is otherwise flat). This system is inacessable to the acts/DJ that share it. It's a single thru trio stage with a weekly DJ. Everything is ported out of the LOCKED rack to 8 combo jacks on stainless steel 4 sq cover plates (the musos bring their own mixer, monitors & mics). When gain staged properly, no one needs to access the rack at all. I agree something that's rated to last 20+ years would be good (I should be retired by then - at least from this company :-).

I really try to sell high integrity. When it comes to our main stage, riders demand it so they have no choice but often managment gets an idea and leaps before they look (or ask anyone knowlegable about it). This is what happens when the engineer is left out of the loop and decisions are made by marketing/corporate weenies. They get just what they paid for (regardless of their expectations).

I just smile and collect my pay. At least I get to work with some great acts from time to time (which usualy makes it worth putting up with the other corporate malarky :-). As a contractor you have to do the same dance, just from a different angle (the corporate weenies are your customers and you do your best to keep them from getting to deluded with marketing hype :-).

[stunningbabe]

Andy...is >30 years your benchmark? Some of us are not as mature in age as you...so what it's worth, my Alesis served me well for more than 11 years without any prob. The only small issue was the power adapter that I replaced after 11 years. There's no power adapter in this world that lasts forever anyway.

[SoundMan]

Well I certainly didn't mean to imply there was any chance of failure. I don't believe we'd offer a 5 year warranty for something we thought would fail. Besides, we all know failures can and will happen at any level.

[agedhorse]

Andy...is >30 years your benchmark? Some of us are not as mature in age as you...so what it's worth, my Alesis served me well for more than 11 years without any prob. The only small issue was the power adapter that I replaced after 11 years. There's no power adapter in this world that lasts forever anyway.

 

 

Are you using your mixer 12 hours per day, 365 days a year?

 

30 years is a good time period. even 20 years is fine under those conditions.

 

There is a reason commercial duty gear costs more... it's designed and built better.

[agedhorse]

Well I certainly didn't mean to imply there was any chance of failure. I don't believe we'd offer a 5 year warranty for something we thought would fail. Besides, we all know failures can and will happen at any level.

 

 

Of course.

 

I am trying to illustrate that there is a meaningful difference between the heavy duty, commercial/industrial duty gear (like your MM and some AA products are) and a $99 (or $199) mixer that is built to price points above everything else. That means different design margins, mechanical aspects, parts, approach, etc.

[Dogoth]

Of course. I am trying to illustrate that there is a meaningful difference between the heavy duty, commercial/industrial duty gear (like your MM and some AA products are) and a $99 (or $199) mixer that is built to price points above everything else. That means different design margins, mechanical aspects, parts, approach, etc.

 

 

A VW bus (actualy an amazing piece of design work for the $$$) or a 1 ton Ford van. Both carry roughly the same C.F. of cargo but which would you expect to last on a daily in town delivery route? You might get lucky with the VW, but 5 years down the line, I'd put my money on the Ford to still work. That's why it costs twice as much.

 

Nothing wrong with the VW van (do they still make a mini van?) for driving the kids around and an occasional camping trip but industrial use is different altogether and requires a different product. I own a few Harbor freight tools just because they do the job well enough and I know I'll only use them every 2-3 years or so. My main tools are SK, Craftsman, Thorson, Crescent, Channellock, Dewalt etc... because I use them weekly or daily.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

A My main tools are SK, Craftsman, Thorson, Crescent, Channellock, Dewalt etc... because I use them weekly or daily.

 

 

I've got a box full of Snap-On from when I turned wrenches for a living. The screwdrivers are worn badly, to the point I can no longer use some of them. Since I'm no longer in the biz, I haven't had access to a Snap-On dealer to get them repaired. But this weekend I learned there's a dealer who services a shop near where I camp on weekends. They're happy to take what I have and get them replaced when he shows up.

 

How old are these tools? I bought most of them in 1981. Except for one of the Philips drivers, this will be the first time I've had them repaired. Yes they are incredibly expensive, but when you put food on the table with something, it pays to have it work when you need it.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

A My main tools are SK, Craftsman, Thorson, Crescent, Channellock, Dewalt etc... because I use them weekly or daily.

 

 

I've got a box full of Snap-On from when I turned wrenches for a living. The screwdrivers are worn badly, to the point I can no longer use some of them. Since I'm no longer in the biz, I haven't had access to a Snap-On dealer to get them repaired. But this weekend I learned there's a dealer who services a shop near where I camp on weekends. They're happy to take what I have and get them replaced when he shows up.

 

How old are these tools? I bought most of them in 1981. Except for one of the Philips drivers, this will be the first time I've had them repaired. Yes they are incredibly expensive, but when you put food on the table with something, it pays to have it work when you need it.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

Andy...is >30 years your benchmark? Some of us are not as mature in age as you...so what it's worth, my Alesis served me well for more than 11 years without any prob. The only small issue was the power adapter that I replaced after 11 years. There's no power adapter in this world that lasts forever anyway.

 

 

That's why pro and commercial installed gear rarely uses external power units, unless we're talking about rackmount PSU's...but in both cases, the power supply is designed for service life measured in multiple decades of constant use.

[agedhorse]

When pros are working, generally the don't want to worry about which piece of gear is going to crap out next.

As a practical example, say the 3 year failure rate is (common in the MI industry) 3% (three in one hundred units is expected to fail in the first 3 years of service). if you only have a few units, it's not too liklely that you will be in the 3%.

Now, if you have one hundred devices in your system like many of the bigger systems have, you will likely have one failure per year.

Looking at real pro industrial/commercial gear, the failure rates are generally around 0.5% over a 5 year period. For the same big system example, it's less that 50% likely that you would have even a single failure in the same 3 years.

Some of the bottom feeder stuff has a failure rate of say 20% over 5 years... the failures in a large system would be freekin' unmanageable.

Now look at say a 20 year profile, on real pro gear the rate may go up to 1% or 2% but on the same bottom feeder gear it may be 80% (or HIGHER).

So even at 20 years, the failure rates are still lower on the pro stuff then the best possible failure rates on the new bottom feeder gear.

There really is a reason why some of us are wiling to pay $1000 for a 6 channel mixer... over the long haul it's WAY cheaper. Every time you have a failure in a system, it's an "opportunity" to lose your job. Minimizing this makes good financial sense for those of us who may be exposed to the liability of a $100k in ticket sales show.