Members Magpel Posted June 23, 2006 Members Share Posted June 23, 2006 Hi, I been lurking (almost stalking ) this forum for the better part of two weeks as I plot my rehearsal room/small venue system for a primarily acoustic band. Does anyone have experience with both the E and M line of Soundcraft Spirit mixers? From a distance, the substantive differences seem to be in the build and in the M series' addition of a SPDIF out. I am wondering in particular if they use the same pres and electronics generally. Heck, why don't I throw the FX series into the comparison too, which seem to be the E with a Lexcon chip onboard. [Edit] In your opinion if you have one, how do the spirit series mic pres compare to Mackie's VLZ series pres? TIA! Great forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 496dart Posted June 24, 2006 Members Share Posted June 24, 2006 i mix on a Spirit almost every night - LX7 ?--im horrible with model #'s--sorry. 24 ch. 4 bus. I love it for what it does and the great EQ . not top of the line but a very nice small desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 496dart Posted June 24, 2006 Members Share Posted June 24, 2006 as far as the souncraft vs mackie mic pre's? The older Mackie vlz ? not close ...the SC is way better. BUT---i recently did a small tour and got on a big-ass New Mackie with the Onyx pre amps--it sounded great. I didnt have a bunch of time to listen to it though... sorry....that was a crappy review.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 24, 2006 Members Share Posted June 24, 2006 No history with the cheap series but I do really like my M12 as a somewhat budget rackmount mixer. I also have this model Peavey,which has more features,more channels,and at least an equivolent build quality. http://www.proaudioreview.com/may01/PEAVEY-RSM-4062-web.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted June 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 24, 2006 Well, that's encouraging. I feed my DAW with a Mackie 14 VLZ Pro, and I actually find the pres pretty solid--clean at least. So if the Spirit pres are at least comparable to that, I'm good. You would think thast the M series and E series used the same pres, as the M's Digital out, increased routing flexibility and superior build seems like plenty to account for the cost difference, but I haven't gotten any verification on this...maybe I should ask soundcraft? Spend a bit time around here and you seem to find yourself moving inexorably toward Allen & Heath, so I'm tracking the used market on those too, the MixWix and the barebones series. But they do run a little pricey for 12 channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted June 26, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 26, 2006 Just so this thread contans some sembalnce of and answer to its question... Upon closer investigation, the Spirit promotional brochure strongly implies that the same preamps are used throughout the Spirit series -- FX, M, E and Notepad. Implied, I say, because the Spirit brochure begins with global information, including a section on the UltraMic preamp, before it offers detailed info on each Spirit line. The implication is thus that the UltraMic pres are common all Spirits, and the line-specific literature says nothing to contradict this. In case anyone down the road is wondering the same thing I was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A.J.acoustics Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 I and my partner gig small to medium size venues as an acoustic duo. We mike guitars and also go direct through the board. Allen Heath PA-12 series for $640 gives us 4 band parametric EQ; w/FX (mixwiz has seperate engines running both). Very good sounding preamp. Powered Yorkies (NX55P) round out a very clean easily transportable and versatile sound system. Check it out. A.J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted June 29, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 I ended up getting a Soundcraft FX8 for my current purposes, even as I was feeling myself pulled toward the "higher road" of Allen & Heath. (Funny how buying higher end gear feels almost virtuous.) but I reached my "enough's enough" line. I've gotta get a decent acoustic guitar pickup system out of this little pile of cash, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A.J.acoustics Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 $ make the world go round. As a financial planner, I know where you are comming from and glad to see you have good discipline. Don't let the GAS or anyother acqisition syndrome get you off track. Soundcraft board is an excellent choice (actually, i think Allen-Heath might own them them?) and I've heard lots of good reviews. Pickups for the ax's are equally if not more important in choosing what will mate well with your guitar and give you that special sound you are looking for. What do you play? I actually bought a whole new and fairly expensive guitar because the Ovation Elite I was using had a terrible p/u system. It is a fantastic sounding acoustic guitar (1537, built around 1978+-) but had terrible electronics. Rather than add a p/u, I went with a new guitar with integral electronics built in. Acoustic guitars are becomming very popular as new technologies advance to allow us to find and create unique new sounds. Good luck, A.J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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