Members tlbonehead Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Why not another Soundcraft? They have some nice smaller mixers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skybluegary Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Hi! Thanks. I'm getting confused with all the reviews. I'm looking at stuff about A&H - what's a word clock? What's a 'solo in place' function and dedicated aux??? See, it's all going over my head. EDIT - Its lookinglike maybe ZED 12fx?? any idea if there are any Allen & Heath stockists in the Midlands, Gary? I'll google and see - but just wondered if you knew offhand. Is ZED 10 enough? Or do I need ZED 16? I would have had to have done a search, obviously Brum has plenty of choices but it's usually cheaper online, thomann is usually the first place I look, or GAK. Of course trying one locally is cool, but the guys on Live sound know their stuff. As a price guide, thomann zed12fx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glepko Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 between your requested choices - quite frankly it's a horse a piece as we say here, meaning just pick whichever seems to make you happier. go to store and try em, see which one has the best interface for you and makes most sense with all things where you are most comfortable. if your considering a&h - your a&h source should also have soundcraft products available -similar products (size, features, pricing). both brands would be a step up IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 The built in effects on the Yamaha MG series are some of the worse I have heard in any mixer. Absolutely rubbish effects. What was Yamaha thinking?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 The built in effects on the Yamaha MG series are some of the worse I have heard in any mixer. Absolutely rubbish effects. What was Yamaha thinking??That's odd. Most people seem to be fine with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Thanks - re the 'ears' - the ones we have on our old desk will fit onto the Mackie.The Mackie will fit into our existing rack mount case.Not sure if the Yamaha ears make it bigger? If so, we'd have to get a new rack mount case. Decisions, decisions!!! The good thing about "rack mount" gear is that it is made to fit an industry-standard size mounting. While the number of spaces used by a piece of equipment varies, and the depth varies, the width is the same. Rack ears are designed to make the item fit. Mixer-only cases can be a bit more of a challenge. While the width of the mounting rails is the standard 19", the cable entry location can add the the number of "spaces" needed for the board. Some mixers also have a greater depth (thickness) to the that can be an issue for some cases. I'll throw my two pence in; as between a new Yamaha and a new Mackie, I would probably pick a Yamaha. (But I'm planning on getting an A-H this summer, FWIW.) Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted May 22, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 between your requested choices - quite frankly it's a horse a piece as we say here, meaning just pick whichever seems to make you happier. go to store and try em, see which one has the best interface for you and makes most sense with all things where you are most comfortable.if your considering a&h - your a&h source should also have soundcraft products available -similar products (size, features, pricing). both brands would be a step up IMHO. No one seems to have soundcraft in stock.Our old desk is a soundcraft though, and we've used that for a few years. So one of theirs should be easy to work with if they haven't changed too much. And our local guy can order one in if we go with that.But, maybe it's time for a change?The store I found by Googling last night has the Allen & heath Zed 14 and a 10fxin stock but not the Zed12fx, but at least we can look at A&H and see what we think. I expect the only difference between the ZED14 and 12fx is one has effects on but the other doesn't.I'm concerned it might be less user friendly for a non technical person like me. But if I see and have a play with it, I might change my mind.The Mackie I saw yesterday, looked easy to work.And most reviews say they are built like a tank.The Yamaha - no one has one in stock for me to try at present.So maybe I shouldn't make life too difficult by trying to chase down one of those. I have enough choice between the Mackie, A&H and Soundcraft, I think. And the price is similar on all.So I guess it's down to - as glepko says, "which one has the best interface for you and makes most sense with all things where you are most comfortable." Thanks for all your help everyone. xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doezer Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Hi I cant speak for any of the other brands but ive always used Yamaha mixers and i love em... built like tanks. really nice pre-amps, fx, the mg 166cx also has a compressor on each mic channel which i find when used sparingly can work nicely (but i dont think the compressor should be a deal winner) simplicity of use, nice reverbs, fx and reliability - theyre the winners IMO... cheers d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Again..I have to emphasise on the lame effects especially the reverbs on the MG mixers. You better check them out before you buy it and regret later. I have friends who said the same thing too. Other than the lame and horriblly weak reverbs, it is an 'ok' mixer. Nothing great though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted May 22, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Allen & Heath zed12fx is coming tomorrow.The dealer is even taking a look at the faulty old desk for us. Very pleased I asked for advice on here. I wasn't familiar with A&H, and if I hadn't spent time googling it, I wouldn't have found this dealer. Looks like he's a good contact to have made. Thanks again everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Susie, You will be pleased! Good choice you made and they are a British company so support should be very good! Great effects for vocals and very clean sound with a great build! You will love it!Having said that, you could have gone to a new Soundcraft as well and be just as pleased, both great companies. This forum is a godsend isn't it? Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted May 22, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Susie,You will be pleased! Good choice you made and they are a British company so support should be very good! Great effects for vocals and very clean sound with a great build! You will love it!Having said that, you could have gone to a new Soundcraft as well and be just as pleased, both great companies.This forum is a godsend isn't it?Rod This forum is bloody marvellous. I'm so glad I joined! We did discuss Soundcraft with the store owner because he can get them as well.But he [and a few others] say that the desk we have [spirit FX8] was a good old desk, but the new Soundcraft ones aren't quite as good as that any more. We just rigged up the A&H, ran some of our backing tracks through it and I sang a bit to hear the Reverbs.The guy did the mixing.We were very pleased with what we saw. Just have to get used to it now.Well, when it arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 Good choice. Hopefully the dealer can fix the old mixer, too. Always nice to have a spare just in case. I doubt if you will ever need it but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure... or is it a milligram of prevention is worth a kilogram of cure...Good luck and let us know what you think of the 12FX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glepko Posted May 22, 2012 Members Share Posted May 22, 2012 i expect you will be happy with your decision. as stated in the live sound forum, a&h is a nice entry pro level piece of gear (as is soundcraft IMHO). report after your first gig! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 22, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 22, 2012 Susie, I will bet that your old unit has a bad solder joint or a loose/frayed wire on that output jack (you did say that tightening the nut on the outer face of the jack seemed to help temporarily...), and would have been fairly simple to inspect/repair for someone who is good at that stuff....sadly you are half a world away or I would have popped it open for you and had a look around That said, it sounds like you guys have a very neat setup and 8 channels is plenty...and as long as you already went with te A&H, you went the right way ....we use an older Yamaha with the band, but given the option to change, I would go to a Soundcraft or A&H before I went Mackie (or Yamaha again). The cost difference is a tad painful up front, but in the long run, it is well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted May 23, 2012 Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 Having gone from a Zed 10fx to a Soundcraft Efx8 (Zed10 only has 4 balanced inputs, the Soundcraft has 8) I must say that as pleased as I am with the sound of the Soundcraft and the incredible value it is, the build quality of the AH is superior. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skybluegary Posted May 23, 2012 Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 HNMD! Happy new mixer day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glepko Posted May 23, 2012 Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 Having gone from a Zed 10fx to a Soundcraft Efx8 (Zed10 only has 4 balanced inputs, the Soundcraft has 8) I must say that as pleased as I am with the sound of the Soundcraft and the incredible value it is, the build quality of the AH is superior.Rod those efx/epm mixers are an incredible value from my experience. they sound REALLY good for an economy entry board. the preamps are decent, same with the the channel strip eq's. aux sends are a little weak on the output is the only thing that irks me. i had one installed at a venue i work with regularly and mixed many bands/acoustic groups on it. the company i work with most just bought a handful of the epm's for small rental and install purposes, including a room i do a lot or lecture/ A/V events. hard to beat for the price. we often recommend the small epm's for bands/groups needing small format low input mixing consoles. my experience with the ZED line from a&h is not less, but no reason to expect anything different from it, susie should be quite pleased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted May 23, 2012 Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 Yep! The one thing that annoys me in the Soundcraft is the power cord and on/off buttons being in the bottom of the board and the rest of the cables being on top! can be a pain depending on where you set-up! Just a minor comaplaint that in no way affects the functionality of these great little boards! Ro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted May 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 Yep! The one thing that annoys me in the Soundcraft is the power cord and on/off buttons being in the bottom of the board and the rest of the cables being on top! can be a pain depending on where you set-up! Just a minor comaplaint that in no way affects the functionality of these great little boards!Ro Yes I agree about the power cable being in the bottom of the desk.That connector which goes into the desk bottom is a bugger for easing its way out - I cut strips of gaffer tape and stuck them across it neatly to make it stay in.I also hate that the power cable has one of those damn power packs and isn't a straight cable with plug on the end. And because the desk is quite an old one, the power pack died on us and getting a replacement was a night mare, because yet again Soundcraft changed the power pack on newer desks and stopped making them for the old style ones.I did get one in the end, but it wasn't easy to get hold of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted May 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 Susie, I will bet that your old unit has a bad solder joint or a loose/frayed wire on that output jack (you did say that tightening the nut on the outer face of the jack seemed to help temporarily...), and would have been fairly simple to inspect/repair for someone who is good at that stuff....sadly you are half a world away or I would have popped it open for you and had a look around That said, it sounds like you guys have a very neat setup and 8 channels is plenty...and as long as you already went with te A&H, you went the right way ....we use an older Yamaha with the band, but given the option to change, I would go to a Soundcraft or A&H before I went Mackie (or Yamaha again). The cost difference is a tad painful up front, but in the long run, it is well worth it. The offer to repair if I was close by is SO kind!As the fault was intermittent and began a while ago, I contacted Soundcraft to get a new output thingy. I got two.But since I bought them, the fault didn't occur until last Saturday.We tightened the nut and it seemed to stop it for the duration of the gig.We took the desk and the new output Monday morning to the local repair guy.He didn't seem to want the hassle of even taking a look.So - the adventure to find a new desk began.And the guys we have bought from have a repair guy too.He asked us to leave our old desk with him.He will take a look at the board and see if he can find anything obvious, and he will put in the new output for us. And he'll do that in time for us collecting the new mixer when it arrives.But if it looks like a fault that will take up loads of time and be costly to fix he will let us know, tell us if its fixable and how much it will be.But the new mixer isn't here yet.And if it doesn't arrive until next week, we'll risk our Saturday gig with the old mixer.But as with the store we usually go to, who has lost our business because he didn't have what we wanted and didn't get off his arse to try and get it for us even though we asked if he could get A&H -the local repair store has also now lost our business because they didn't want to help.The new guys are trying to.So obviously in future we will go to the new guys for anything we need - buying new stuff, repairing, servicing etc etcAnd with this zed 12fx we only need 4 mic channels for my vox, partner's b/vox & sax, bongos and keyboards.So I can plug the minidisc cables into channels 5&6 and not touch the other part of the desk.But if we need to use the other 2 mic channels in future, we can plug the minidisc cables in the other section.So this desk is plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted May 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 Oh I almost forgot to tell you, the zed12fx is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glepko Posted May 23, 2012 Members Share Posted May 23, 2012 - now you know why I felt sick!! So we have actually spent LESS money on the better desk!!!! and for what it's worth, the hidden IEC terminal is in a good place for rack mounted installs - IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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