What mixer to go with Mackie Thumps? Also, £150 for 2x Wharfedale monitors a fair price?

close2u

Recently bought a pair of Mackie Thump 15THa speakers.

We need a mixer (we want 10+ channels) - passive as these are active speakers.

Any suggestions? Is new a very good idea or does 2nd have a lot of advantages on price?

We also have the chance of a couple of Wharfedale monitors for £150. I am not sure of the model number ... 12" I think.

koneguitarist

Look at the Allen and Heath ZED range, good features and decent EQ

ICBM

close2u said:

Recently bought a pair of Mackie Thump 15THa speakers.

We need a mixer (we want 10+ channels) - passive as these are active speakers.

Any suggestions? Is new a very good idea or does 2nd have a lot of advantages on price?

Pretty much any decent 12/16-channel analogue mixer will do the job if you're on a budget. Second hand is usually fine for mixers as long as you check that all knobs and functions work before you buy. Second hand PA gear - especially analogue, now - goes *very* cheap.

close2u said:

We also have the chance of a couple of Wharfedale monitors for £150. I am not sure of the model number ... 12" I think.

Quicker to take £150 in cash and set fire to it.

thomasw88

Use a yamaha mgccx16 with our mafkie thumps and it works very well.

close2u

@ICBM

you don't rate the Wharfedale then?

ICBM

close2u said:

@ICBM

you don't rate the Wharfedale then?

No. I certainly wouldn't buy any second hand with no warranty and knowing the history of them, anyway.

To be fair, the powered subs are by far the worst - purely because of the amount of vibration probably, the tops and monitors aren't so bad - but they all share the same poor construction.

Peavey and even older Laney and Carlsbro etc tend to be more reliable, easier to repair if they do break, and sell for the same or less.

octatonic

http://socked.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ecky-thump.jpg

close2u

There's a Yamaha MG124CX near to me.

Also, @ICBM comment, I know the owner and usage of the Wharfedales ... but no warranty.

@koneguitarist ... no Allen & Heath used near me - thanks, will keep an eye out

@octatonic ... blast from the past

Danny1969

If you want 10 plus channels I'm guessing you plan to mic up guitars and drums etc. If that's the case then a cheap digtal mixer might be useful like the Presonus Studiolive 16:2  ..... Because you can easily spend more in the long run by buying a cheap analogue mixer then realizing you need to outboard like reverbs, delays and you need compressors to tame drums and bass etc. 

close2u

Actually - your question raises a second-thoughts .... we may not need that many ... we had a drummer with electronic kit ... but not any more ... so inputs will include

 

2x vocal mics

bass DI

guitar DI or miced up

maybe one for the drums

Danny1969

Ok well have a gander at this :

http://www.presonus.com/products/studiolive-16.0.2

Any decent used analogue mixer with quality effects is gonna be about £300 or so. One of these goes for about £550 but you get all the following 

Compressor, gates and full para EQ with variable hi pass filter on every channel

2 good quality main effects 

Ability to wireless mix from iPad

Ability to adjust your own monitor mix from your iPhone

Ability to record gigs to 16 track multitrack via one firewire cable to a laptop

It's a bit more to spend but the quality of the mix you can get with one of these versus a basic analogue mixer with no dynamics and only basic EQ is well worth it

I use one of these with one of my bands and it's incredible for the money

koneguitarist

@Danny1969 I love the idea of a digital desk and being able to use an Ipad etc, but I struggle to work a Zoom G3.

I think Digital desks will become the norm soon, but for me I like old style faders knobs and buttons.

I also don't use any compressors and the like for pub and small club gigs, never seen the need.

Which is simpler and easiest to set up if you are relatively inexperienced to PA work ?

 

Danny1969

koneguitarist said:

@Danny1969 I love the idea of a digital desk and being able to use an Ipad etc, but I struggle to work a Zoom G3.

I think Digital desks will become the norm soon, but for me I like old style faders knobs and buttons.

I also don't use any compressors and the like for pub and small club gigs, never seen the need.

Which is simpler and easiest to set up if you are relatively inexperienced to PA work ?

 

These models are a piece of cake to operate as the routing is fixed but your right some people prefer a basic analogue mixer. 

It's just sometimes people go down the path of getting an analogue mixer then finding out they need a delay unit, then they get some compressors and a rack case  and it's all got to be wired up at every gig and they still can't record in multitrack or wireless mix. 

close2u

Ok, Yamaha, Allen & Heath, Presonus if we want the latest gizmos (probably too much money atm).

Is there a reason noone is mentioning Mackie mixers to go with Mackie speakers?

ICBM

close2u said:

Also, @ICBM comment, I know the owner and usage of the Wharfedales ... but no warranty.

Not too bad if you know they haven't been thrashed and/or blown and repaired already. You probably can't do *much* better for £150. I'd still be wary though.

If they're both powered at least you have some redundancy if one goes down. The problem with the old sets with a powered one and a satellite is that if the powered one dies, you're stuffed.

close2u

@ICBM
I'll try to find out what they are / if they're both powered or not.


Further update on our needs. We want:
the option to mic bass & snare on a drum kit
inputs for a keyboard player with 2 keyboards
2x vocals
bass DI
guitar DI or mic from amp

So - a desk with
8 mic inputs minimum
built in effects
minimum of two aux sends to allow separate monitor mixes to be created

jpfamps

If you can afford it, it's always worth having more channels than you need at the moment.

There is a ton of cheap second hand analogue mixers out there (my guess is because people are switching to digital).

For second hand analogue mixers it's hard to beat the Soundcraft FX8 or FX16. These typically sell for around £120, and £200 respectively. 

They have decent built in reverb, 2 aux sends for monitor mixes, good mic pres, LPF, 3 band eq with swept mids, sub group.

The used price of these desks is less than the equivalent Mackie (CFX12) or Allen & Heath products (PA12) (the CFX12 and PA12 despite their name, have 8 mic pres like the FX8).

The Mackie desk has a 9 band graphic on it, which for live work is virtually useless, so I would not see this as a useful feature. This desk has shorter faders than the other two.

The Allen and Heath PA12 has an extra low mid control on each channel strip compared with the other 2 mixers. It also has assignable semi-parametric eq on the outputs, which can be useful.

My preference with these desks would be PA12 (much more expensive), FX8, CFX12 (quite a long way behind).

I don't have much experience of the Yamaha desks in these price range.

impmann

+1 for ICBM's comment about Wharfedale monitors. Seriously unimpressive IMHO. We have a pair and they are rubbish up close, they need space to work and then they aren't loud enough. They seem to be the source of most feedback issues we've had too. 

Did a gig with a different set of monitors recently - Peavey - and totally different story.

Avoid.

David5150

-1 for the Wharedale monitor comments as mine sound really good and havent died yet.

Obviously that last statement is the kiss of death but we'll see!!

close2u

Thanks for the info guys - I keep looking ... not much good 2nd hand gear coming up close to home at the moment.
I'm tempted to use my Thomann voucher and put it towards a new desk.
The alternative with that voucher is to buy some LED lights.
I'll keep hunting.
I'll happily keep taking suggestions.