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[Bryant Skillern]

I am considering purchasing this powered mixer for our new church. Does anyone here have any experience with this board?
I would appreciate any input on this, both positive and negative, in order to make a more informed choice.

Thank you all in advance!

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

I am considering purchasing this powered mixer for our new church. Does anyone here have any experience with this board?
I would appreciate any input on this, both positive and negative, in order to make a more informed choice.

Thank you all in advance!

What is your proposed use? 
Who are the users? 
What are your expectations?
What other equipment will this be used with?

[Sidney.Pilien]

I'm not a fan of powered mixers of this size. Unless you plan on mixing near the stage, you'll end up with long speaker cabler runs, which is bad. And that rebate is a sham!

[Tommy Peel]

I've mixed on a similar Carvin board before, it worked ok but the channel strips feel very cramped. Also having the power amps at FOH is generally considered a bad thing, the one I used had the internal amps setup for monitors(4 mixes) and a separate power amp for the mains. The board sounded ok, but it wasn't exceptional. I'd take my Mackie Onyx 1640 or a MixWiz over it any day.

The only reason I'd see to get the Carvin with the built in amps is if you are installing it somewhere that already has the necessary speaker cable runs. Otherwise an unpowered mixer is a better option.

Sent from my Milestone X using Tapatalk 2

[Brad Weber]

I am considering purchasing this powered mixer for our new church. Does anyone here have any experience with this board?
I would appreciate any input on this, both positive and negative, in order to make a more informed choice.

As Dick suggested, we need more information on the use and expectations in order to offer relevant input.  On a most basic level, why are you looking at getting a new mixer and why are you considering that specific model?

[Bryant Skillern]

As Dick suggested, we need more information on the use and expectations in order to offer relevant input.  On a most basic level, why are you looking at getting a new mixer and why are you considering that specific model?

Well, we started this new church plant with a Mackie ProFX12, which was given to us from another church.
We have already outgrown it. Our worship band has 8 members. 7 instruments/5 mics. I am running an old NADY 6 channel board plugged into one of the channels just to get all the vocals into the mix. I don't have room to get all of the instruments into the mix together. The keys and electronic drums are running through a small powered 4 channel mixer with their own speakers, and one guitar is playing through his amp which we can hear good on stage but they are not hearing him good in the congregation.

This is a very small venue (16x32 room). I am mixing from a table behind me on the stage, as I am currently the sound guy and the lead singer and guitar player on a majority of our songs, and we are running two pole-mounted speakers in the corners which act as both mains and monitors for us (we are not using a lot of volume). There is one hot-spot being used for the keyboardist to hear what she needs to hear.
I know this is real small potatoes for most of ya'll. However,  the music is a very important part of our ministry here.
For the most part, a couple of former musicians in the congregation are telling us that the mix sounds pretty good, aside from the missing guitarist.

Because we are new and small but growing, we are on a tight budget. I have $300 dollars donated towards sound equipment so far, plus some saved up for the worship ministry, so need to stay around the $1000 mark for right now.

Maybe I should go with the non-powered 24 channel version (which is like $100 cheaper) and keep plugging along with my 30 year old, on it's last legs Altec Lansing 9444A for power for the time being?
That way I will already be set when we move to a larger building.

[Jared Koopman]

Well, we started this new church plant with a Mackie ProFX12, which was given to us from another church.
We have already outgrown it. Our worship band has 8 members. 7 instruments/5 mics. I am running an old NADY 6 channel board plugged into one of the channels just to get all the vocals into the mix. I don't have room to get all of the instruments into the mix together. The keys and electronic drums are running through a small powered 4 channel mixer with their own speakers, and one guitar is playing through his amp which we can hear good on stage but they are not hearing him good in the congregation.

This is a very small venue (16x32 room). I am mixing from a table behind me on the stage, as I am currently the sound guy and the lead singer and guitar player on a majority of our songs, and we are running two pole-mounted speakers in the corners which act as both mains and monitors for us (we are not using a lot of volume). There is one hot-spot being used for the keyboardist to hear what she needs to hear.
I know this is real small potatoes for most of ya'll. However,  the music is a very important part of our ministry here.
For the most part, a couple of former musicians in the congregation are telling us that the mix sounds pretty good, aside from the missing guitarist.

Because we are new and small but growing, we are on a tight budget. I have $300 dollars donated towards sound equipment so far, plus some saved up for the worship ministry, so need to stay around the $1000 mark for right now.

Maybe I should go with the non-powered 24 channel version (which is like $100 cheaper) and keep plugging along with my 30 year old, on it's last legs Altec Lansing 9444A for power for the time being?
That way I will already be set when we move to a larger building.

What does the rest of your system include? Speakers?

[Tommy Peel]

I would recommend looking for a used(or new if you can afford it) 16-24ch(one that has 16-24 mic inputs) Mackie/Yamaha/Allen & Heath/Soundcraft board.

Sent from my Milestone X using Tapatalk 2

[Bryant Skillern]

As Dick suggested, we need more information on the use and expectations in order to offer relevant input.  On a most basic level, why are you looking at getting a new mixer and why are you considering that specific model?

This mixer looks to have everything we could ask for to play in our smaller venue. Built in compressors and effects, on board eq for both mains and monitors. Looks to be pretty user-friendly for an amateur like me too.

[Brad Weber]

This mixer looks to have everything we could ask for to play in our smaller venue. Built in compressors and effects, on board eq for both mains and monitors. Looks to be pretty user-friendly for an amateur like me too.

Compressors on the Groups, not the inputs, and two limited effects units.  Perhaps better then nothing but are those really the priorities?

It sounds like you have definitely outgrown what you have a single mixer that could handle all the inputs would be a good idea.  But it also sounds like you have several other aspects that you might want to consider.  For example, separating the mains and monitors might often be helpful for both the musicians and listeners as might being able to process (EQ, etc.) those and any other signals independently.  So might getting the mixer out where someone can mix based on what the audience hears rather than what you hear on stage.  I'm not suggesting these should be your priorities or not just pointing out that there may be things that could provide greater benefit than the compressors and effects on that mixer.

You might also want to think about how what you get allows you to or limits you from support options as you evolve.  You seem to have obviously grown in your needs, is further growth or evolution something you should consider in any purchase now?  Might it make sense to muddle through until you can find greater funding for something that will serve you for a longer period than to spend what you have now and then possibly end up having to replace it in the near future?

[ProSoundWeb Community]