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[Thomas Le]

Wow, 24 mic mixer for $600?! Surely there has to be a catch right? Yes, there is. Initially I though it couldn't be that bad, I had the option of working with this board instead of bringing my Mackie 1604 VLZ, but since I was crunched for time and I needed more channels, I opted for the Behringer. Right off the bat, there was the hiss even in the headphones buss and there were like 4 dead channels, the board wasn't even old I've been told. Line-checking, I had to crank the gain and the meters either told me too little or too much, there was no happy medium. Fast-forward to performance, the whole board was distorting even though I gain-staged the whole rig. The speakers were good (SRM450 v1) because I've used them before.

Basically; if you want to sacrifice dead channels, no headroom, and uncontrollable hiss & distortion; then by all means buy this board.

[George Dougherty]

Wow, 24 mic mixer for $600?! Surely there has to be a catch right? Yes, there is. Initially I though it couldn't be that bad, I had the option of working with this board instead of bringing my Mackie 1604 VLZ, but since I was crunched for time and I needed more channels, I opted for the Behringer. Right off the bat, there was the hiss even in the headphones buss and there were like 4 dead channels, the board wasn't even old I've been told. Line-checking, I had to crank the gain and the meters either told me too little or too much, there was no happy medium. Fast-forward to performance, the whole board was distorting even though I gain-staged the whole rig. The speakers were good (SRM450 v1) because I've used them before.

Basically; if you want to sacrifice dead channels, no headroom, and uncontrollable hiss & distortion; then by all means buy this board.

And this is one of the major reasons why so many initially found the x32 a hard sell.  Up to the X32 I hadn't touched a Behringer board that wasn't very lightly used and still a near unusable POS.  I don't trust any of their analog gear at all. Still don't. Had 2 of their Multicoms that went bad on me within 9 months of purchase. They were also great for adding noise to your signal chain.

[Tim Padrick]

I've had the dubious pleasure of using an SX2442FX a number of times.  I don't like it a bit, but then I don't like anything with only one mid sweep.  However I never had trouble getting a clean signal out of it (unless I was being sent an inordinately hot signal, in which case of course the problem was just the one channel).

[Steve M Smith]

and there were like 4 dead channels

How many is 'like' 4?


Steve.

[Thomas Le]

How many is 'like' 4?


Steve.

I was exaggerating, but there were 4 mic channels that were dead.

[Steve M Smith]

Not sure if it's the same model, but a couple of years ago, I bought a Behringer Eurodesk.  It had 24 mic channels but I think it was labelled as 32 as it included the four stereo channels.

I bought it to have something to show my son how a mixer worked.  I only paid £25 for it and it was sold as seen requiring a new power connector to be fitted.

When I opened it up, I found two areas on the edge of the master output PCB where there were signs of fire.  The screws which hold the plastic sides on had obviously shorted out the tracking. They had also chewed up the PCB a little bit.

There was so little clearance between the edge of the metalwork and the PCB that I couldn't see how any of the same model of mixer managed to work. Conversely, at the other end, there was plenty of space.  Perhaps the metalwork profile was cut out of register with the holes.

I managed to fix it by hard wiring a couple of op amps into the two destroyed areas (which were the master out buffers) but after a few months it gave up somewhere else.

You mentioned a 1604 VLZ.  Mackie often get a bad press too but I used its bigger brother, the 2404 VLZ4 last year and liked it a lot.  At the time I commented that I could have happily used it for about 90% of everything I had done over the last thirty and that I would have loved something like that thirty years ago!


Steve,

[Thomas Le]

Not sure if it's the same model, but a couple of years ago, I bought a Behringer Eurodesk.  It had 24 mic channels but I think it was labelled as 32 as it included the four stereo channels.

I bought it to have something to show my son how a mixer worked.  I only paid £25 for it and it was sold as seen requiring a new power connector to be fitted.

When I opened it up, I found two areas on the edge of the master output PCB where there were signs of fire.  The screws which hold the plastic sides on had obviously shorted out the tracking. They had also chewed up the PCB a little bit.

There was so little clearance between the edge of the metalwork and the PCB that I couldn't see how any of the same model of mixer managed to work. Conversely, at the other end, there was plenty of space.  Perhaps the metalwork profile was cut out of register with the holes.

I managed to fix it by hard wiring a couple of op amps into the two destroyed areas (which were the master out buffers) but after a few months it gave up somewhere else.

You mentioned a 1604 VLZ.  Mackie often get a bad press too but I used its bigger brother, the 2404 VLZ4 last year and liked it a lot.  At the time I commented that I could have happily used it for about 90% of everything I had done over the last thirty and that I would have loved something like that thirty years ago!


Steve,

Agreed on Mackie, I can mix better on my 1604-VLZ Pro (2nd gen with 16 mic) and it was more reliable than the behringers. Even better was that it was in like-new condition when I got it on fleabay for $250 USD! This was the same one that I had my phobia on the bent ribbon cable and since then it work flawlessly. Right now I'm small peas/a weekender in the Live Sound world so I'm still in analog world, no hurry to digital but eventually will migrate there along with Active cabs, getting tired of hauling the GEQ/FX & amp rack and wasting time patching it all in... I want to Plug In & Go!

[Steve M Smith]

Right now I'm small peas/a weekender in the Live Sound world so I'm still in analog world, no hurry to digital but eventually will migrate there along with Active cabs, getting tired of hauling the GEQ/FX & amp rack and wasting time patching it all in... I want to Plug In & Go!

I'm probably even more small time than you at the moment.  Until recently, everything I have done was using other people's equipment ranging from a little eight channel mixer with little speakers on stands up to A & H GL4000 with EAW KF850s.
After a three day folk and acoustic event I did last year, a musician friend who organises events asked if I could do sound for her.  I said I could but that I had no equipment of my own so I borrowed enough to do the gig.
This got me thinking about getting some equipment of my own.  I now have some Peavey subs, the top speakers are some I built myself and I was given some Peavey amps by a friend. For effects, I just have a Lexicon MH110.  Nothing to write home about but it works for the small folk/acoustic shows we are doing and it has cost me next to nothing. I was given the subs in return for doing a clean and service on a friend's amplifier and the Peavey amps were given in exchange for re-plumbing another friend's radiator! 
I currently have a twelve channel EPM12 Soundcraft mixer which is quite nice but I will get a digital mixer one day.  I have used the X32 and the Expression Si3 so far.  I am drawn towards the Si3 but would like to try an A & H Qu as well.
 
Steve.

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