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[Bob Faulkner]

In the process of building out a rig for the occasional talking head/small gathering/corporate work/acoustic duets. Picked up a pair of K12.2's already for this and am trying to decide on a small format mixer for it. Usually just 1-2 mics but maybe upwards of 3-4 and some background music.

Thinking something like A&H Zed or Soundcraft Signature or EPM...or *gasp* Mackie ProFxv2? Would like to keep the cost to a minimum (sub $500 Canadian) on the board since I'm not intending to use it for bigger shows. Would also like to keep it analog to simplify setup and not deal with wireless and an ipad and all that other stuff.

In terms of features, would like a HPF on each channel, swept mid, faders not pots on the channels, inserts would be nice, 1-2 aux is fine, workable onboard FX would be a bonus.

So, any recommendations?

We use the Mackie ProFX12 just for these types of events (mostly talking heads with back ground music).  It works great.  It's most always used with a pair of Yamaha DSR15.

[John Simoson]

I've gone digital too for my trio.  But I totally understand the appeal of simple analog.  I keep a Yorkville PGM8 as a backup and use for solo and duo gigs.  Onboard effects, aux for monitor, great headroom.....really great grab n go.

[Kevin Maxwell]

The advantage as others have said is all that is included in the digital mixers. You don’t need to use a wireless interface, take for example a little mixer like the Behringer XR12 or the XR16. They are really inexpensive and small and have a lot of capabilities built in, even AutoMixing with is great for corporate events with a few mics all up at the same time. You can control it wirelessly or you can just use your computer (I assume that you have a Laptop) running the X-Air edit program and just run a Cat5 cable (as long or as short as you want) from the XR12 or XR16 into your computer and you are all set. The Cat5 networking is just control so you don’t need anything fancy. If you want to get into controlling it wirelessly then you can if you wanted. To do that I would suggest that you use a cheap android tablet or phone and use an external Wireless access point all on the 5gig WiFi. But that can all be added later.

With a digital mixer you can set it up and save scenes for the different things you will do. Since going digital setup time has decreased considerably because I just recall the scene for that kind of show.

If you do go digital I would strongly suggest that you take your time and play with the device and save scenes for your different setups. You can even tweak your overall EQ that works best for your speakers and save that and recall it for different events then if you need to do any more tweaking to cut out frequencies that are bad in the room you can do that on the fly. There is a lot of help for these mixers available here and on the Behringer forums. There are even Midas versions of these mixers but they are a little bit more money.     

[kel mcguire]

I own two small 4 channel mixers for this kind of thing. A Peavey, which is built like a tank and an Allen heath Zed which has better EQ. The Zed also has a real internal power supply and IEC, which is better.

If I know there will be challenges with presenter's mics, Lavs, inexperienced talkers, mains positioning or wandering WL mic folks, I always take a small digital. The better channel EQ, downward expanders, master EQ alone can make a job go smoothly. Typically it's my old Presonus SL1602.

The K.2 does have a decent, cut-only EQ section and the delay is awesome but You cannot run up to the backs of two speakers for a near instant notch

[Tim McCulloch]

LoL lacking just a few features...

You're already wanting to take a knife to a gun fight, so what's the problem?

Good advice is being given, which you are rejecting.  In that light an SCM268 is just as appropriate.

[Thomas Le]

ZED10-FX

[Bob Stone]

You're already wanting to take a knife to a gun fight, so what's the problem?

Good advice is being given, which you are rejecting.  In that light an SCM268 is just as appropriate.

Sure...If everyone here had their way, people would be running $10,000 desks with 16 box/side line arrays for 50 people sitting around drinking coffee on a sunday afternoon. Nobody is listening to the requirements. Show me a quality digital setup including the rack/tablet/wireless/computer stuff to run it (since I don't own any of that right now) that I can buy for under $500 in Canada then we'll talk. The closest I've found is the XR12 and that alone blows $440 of the budget without a tablet or case/rack.

[Jeff Lelko]

Show me a quality digital setup including the rack/tablet/wireless/computer stuff to run it (since I don't own any of that right now) that I can buy for under $500 in Canada then we'll talk.

If you're patient you might be able to find a used Qu-PAC for close to that.  It doesn't need a rack/tablet/wireless/computer stuff to work.  A quick Google search also shows Behringer XR12s selling for $249 MAP in the US.  I know they can be had below MAP through a dealer, so even if they cost more in Canada I can't see that consuming much more than half your budget.  While an iPad Pro might not be within your budget, there are very cheap tablets available at many major retailers such as Amazon for a bargain.  I think with a bit of legwork and thrifty shopping on your part it's doable, and you'll be much happier in the long run. 

To address your original question, the Mackie 1402vlz4 is still available and sells for within your budget.  Having used the vlz3 version of the board it'll work, but doesn't meet 100% of your requirements.  For the same or similar money I still vote digital.   

[Robert Lunceford]

In the process of building out a rig for the occasional talking head/small gathering/corporate work/acoustic duets. Picked up a pair of K12.2's already for this and am trying to decide on a small format mixer for it. Usually just 1-2 mics but maybe upwards of 3-4 and some background music.

Thinking something like A&H Zed or Soundcraft Signature or EPM...or *gasp* Mackie ProFxv2? Would like to keep the cost to a minimum (sub $500 Canadian) on the board since I'm not intending to use it for bigger shows. Would also like to keep it analog to simplify setup and not deal with wireless and an ipad and all that other stuff.

In terms of features, would like a HPF on each channel, swept mid, faders not pots on the channels, inserts would be nice, 1-2 aux is fine, workable onboard FX would be a bonus.

So, any recommendations?

In this realm of small format mixers I have QU-PAC, QSC TouchMix16, and Soundcraft EFX8 (analog).
I would recommend the QSC Touchmix 8. You should be able to buy a new unit for under $800.
They are extremely compact and powerful. They have an easy to use interface on the unit and it comes with built in wifi if you ever need to mix from a pad. I believe it has built in presets for QSC speakers. It also has multitrack recording to a usb drive.

[Stephen Kirby]

Most of the small analog mixers don't have great sound and pretend to be tiny versions of large format boards, with linear faders and all.  Which means you have to find a flat surface to put them on and then stand on top of them to see what you're doing.

These Studiomaster things aren't easy to find.  But I have a buddy who does 5-6 small lounge gigs a week and got a couple from the UK on-line.  Enough for a couple vocalists or the kind of acoustic duo the OP is looking for.  Some basic effects.  Very good sound quality.  And fits into a small rack case you can pile other things on top of.  Always a consideration in a coffee shop or small pub.

https://www.studiomaster.com/mixingconsoles/c3-c3x/c3x/

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