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[Goerge Thomas]

Hey Mike,

You are getting some good responses here for advice. Just wanted to give you a separate response and say that as somebody who has been on this forum for about a decade now starting from the beginning of my life sound career until now. The earlier days were a little difficult for me here because a lot of responses seem very aggressive or downright mean and seemingly unhelpful.

Thick skin here will always always help. I never take anything here personally. The fact that you were here coming for advice and interested in learning is half the battle. Most of us started out with no clue and mismatched mediocre gear that we either purchased foolishly, purchased secondhand, or were given over the years.

The good news is that once you have a working foundation of knowledge, you will slowly be able to upgrade things as you see fit and in the order of operations that matters most to you. I distinctly remember getting my ass handed to me when I was young over purchasing new some JBL JRX speakers over the suggested Yamaha club series speakers. In retrospect, the Yamaha’s I still own in storage to this day and have served me well and the JBL’s are long gone even though I didn’t listen to the voice of this board when I started out. Sometimes we have to make our own way whether or not it’s what other people would do. Just wanted to say. Keep it up. Tons of people here with an immense wealth of free knowledge.

The other thing to keep in mind. For a lot of us, this is a partial hobby as well as a living. You can always decide to resell used gear later on. There are no gear mistakes too big to fix. I have swapped pieces of gear with hundreds of people over the years on my way to upgrading to the ultimate system in my eyes. It’s a right of passage.

[Goerge Thomas]

 .

[lindsay Dean]

Please note that the Allen and Heath qu mixers have no scribble strips on the channels that describe what each channel is . I still can't understand on the Q U series why they couldn't have dropped the next dollar or two on the console to have these.
          so you will be digitalish but you will have to still put tape on the board and identify each Channel
and if you have another band playing on your console at the same time and they have different scene /input types
  you have to put another piece of tape with their input list on each channel.= hassle........

 it's a hassle and it's better to find one that's either has scribble strips or a rack mount box that's running on your computer or iPad, andriod.

[Dave Garoutte]

If 20 mic inputs are enough for you, I highly recommend the Soundcraft UI24.  It has one of the most flexible interfaces out there, and can be run from pretty much any device.  No snake required, and all the processing and eq you could need.
You will need a decent 'router', as all of the lunchbox style mixers have garbage for wifi.

[Mike Klemp]

Hey Mike,

You are getting some good responses here for advice. Just wanted to give you a separate response and say that as somebody who has been on this forum for about a decade now starting from the beginning of my life sound career until now. The earlier days were a little difficult for me here because a lot of responses seem very aggressive or downright mean and seemingly unhelpful.

Thick skin here will always always help. I never take anything here personally. The fact that you were here coming for advice and interested in learning is half the battle. Most of us started out with no clue and mismatched mediocre gear that we either purchased foolishly, purchased secondhand, or were given over the years.

The good news is that once you have a working foundation of knowledge, you will slowly be able to upgrade things as you see fit and in the order of operations that matters most to you. I distinctly remember getting my ass handed to me when I was young over purchasing new some JBL JRX speakers over the suggested Yamaha club series speakers. In retrospect, the Yamaha’s I still own in storage to this day and have served me well and the JBL’s are long gone even though I didn’t listen to the voice of this board when I started out. Sometimes we have to make our own way whether or not it’s what other people would do. Just wanted to say. Keep it up. Tons of people here with an immense wealth of free knowledge.

The other thing to keep in mind. For a lot of us, this is a partial hobby as well as a living. You can always decide to resell used gear later on. There are no gear mistakes too big to fix. I have swapped pieces of gear with hundreds of people over the years on my way to upgrading to the ultimate system in my eyes. It’s a right of passage.

I agree George with what you said about "getting your as* handed to you" I have also seen that as well. I really appreciate your input and there is SO much experience and knowledge here on the forum!

I was very cautious to indicate that I knew my equipment was at, or just over a "Hobbyist Level" grade and that I knew the true pros on here would hand me my as* if I thought that I was any kind of a bigshot-know-it-all...

When I was just a kid, we had an old wooden sided Peavey power mixer and 2 big old Peavey SP1 speakers, 3 or 4 mics with stands and some other small gear and we were literally the "hot stuff" sound-wise in my little town way back then...LOL!

Most everyone on here has a true "PASSION" for what they do and their involvement in the music industry... to me it is akin to guys (or girls) who are passionate about hunting, fishing, golf, sports, flying airplanes etc., etc. It is in our blood and hearts and soul so to speak.

I feel fortunate to have the support of the pros on here such as yourself and I will remain humble and look for the information that serves me well as I move up the ranks and levels for sure.

And I agree that this little system in all or part, will help someone else down the road like it helped me... And already a bit later today that A&H Board and the 200' snake will be advertised for sale, and I will move into the digital age mixer-wise

Thanks George!

[Mike Klemp]

Please note that the Allen and Heath qu mixers have no scribble strips on the channels that describe what each channel is . I still can't understand on the Q U series why they couldn't have dropped the next dollar or two on the console to have these.
          so you will be digitalish but you will have to still put tape on the board and identify each Channel
and if you have another band playing on your console at the same time and they have different scene /input types
  you have to put another piece of tape with their input list on each channel.= hassle........

 it's a hassle and it's better to find one that's either has scribble strips or a rack mount box that's running on your computer or iPad, andriod.

Hey Lindsay! Thank you for the heads up! I would probably never thought of that until the digital board was in front of me! I am leaning toward the rack mount box and my laptop, or ipad for sure.

[Mike Klemp]

If 20 mic inputs are enough for you, I highly recommend the Soundcraft UI24.  It has one of the most flexible interfaces out there, and can be run from pretty much any device.  No snake required, and all the processing and eq you could need.
You will need a decent 'router', as all of the lunchbox style mixers have garbage for wifi.

Yes Dave! I am leaning toward that mixer for sure... more streamlined, and NO SNAKE! LOL! The router will be easy, the learning curve a bit harder but not impossible... and from what I  have studied so far, way more capabilities, and it is comfortably in my price range area too!

[Mike Caldwell]

Yes Dave! I am leaning toward that mixer for sure... more streamlined, and NO SNAKE! LOL! The router will be easy, the learning curve a bit harder but not impossible... and from what I  have studied so far, way more capabilities, and it is comfortably in my price range area too!

The Ui24 would be a good choice, I've put a few in installs as well as the smaller versions.
You can go to the Soundcraft site and run a demo mode operation for the Ui24 to get a feel
for the controls.
Of all the box mixers with built in WIFI the Ui24 will still not great is better than most.

For me no scribble strips on the QU is not a big deal as I do most with an iPad anyway, now for something like an SQ yes no question.

[Bill McIntosh]

Hi Mike -- I had that system when I started out, mostly because I found Sweetwater before I found PSW.  JBL JRX115 over PV118 per side, ZED22FX, dbx DR260 (the only good purchase)  and cables, stands etc.)  My "next level" upgrade path was 2x JBL MRX412M over 1x PRX718XLF and a MixWiz; added racks and a workbox to organize everything.  The single PRX sub had more output than both Peaveys.

My advice would match what has already been said, although I would not recommend getting more PV118 subs -- there are other options that would give more/better output and take a lot less truck space and setup time.  Since it sounds like you are playing smaller venues, setup space will be at a premium.  We played a lot of sub-200 capacity rooms and would not have fit 4x subs and 4x tops in the space allowed by the venue manager. 

I have used UI24 and XR/18 digital mixers, definitely prefer the UI24.

[Brian Jojade]

Do you have any recommendations at the $1,500 or less price point for a digital mixer? Or in the alternative, a decent digital mixer I should look for used?

4. And I use use my dedicated DSP for sure!

I'm a HUGE fan of the X32 rack as a digital mixer.  With that, you can sell your ZED, you can sell the DriveRack, you can sell the RTA mic and you can sell the snake.

You absolutely do not NEED a dedicated DSP, although in some cases it's more convenient.  The RTA mic though is pretty much a waste.

The speakers/amps you have may be fine for your smaller events. Eventually you might want to upgrade, but you can make money with them first.

[ProSoundWeb Community]