View other reviews for this product:
JackLudden
Published on 08/10/08 at 12:36
This mixer is a small utility kind of thing manufactured by German audio-on-the-cheap company Behringer. It is not rackable - it's about 6"x9" so it's more of a desktop mini mixer. Technically it boasts 10 channels, but beware that only 2 of them have XLR connections for your mics. The other 8 channels are 1/4" inputs - and they are all part of a stereo pair. So in effect, it's more like 2 XLR channels and 4 1/4" channels that are stereo. Now the XLR channels have a little EQ section and low cut filter. There aren't really aux and inserts like you may be used to, but there is one master effect that can be applied to any channel via a pot. The unit has 99 different digital effects on it, from reverbs to chorusing to pitch shifting to delays. This usefulness is diminished by the fact that you can only use one at a time. The main outs on this are 1/4". The mixer also has switchable phantom power for your mics.
UTILIZATION
If you are familiar with other mixers, this one should be very simple to understand. The only departure is the way the FX send is set up, but that is not terribly complicated. All the typical functions are quite easily accessible. The manual is sometimes not that descriptive, but again most of the mixer is self-explanatory.
SOUNDS
This mixer is not very transparent. The sounds all definitely are kind of tainted and made to sound more brittle. Noise is generated with the more gain you apply on the channels, resulting in rather dirty tracks if you are trying to use this to record. The EQ on this, as you may expect for the price, is not great. However, in a pinch it will work even though it doesn't sound so smooth. The FX are mostly a little cheap sounding, although a couple of the reverbs are okay - I use them for headphone mixes for people who want a little reverb on their voice/instrument sometimes. Overall this thing doesn't sound all that good.
OVERALL OPINION
I bought this mini mixer about 4 years ago. I like that it is small and convenient, and I still use it for small routing tasks like dealing with headphone mixes and small live setups where sound quality is not critical. I don't like that it doesn't sound that good. I've tried a variety of mixers, and while this doesn't stand up in the sound category, it is convenient if you use it for just utility needs and nothing where great sound is needed. These are very cheap, so the value is good. It serves my limited purposes for it fine, so I would buy it again.
UTILIZATION
If you are familiar with other mixers, this one should be very simple to understand. The only departure is the way the FX send is set up, but that is not terribly complicated. All the typical functions are quite easily accessible. The manual is sometimes not that descriptive, but again most of the mixer is self-explanatory.
SOUNDS
This mixer is not very transparent. The sounds all definitely are kind of tainted and made to sound more brittle. Noise is generated with the more gain you apply on the channels, resulting in rather dirty tracks if you are trying to use this to record. The EQ on this, as you may expect for the price, is not great. However, in a pinch it will work even though it doesn't sound so smooth. The FX are mostly a little cheap sounding, although a couple of the reverbs are okay - I use them for headphone mixes for people who want a little reverb on their voice/instrument sometimes. Overall this thing doesn't sound all that good.
OVERALL OPINION
I bought this mini mixer about 4 years ago. I like that it is small and convenient, and I still use it for small routing tasks like dealing with headphone mixes and small live setups where sound quality is not critical. I don't like that it doesn't sound that good. I've tried a variety of mixers, and while this doesn't stand up in the sound category, it is convenient if you use it for just utility needs and nothing where great sound is needed. These are very cheap, so the value is good. It serves my limited purposes for it fine, so I would buy it again.