Allen & Heath DJ Gear

This board has tons of great features. Like the Xone 62 the Xone 32 has VCF filters onboard, although unlike this mixer's larger counterparts you get to set the filter pitch cutoff via a fader and the resonance though a knob. This makes the VCF's really fun and easy to use. Although the manual warned that using the filters takes a bit of practice, with a few goes i was hamming it up like a daft punk live show. The filters can be applied to each individual channel although they only effect the master mix, you can't hear filter effects thru your cans. The mixer has three channels with three levels of EQ on each. The EQ range is assymetric, you get a -26db to +6db but i must say the quality of the EQ's is amazing. The is no change in sound quality when EQ's are given a tweak, which means the DJ can really boost or cut frequencies with the utmost confidence. One well known drawback for this mixer is the fact that the middle channel is not assignable to the crossfader. This is an inconvinience for those jocks who use three decks but since each channel has a phone/line input toggle it isn't a major problem. Each channel has an AUX send/return which lets you listen to EFX before sending them to the main outs. I don't personally use EFX units presently but I'm told this is an excellent feature omitted on many top mixers in the market. The cueing on this system is also a strong point. The mixer has a fader between cue and master, and cue is selected by depressing a well placed button at the top of each channel fader. When set to 'master' the phones put out the pure master mux, not just the master channel, which means that its really easy to monitor and make adjustments as necessary. A small criticism would be that the cueing fader is a little short, but that is easily overcome after a couple of mixes. The headphone amp is loud and input jack for your cans is at the front, which is sensible bc you won't have to worry about snapping your can jacks off if you lean too far when you pick out your next record. The crossfader has a contour control which allows DJ's to make adjustments to suit their mixing style. The cross fader is long and conduscive to long slow blends rather than scratch mixing. Price paid: $1500 Australian UTILIZATION After 4 years on a piece of shit Gemini i was a little concerned about making a big capital investment on a high end mixer. I was quite slow at picking up the basics of beat mixing and now that i had it I didn't want to lose it. So i was a little scared about the 32 from a pre sale perspective. And i'd heard the gain location was a problem. Let me tell you I debuted this mixer at a house party the day i bought it. I mixed for 7 hours without a break and felt great when i came off because the mixer was so easy to use. For a start the board is much more spacious than you'd think from the pictures, the layout in intuitive. The faders are really long (6cm) and feel like sliding a knife through butter. The crossfader is especially smooth even though i didn't choose the optional Penny and Giles version. I have only 2 very minor complaints from a user perspective. The first is the location of th gain pots. They are located out of sight at the back of the mixer. This really isn't a big deal though, i got used to it really quickly. The second is the metering. The mixer has meters for each channel but they are only four led's long. It would have been really nice to have channel meters the same length as the master meters. The manual is excellent. SOUNDS The sound quality is absolutely sensational. Basslines are warm and throbbing, mids are faithfull and highs are accented. This mixer is perfect for house. The filters when applied to not "digitize" the sound. OVERALL OPINION This mixer is a tank. If someone threw it at me i would be very scared. Its rugged, the pots are rock solid, the faders are have a beautiful resistance and don't feel at all cheap. I have no doubts about the build quality of this board. I have never contacted customer support but my local distributor told me that if ANYTHING ever went wrong that A&H would fix it. Love this mixer, its perfect for me. Great execution by A&H. Well worth the money, great sound, easy to use, great "replay" factor thanks to the filters. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: Unknown (January 1-, 2003)