Topic: Behringer mixing boards?

[Chuck]

Does anyone have any experience with these? Either the MX or UB line? They even have one, the MXB 1002, that is battery powered. I see they are quite a bit cheaper than the little Mackie boards. I want a little mixing board to record small live bands.

[Swampy]

 :twocents: Ive got the MX 802a. Pretty damn nice for the price imo. Behringer got sued by mackie for the closeness in design. But Behringers are a TON cheaper. Some people say that the pres are noisy, but I just dont hear it. I think for the price they cant be beat!  :twocents:

[Chuck]

What do you use it for?

There are no solo buttons or mon feed controls on that unit you mentioned.
I'm looking at the UB1204-Pro. Costs $119 at Musicians Friend.
It has features that would make it good for live recording.

[caymanreview]

i also have a mx802a

i use it to mix signals of all the people in the local band i tape, then i run rca out into my wmod ua5 and mix with my mics

works great... but not portable

[Swampy]

I use it for live sound in smaller coffee house type settlings, and I also use it at home in my mini home studio.

[Chuck]

i also have a mx802a

i use it to mix signals of all the people in the local band i tape, then i run rca out into my wmod ua5 and mix with my mics

works great... but not portable

So, how do you solo the individual inputs for EQ etc?
A normal recording board lets you hear the individual inputs. This makes building a mix much easier.

[Swampy]

pull out the imput... Or just eq one at a time, and mix volume after they are all eqed. But no solos are one of the downsides.

[caymanreview]

i just do one at a time before the fact, or if we are pushing for time i do it on the fly. i cant complain, i got my mx802a for like 70 bucks new from musiciansfreind.com

[Chris K]

i have a mx2004, it is an older blue model and i have no problems with it.  8xlr, and 6 stereo inputs.

it is comparable to the mackie cr-16o4 in terms of features and headroom.

i sold the mackie and still have the behringer. you can get the new version of the 2004 for like $249 new.

i think behringer makes very good entry level pro-audio devices. they are durable and cheap.

if you are going to record bands, you will want something with a little more options and inputs than the 1002 if you are going to record each instrument and mix it down.

if you are just running a coule mics then it should be fine

they even make them with digital signal processing (dsp - reverb, delay etc) which can be useful if you do not have any outboard effects. personally i would not get a board with built in effects but that's just me. I'll let my lexicon handle that

pm me if you have any other questions
chris k

[Chuck]

I usually hate to brag but...

I just scored a barely used MX1604A on eBay $102.55.
It has the solo feature that I like.

I'm happy!

[Chuck]

Oppss...
Someone pointed me to ZZsounds that sells them for $99.99. Out of B-stock.

So... I only payed 2 bucks too much.

[Kwonfidelity]

You get what you pay for in these units.  

Not much headrooom in the pres and noisy.  The faders are weak, so try not to hit them or put too much pressure on them.  Buttons are alos known to go bad.

I posted on another board:
<snip>Behringer's front end is noisy, don't handle high spls (ie-on stage)
well, and have low quality faders and pods.  But of course you're
talking about a $100 unit - for that price it does what it is asked
to do, just not with ooooo's and aaaah's.<snip>

[Chuck]

I still think it's packed with features for $100.
I'm not going to be mixing a Steely Dan album on it.

[Chuck]

I do audio editing everyday using the Mackie 1202VLZ's. We have 6 of them. There are problems with every one of them. We look at them as being disposable after about 3 years. The pots start to go bad after a while of heavy use. The way those units are constructed makes it a nightmare to go in and replace just the bad pots. I don't expect the Behringer will be much different... except it costs 1/4 the price.

[Kwonfidelity]

Steely Dan album?!?!  Okay, then this is the thing for you:
http://www.coopersound.com/CS208v2fr.htm

Honestly, if you're going through that many mackie mixers I would've certainly written them about it.  We run a 1402, a couple of 1604s, SR24/4, and the Cooper and we've had no problems with the pods and faders (until someone accidentally pushed a monitor on top of the desk ).  I guess you win some and then you lose some.

My point was that when you're paying $100 for a compact mixer, don't get upset when a few months down the road it starts to fall apart...