Minimal mixers

[emenel]

If it’s just collecting dust I’d be happy to help with that

[Pineyb]

The fact is, that it has been sitting in a case for a couple of years… which is a shame.

But I do have a 24 channel version of this mixer in the studio… the one pictured is 48.

There is a description here:
http://goldengaterecording.com/id53.html

[mmml]

The tiny little object in the lower right has been the default live performance mixer for both Lance Austin Olsen and I over the past decade: the Headway EDB-1 (now replaced by the EDB-2). It’s about as minimalist as it gets for portability and fine detail sound sculpting:

[LLK]

Geez, Neve took us out of minimal real quick! These things are so beautiful.

[Pineyb]

Yeah… but that Neve is only 6 inputs, so definitely minimal.

[LLK]

Sorta, for what it is! It’s minevemal! I used to record drums through a Melbourne and it sounded like magic. I’d faint with a 24 at home! Is your model a 54 series? I’ve never used one but I saw a few for sale back when I still was hanging out with studio sound engineers.

[Pineyb]

Yeah it’s a 5422 R. Nowhere near the console that a Melbourne is. There are several ICs in it and transformers are only on the output busses… but nice with a lot of headroom.
The big console in the studio is a Calrec… one of only a very few made from the early days of Calrec. When Rupert decided to get out of the broadcast console business, he sold the division off to the engineers. They became Calrec. The first couple of consoles that they made were basically using up the spare stock of Neve 1066 channels. That console sounds amazing.

[LLK]

I think at some point I’d be ok with two 1066 channels and calling it “a minimal mixer” a just running stuff through it no question. Thanks for the Calrec bit of information I didn’t know!

[alanza]

Eventual solution for modular / synths to Norns for shows with two spare inputs for my bandmate’s guitar / vocals. I wish the Bastl Dude were stereo, but I guess it’s really aimed at a different use case.

[bobbcorr]

For about $200 you can upgrade to an 802VLZ4 and enjoy the benefit of a dedicated AUX send and return as well as the option to use one of the extra channels for similar purposes. This is the one I settled on.

[equipoise]

I have one of these and the routing versatility is pretty excellent. The aux is mono though and the pots started getting scratchy after a couple years. Deoxit helped a bit but all modern day Mackie stuff seems to have fallen in quality quite a bit.

[alanza]

I’m concerned that that makes it Big.

[equipoise]

It’s about the size of a 1.5” three ring binder. Pretty compact for how useful it is, I used one as my main desk mixer for a while before going heavily multichannel, and it still easily fits in any of my bags along with my laptop, cables, and a stomp box or two. Big is relative, but for the channels and features this thing is pretty small. The killer feature is the mutes function as alternate sends too so they effectively become a second output bus with full submixing.

[marcus_fischer]

There is also the Mix-8 similar to the 802 but lacking the alt outs etc

[bobbcorr]

It’s not so much big as less tiny.

[rmro]

I just wish Mackie sounded better, they’re pretty grungy to my ears

I wonder if anyone has experience with these:

[bobbcorr]

Not familiar, but they’ve got a fancy website!

FWIW it looks like the model in the photograph - the Arthur Prime 5 - is ~$1,600 USD.

[Quru]

Damn that looks good. I’ve been eyeing some vintage broadcast equipment, on Reverb there are some BBC stuff and some pretty awesome looking pieces by Yle (the Finnish public broadcasting company) occasionally pop up in the used market. SSL Six could be awesome also.

[Jonny]

The aux is indeed mono but the return isn’t which is nice w stereo effects.

Also worth mentioning that some effects I’ve used like Strymon pedals sum to mono anyways before putting the signal through the effects and out stereo. They pass the dry signal unchanged, but in this case I would be using just the wet signal on the return.

[rmro]

I’m seriously on the edge with an SSL Six

Some beauties on here - http://rensheijnis.com/mixers.htm

Another…https://www.audio.co.uk/product/ad114-mixer-10