4-way EQ Mixers

[Dj DussT]

Any recommendations on smaller mixers with 4 way eq / sweepable mids. I've been searching for an A&H mix wiz 16:2 which is a great mixer and has sweepable mids. But this is kind overkill for small events and strictly dj events. I don't want crappy preamps either. Thanks

[conanski]

I've been searching for an A&H mix wiz 16:2 which is a great mixer and has sweepable mids. But this is kind overkill for small events and strictly dj events. I don't want crappy preamps either. Thanks Yes it's overkill for a solo DJ, if you have an occasional need for a few more mics then a small PA mixer wouldn't be a bad idea.. I have a Mackie ProFX8 for that and even this little board exceeds the mic channel SQ you get with most DJ mixers, but if you only ever need your own mic then just get a decent DJ mixer with an insert on the mic channel and add whatever processing you want in there.

[Dj DussT]

I like the 16 channels when I work with bands. But most of the time it's just 2 people, a monitor, and my dj stuff. Is the A&H ZED series good? That would fit nicely next to my setup

[light-o-matic]

Any significant live sound mixer will have 4 band with sweepable mids.. but do you really plan to DJ on that? EQ's for live sound are really not the same as EQ's for DJing and I think it would be quite a pain to DJ on. Unless you're just plugging in a controller and doing your DJ mixing on the controller. The Zed's nice but strictly stereo.. my friend had one and we did a festival gig where I was trying to route some extra outputs and got hampered because I needed two stereo buses.. but if you don't need that they're nice. The Mixwiz is a great one for functionality vs size. Soundcraft is nice too in the same price range.. I used to use them for live theatre and liked them.

But I dunno.. if you are actually djing on the mixer.. I think you'd do better with a DJ mixer for DJing and a live sound mixer for live sound.. and put them together if you need to. Tascam used to have a DJ mixer called the X-9 with three band EQ, all bands sweepable. Then there is Allen & Heath with 4 bands but no sweep.

[Dj DussT]

Sorry for not being completely clear. I do have a dj mixer (with 3band eq on each channel). In the past I've borrowed a little yamaha 10ch mixer for small groups, then plug my mixer into a channel. The couple times I've used a board with sweepable mids, I was able to really fine tune the sound of my dj music / punchiness of the bass (if that's a word). I don't know, maybe what I really need is a graphic eq in my rack...

[light-o-matic]

Well.. the benefit of adding processing to your rack is that you'll have it all the time, not just when you're doing live stuff. What speakers/amps/processing do you have now?

[Dj DussT]

The only stuff I actually own, PA wise:
Mixer: American Audio 19MXR
Speakers: 2x DXR12, DSR118, DXS15
Balanced sonic maximizer 882i

[conanski]

The only stuff I actually own, PA wise:
Mixer: American Audio 19MXR
Speakers: 2x DXR12, DSR118, DXS15
Balanced sonic maximizer 882i

My suggestion world be to remove the BBE.. It's en effects processor regardless what they advertise it as, you could use it on your mic channel only but don't put it across the whole mix you're destroying all the hard work those Nexo engineers put in making those Yamaha speakers accurate.

[light-o-matic]

^^ What he said.. get rid of the maximizer, the Yamaha's should sound good without it.
Are you using the 18 and 15 inch subs together? That could be part of your problem.. running different subs together will often result in weird frequency response, and adding an EQ isn't the answer.. you need to match your subs to fix that. If you are lacking bass, adding a sub is the solution.

The other thing that comes to mind is, what quality files are you playing through the 19MXR? If your file quality is questionable, switch to high quality mp3's (ideally all 320K, but at least 256K) or lossless (WAV, FLAC, AIFF) from reliable sources and, if you have been lower quality files you will notice an immediate difference especially in the bass.

I'm not saying that EQ is totally pointless or unhelpful.. it can be. But it doesn't fix the basic issues... You have high quality speakers with their own built in processing, they should sound very good without anything added and if they don't then something's not right.

[Dj DussT]

I like using the maximizer when I'm using somebody's headphone jack from an ipad and don't have the rest of the stuff.

No, definitely not using the 15 & 18 together. Bought the 15 hoping it would sound almost as good as the 18 so I could buy 2 smaller 15's. However, it's in rough shape so I think I'm going to send it back and get another 18.

Music is all 320.

The yamaha speakers sound amazing, and I love them. I'm just saying with the 4-way EQ I was able to dial in the exact sound I wanted super quick. Some events I switch between hip-hop to pop to country to reggae.
I found out my buddy bought one of the zed series mixers. Going to hook his up to my system to see if it's still what I'm seeking.

[light-o-matic]

Yea I see. Well, I think that for your purposes, a separate EQ is going to serve you better than a second mixer. Especially considering the limitations of the Zed EQ which has just three bands (even though one is sweepable). At least with the more serious live mixers (even smaller ones like the Soundcraft GB2R) have more of a real EQ on their channel strip. But even a cheap-ass DSP like the BBE DS24 has a five band parametric EQ on each output, plus a high and low pass.. and then you can save presets for each type of gig you do.