Cheap Board?

[saxman0317]

Hey all..im looking to upgrade my personal freelance system and i was wondering if anyone has anyidea where i could find a "cheap" board, perferrabley 10+ channals, nothing fancy, analog...you know...just for working with the local high school kids

[soundlight]

What do you mean by "cheap"? "Cheap" for some people means something alot different than "cheap" for other people.

I would go for a Mackie if you're on a budget. While some people don't like them because they won't last as long as some of the high-end boards, but all of the Mackies that I have used have performed flawlessly. And some of them have been over five years old. Go for the CFX-16 MKII or CFX-20 MKII (12 or 16 mic channels) if you can afford it. While it's not as good as a high-end Soundcraft, Allen & Heath, or Midas board, it's much better than Behringer.

If you can afford more, go for an Allen & Heath "PA Series".

[AVGuyAndy]

A&H MixWiz. They will usually go used for $500

[avkid]

I've got a Peavey PV-14 and it's rock solid. Ten XLR inputs, 2 stereo channels with 1/4' and RCA ins and built in effects.

http://www.peavey.com/products/brows...1/PV%AE+14.cfm

It goes for about $300 new

[saxman0317]

When i say "cheap" im looking for a second hand board that can take a beating and still run in the HS students price range. Im just going to be using it for a little side job of making the local garage bands think they sound good and get a little backing for the future...perferably in the 100-300 range. Hopefully someone out there has something like this for sale maybe?

[soundlight]

Keep a check on eBay. There's a solid batch of stuff running through there on a regular basis. Look for something like a peavey or a mackie with 12 xlr inputs and a pair of stereo channels. That should just about do it. They're usually in the $150-$250 range. Just make sure that there are no known problems with it and email the seller if they don't explicitly say that there are no known issues. I speak from experience.

[cutlunch]

Some people will jump on me for suggesting Behringer but they do have some nice gear at a reasonable price in the mixers. I have seen an old Behringer 32 channel board in a school provide great sound for a production of Les Mis. I have a behringer amp and with no signal connected and full sensitivity set it is absolutely quiet on the output.

If you have a local supplier who stocks Behringer it might pay to buy new with a warranty rather then a second hand board of unknown quality.

[soundlight]

My old middle school's got the UB2442FX-Pro (10 mic channels) and it works fine, no problems.

[CHScrew]

The music director at my church is a touring musician with a christian music band. (the name escapes me) He just bought a new soundboard for our church for $500. 24 XLR, 8 AUX w/ 1/4in, 1/8in, and RCA inputs. Built in effects. GREAT stuff. I forget the name brand. I don't know where he found the deal but I'll ask him.

[avkid]

Sounds like a Behringer Eurodesk SL3242FX-PRO retails at Musician's Friend for $559 US

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ers?sku=631246