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Hi,
I need a small board for my home studio, I'm not using microphones, just synths and outboard.
These are the basics:
8 auxes (the more the better, the GL 4000 has 10 and I love this!)
at least 4 groups
at least 20 channels
good preamps
good metering is welcome
budget is 1500 Euro max
The GL4000 looks like the best option after looking at Ramsa, Soundcraft, Mackie and Midas.
I found it used from the original buyer, conditions are 10/10, it's just very heavy and big.
Is there anything else I should be looking for before buying it?
thanks you!

Comments

Boswell Sun, 04/11/2021 - 23:26

it's not easy for us to guess what might be available on the European second-hand market to compete with the GL4000 you clearly have your eye on.

There's a Studiomaster Mixdown Gold 16-8-16 going for GBP350 (EU400) on Ebay UK at the moment - a ridulously low price for that amount of board. You could assemble it as 16-8 (24 channels). I would not rate it if you had a studio full of vintage microphones, but it is feature-rich, and for your situation might well be worth looking at.

Boswell Mon, 04/12/2021 - 02:56

There's quite a lot about the Mixdown Gold (both positive and negative) on the internet.

I've only used Studiomasters when they happened to be the house desk in the theatre or club I was brought in to do PA for. They are reputed to be noisy and have low headroom, but I didn't find them to be much different in those departments from other brands in the price range. I don't know why theatres bought them, unless it was because they offered a lot for the money, which then the theatre made little use of. The facilities the Mixdown Gold had were (as the model name suggests) much better suited for studio use.

The big thing about them is the EQ, especially when re-capped. It was one of the best-sounding EQ around until you got to A+H.

The other is the dual input (A and B) per channel, originally designed for easy tape replay and overdubbing, but could find new use in today's DAW world. You might be able to patch up interesting routings connecting synths to the A inputs and DAW replays to the B inputs.

The price of this one on Ebay is good, but shipping could cost you as much again, assuming you are in mainland Europe. I'm more local if I can be of any help, but any decision to go for the Studiomaster would have to be yours alone.