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We have a non pro 12 piece Funky R&B band that plays out a few times/month. We're looking for a larger mixer then our current Mackie CFX20. I found some used Mackie SR 24/4 VLZ Pro's on ebay selling for about $500. I also noticed the Carvin C2444 on sale for $800 this month.

The Carvin has built in effects processers (2) that are probably not the greatest but our requirements are simple - small amount of reverb. It also has 2 EQ - again not the greatest but our needs are simple. The Carvin board is also smaller which my 53 year old back would love.

http://www.carvin.com/products/mixer.php?ItemNumber=C2444

At the moment we're using the Mackie SR450 powered speakers but we might move up to larger speakers and external power amps.

Any of you pro guys have an opinion on which way to go here. Please try to check out the Carvin board at the link above. It's seems like the right board for this project as we won't have to lug around external eq and effects.

Mackies are famous for sounding great and it's half the price. With my old ears I wonder if I could tell the difference in the sound anyway.

Help Mr. Wizard!

Comments

moonbaby Wed, 05/11/2005 - 11:46

I have worked with several musical acts that used the SR24.They aren't the greatest for headroom, but are OK. I will say that I have not had any failures with them. I would stick to the ubiquitous Shure SM-57/58's and not rely on a bunch of phantom-power-hungry mics with that board. It may not like that taxing the power supply.
And now to the Carvin. It obviously has more bells and whistles on it, and it may share a lot of the internal parts with its counterpart. But you will HAVE to ship it back to Carvin if it needs fixing; there are no area service centers for their mail-order stuff. That means that if,say, the DSP or the EQ craps out on you, the ENTIRE board has to go back to them in sunny California. There are downsides to everything-in-one-basket packaging. The headroom isn't any better,either. And then there's the issue of internal grounding which has plagued Carvin designs over the years. They can be a real "noise magnet". Love their guitars.Not their PA. PEACE.

moonbaby Thu, 05/12/2005 - 19:26

And I am in sunnier Florida! Driving a Miata on I-95 in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Buy the Mackie. Plug it into a Carvin EQ. And a Yamaha SPX reverb. Be happy. And flexible, baby....PEACE.
P.S: For whatever it's worth, I use a pair of Allen&Heath GL2 14x6x4x2 mixers to mix a slew of brass-based soul, Latino, and bigband music groups.They're cleaner, sweeter, punchier, and just as tough as a "big board" out there. And because there are TWO power supplies in action at the same time, I have never had a show sonically "crap out". Or "mush out" due to headroom constraints. Just an opinion...