Wharfedale Pro Ez-m 16x2, Small mixer for beginners |
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Nov 7 2007, 07:18 AM
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Hey guys!
Today i was looking at a local music shop's website for some rack processors and bumped into this little mixer, and now am thinking about getting myself this little sweet piece of gear as i don't need huge mixer tables i think this one should do all the tricks i'll need for home studio.  It costs somewhere around 120$. I want to ask those who have some mixers experience: could you guys please check the specifications at this here link... http://www.wharfedalepro.com/Default.aspx?...98&IdLang=1 ... and tell me if it is worth getting for 120$. Thanks a lot! Discussion is more than welcome! 
-------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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Nov 7 2007, 08:04 AM
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Well it is very cheap - and I mean that nicely. For the price it offers two xlrs and a number of i/o including a mix of balanced and unbalanced. Also nice to see a multi led level meter at the price. Multivoltage so you can use in Europe and the US. Pretty simple uncluttered layout. Simple input adjustment and clip led.
On the downside - 2 band eq isn't ideal or very flexible. Low shelf at 80hz is a bit high to me - could cut some deep bass off a keyboard or bass guitar. Doesn't look like any line in is HiZ so you can't plug a guitar straight in. Can't see any phantom power for a capacitor mic. Main out appears to only be trs/jack and not xlr. Noise floor isn't that great. Frequency response, THD are adequate but not much more then that. Can't see the point in a 1/4'' and 1/8'' headphone socket - just get an adaptor. No optical digital out. No faders. Main concerns I have as a mixer is its 16 to 2 - no bus facility and the 2 band EQ reduce the flexibility. Upside is it's really low price. If your main bit is home recording using a single dynamic mic and one or two other line ins then great provided it matches your audio interface on your daw and/or multitrack. Just don't expect a lot of flexibility. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Nov 7 2007, 08:12 AM
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Thanks for the response Tony! Can you please tell me what do i need to plug the guitar in? I mean, can i do it like: guitar->pedals->mixer?
Also - can you give me any suggestions on some cheaper mixers? By cheaper i mean - not over 400$. Thanks a lot! -------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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Nov 7 2007, 04:10 PM
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I have all i need for my sound so i don't want any new "sound" gear. I have Cubase SX3 so i also don't need any software
-------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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Nov 7 2007, 09:14 PM
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QUOTE (Pavel @ Nov 7 2007, 10:10 AM)  I have all i need for my sound so i don't want any new "sound" gear. I have Cubase SX3 so i also don't need any software Hi Pavel, Using your pedals ahead of the mixer can be a good thing as they convert the guitars high-z output to a line level output meaning you can go into a regular line in on a desk or even on a computer, so that should work fine. If recording without an amp though, your sound may sound sterile and gutless unless you use some amp modelling in your DAW to add the sonic effect of the amp and speakers. Guitar Rig and Amplitude are both good choices - I also use Line6's modelling plugin whcih rocks and gives me the exact same sounds as my pod. In a budget mixer, my biggest concern apart from features as Tony pointed out would be the quality of the microphone preamps - these are often the first things to suffer in a cheap setup. If you want to do a lot of high quality vocal recording for instance, I would get a decent capacitor mic and something with a better mic amp, I use a Focusrite twintrak pro for example. If you want to stick to guitar (as I suspect) this is much less of a concern IMO. EDIT: Additional thoughts: Stuff like distortion is probably best done with a pedal, but more generic stuff like delay and perhaps chorus and reverb I would add later in the DAW. This gives you more flexibility to alter the sound after you record it, plus you can use stereo delays and chorus which really fatten up the sound and help float it over a mix. Cubase has a couple of decent delays, a passable reverb (but not a really good chorus I don't think, although you can get them) This post has been edited by Andrew Cockburn: Nov 7 2007, 09:17 PM -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Nov 7 2007, 09:30 PM
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*Cough*n00b-here*Cough* - please - what is High-Z?
-------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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Nov 7 2007, 09:37 PM
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All that Andrew says +1 Pavel.
If you want a mixer for under 400USD though a couple of options to look at are: The Phonic Firewire 12 The Allen-Heath Zed14 - might be a little over budget though. The Alessis Multimix 8 or 16 Not sure about the Phonic - never used their mixers before but Allen-Heath and Alessis are pretty good generally. Cheers, Tony Hi-Z is the particular jack input that you need for an electric guitar if you plug it in direct to the mixer. A lot of jack/trs inputs are line level and you'll hear zip all if you plug a guitar in to it. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Nov 7 2007, 09:37 PM
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Thanks for those. I'll check them out right now to see if i can get those here.
-------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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