Hi,
I'm looking for a good but simple and straightforward mixer for my Z1. I was looking on BH Photo and saw the Azden FMX 20 2 channel field mixer which looked good but also the Rolls MX124 4 channel submixer. In the UK Im not that familar with these manufacturers and I know in this business you get what you pay for, so if anyone has any expereience/opinions of these or other products I would appreciate a bit of info.

Thanks,

Jonathan

Hi havent used either of those but i ended up buying the eng-44 mixer from pink noise systems as it gave me all the features I needed.

Check it out at:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-channel-Portable-Pro-ENG-mixer-SPECIAL-OFFER-ON-PRICE_W0QQitemZ270252881359QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270252881359&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

I have used sqn mixers for years in my broadcast career but find this a good quality budget mixer with a lot of features for the ££

John at Pink noise is a gent and good to deal with, PM me if you want further details of the eng-44.

Thanks Gary, looks really good.

Jonathan

Just to add the eng-44 is a very quiet mixer, it has tons of features and the meters are very accurate. It also has a reasonable limiter, the only down side is the switches are a bit flimsy but for the money it is good value.

I have mine in a petrol case so that it gets protected from knocks, I can also fit three radio mics and a few extra bits so that the whole lot is self contained.

BTW,

For U.S. buyers, the ENG-44 is marketed by SignVideo (www.signvideo.com), although I'm not sure if they're the OEM. It's also sold by B&H, although it's currently out of stock. Great price point in any case.

14ma total phantom power across 4 connectors would mean pretty much powering more then one mic would be pushing it. 3 lower power mics at 5ma would just put this over the edge. as per spec it should be 20ma per channel.if you want to run a couple of lavs and a condensor overhead, you would most likely have problems. the freq response was not particularly flat either at +-1.5db, and the low cuts at -6db per octave is not really very aggressive and would easily let some handling noise thru. it should be more like -12db.... but you get what you pay for.

I take the points on the roll off and the phantom power but hey +- 1.5db freq response that is nothing to write home about as you cant hear a difference such as that, most pro analogue gear wont be much worse than that.

Also most mics have a top end 2k hump greater than +1.5db

I run mine with a rode with -10 db bass cut on the mic and -6 on the mixer so it is enough for most jobs and the other three channels have radio mics so no phantom required, but as you say if users need lots of power then an external battery supply will be needed as the AA batts will not be enough.

I dont know about the quality of the ENG mixer as I havent tested yet, though for the price sounds quite good.
Anyway John at Pink Noise Systems got other offers with really good prices,
Pinknoise Systems (http://www.pinknoise-systems.co.uk/), its not publicity but I have dealt and worked with him before and he is a really cool guy and will be able to advice you.
Good luck!
Cheers
Vicente

Bought the ENG-44 last month, and used it in a 48 hour film contest shoot. My sound guy was happy with results. Had one problem with a bad bit of sound, though I think it came from a mic issue, and not related to ENG-44.

I've been to the Rolls factory here in Salt Lake. Nice people, great service! +1 for Rolls.
I have the MX442 and used it this weekend to shoot a short. Very solid, built nice and strong.
I had a little problem with a Neumann km184 distorting (had the gain up a little too high), but on the Azden SGM2X audio was fine.

Thanks guys for all the info. Actually I was quite sold on the Sign 4 channel until I saw this the other day.

Azden Corporation - Wireless Microphones For Working People - FMX-42 4-Channel Portabale Mixer (http://www.azdencorp.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=93762)

It's roughly the same price as the Sign (at B&H anyway $549.00 rather than the MRP of $750). The only major difference seems to be the analogue meters as opposed to the Sign's digital ones. I assume pro's still prefer the analogue readouts?


Regards,

Jonathan

Looks a lot like the rolls one, my preference is for led bargraph meters as these are easier to glance at than a vu needle.

I've noticed that some of those cheaper mixers have only one XLR output and some don't have a master knob. Just something to look out for. The SignVideo has 2 XLR outs and master control; I don't know about the Azden.

The SignVideo has 2 XLR outs and master control; I don't know about the Azden.

So does the Azden.

Good. I couldn't tell by the little picture. They both seem pretty decent for mixers in that low price range.

I too am in touch with John at Pinknoise in the UK for my sound equipment. I've looked across the different pro audio equipment companies and these guys seem very reasonable.

Regarding the field mixer, John was pushing the ENG-44 as an alternative to the Sound Devices. It did indeed seem a very reasonable cost for a 4-channel mixer. However I did a bit more digging and came across this review:

Sign Video ENG-44 Field Mixer Review (http://www.thesoundmanifesto.co.uk/SignVideo_ENG-44_review.html)

The general gist is that they've used it intensively for a year and have now retired it in favour of the SD 442.

Personally, I don't need a 4-channel mixer and will mostly use 2... Although there is a chance I'll need two lavs and a pole in the future, so I've decided on the SD 302 before the price increase.

Chris

My company has the SignVideo mixer and I bought an Azden 42 for myself, so maybe I can help...The signvideo mixer has peak reading leds which are very accurate and useful. The various switches for line/mic level, for example, are inconvenient as they are on the bottom of the unit and have to be moved with a stylus or paperclip or something...a minor thing. When we were shopping for a mixer, I found a reference to it being originally made for law enforcement use, it appears to be rugged and "mil-spec" quality and has served us well.

The Azden is compact, has very nice features (such as a mic level mini-plug output for a digital recorder) in addition to the 2 xlr mic/line outs. The VU meters are calibrated to professional +4db line level, which may be good or bad depending on what you are sending signal to. After using both for digital recording, I would rather have 0dbFS meters like the SignVideo as this is what is important in this instance, the VU meters are fine for analog but are hard to figure for digital because they aren't peak reading and are tricker to use to avoid overload distortion, imho. The limiters only come into play on real high levels, not useful. But it is a well-made and very satisfactory field preamp/mixer and easier to wear for a boom operator than the Sign, which is larger and seems to be made for tabletop use.

The Signvideo does have a separate boom operator's headphone out (it'
s xlr, you use an xlr-1/4" adapter at the phones end, lets you use one of your spare xlr cables instead of having to remember a long phone cable, cute idea) /Battle Vaughan/maimiherald.com video team