Low End Mixer recommendations?
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
I have a friend who's a beginning DJ and needs a mixer. He doesn't have the budget to step up to a Rane TTM-56 but can probably drop around $300 or less. Any suggestions? He doesn't need high performance but something well-made would be nice. 06 Pro?
Comments
I found a used Rane 52 for $200, definitely solid, no issues except that annoying phone cord power supply, and the little phone jack thing breaking off.
Replaced my Vestax, which was falling apart...
Gain and EQ dials are nice as well - and I like the High/Mid/Low end drop out buttons - sorta a nice addition.
behringer djx700, about 250$.. nice faders, hi/mid/lo cut switches, eq knobs that work as well as kill switches, decent effects modules.. kinda like a low budget version of the pioneer800
This mixer will break within a year...Tons of features, but made extra cheap in China...I cosign on the eckler...Also, check on ebay pioneer made these DJM707 mixers for a while that were pretty solid, they stopped selling 'em because they were at a weird price point, you might be able to find one cheap used
yes. i take mine to gigs twice a week and it has held up for the 16 or so months that i have owned it. the only effects i use are flanger and echo, but to someone who takes the time to explore the effects (which i have yet to do), i'm sure you could get real creative with it.
imo, the rane has a better fader and better sound. that being said, there are plenty of well known scratch djs who prefer the 909 (jazzy jeff comes to mind) because of the effects. can't go wrong with either.
Yeah - I first saw the 909 at Shortkut's and he swore by it as well. I'm in no hurry to upgrade but an integrated effects machine would be kind of nice since I rarely take my EFX 500 out with me.
It's like throwin effects on a terd, the sound is horrible (tinn-y), even for low budget mixers. Look around on ebay and craigslist. The old Tascams and Eclers can be had for cheap (make sure none of the faders are burned, the replacements are NOT cheap) and sound decent enough. Plus, a lot of them have good features like monitor levels and booth/main headphone monitoring that you will not find on cheap-o Vestax and the like, which are very helpful if the beginner transitions to doing house parties, etc.
never had problems with mine. and it's been over two years of heavy use, in house and at clubs.
I know it looks cheesy but RANE's build quality is solid and having a sampling kaoss pad in the center of a battle mixer is pretty nice to play with.
Or a used:
With some used guitar pedals and a homemade tape loop echo-delay.
this mixer was the shit! only thing they discontinued the series, so if you happen to need repairs, it's a tough fix.