beheringer mdx 2600

[buggyboy]

Greetings friends,
Yet another, "what do you think of this unit" questions.

I have a lead on a beheringer mdx 2600 for around $70.
or a beheringer mdx 2200 for about the same.

Is it a good unit?
Can I expect good results when used to level out my pastor's speaking changes?
He tends to get real soft, and then get loud again. In my case I'd want to limit those swing ALOT, so I'd expect to run fairly high ratios. Will the mdx2600 sound acceptable used this way?

Obviously I' looking at very low end gear. Am I trying to pound a square peg here? Is there a better solution?
Deal might be gone soon, please reply as quick as you can.

Thanks again,
David.

[[Director] Joseph B]

I have a beheringer mixer and have had no problems with it. They do not have as good a reputation as Mackie but they are less expensive.

[TimW]

Installed a 2600 in our system several months ago. Had the same problem as you... pastor's range goes from a whisper to a shout. The 2600 has become my best friend, and greatley appreciated by the congregation. Have had no problems with it after the initial fine tuning.

[buggyboy]

Many thanks Joseph and Tim.
I'm still waiting on approval, but I think I'm just going to get it now and hope approval is forthcoming.

More opinions are welcome, I doubt I'l be the last person visiting this site looking for opinions on this unit.

cheers,
David

[buggyboy]

One more question,
What about the price?

Can I get a decent low end compressor for less than $70?

[zactommo]

I've used a couple of these both at work, and for my church.

The one at church did okay in a live situation, but it broke about 18 months after we got it, I got it fixed, then it broke again about a month later. I replaced it with a DBX 266xl, which is much better. Was going to by a Alesis 3630, but there wasn't any it stock, so they upgraded me for free Actually all our behringer gear has broken down. Am currently looking for a replacement FX unit (non behringer) as the behringer broke, and i'm waiting for the Behringer Ultracurve to develop a terminal fault, so I can replace it with a DBX Driverack.

The one we have at work (A TV station) I use for compression of VT's and prerecorder sources, that are usually partly compressed already. I tried it on vocals, but its far to harsh sounding under high compression, and can have a slight distorted sound to it when using it in a high attack/ratio situation like TV broadcast. The other compressors give a much smoother, nature sound than the behringer.

So basically what i'm saying is that is does that job of compression, and keeps your levels more consistent: It doesn't necessarily sound great while doing so, but it does it none the less. Be prepared for it to develop some sort of fault. Its always hit and miss as to whether you get a good unit or not with behringer.

[buggyboy]

Thanks zac,
I have heard enough stories just like yours that I will expect anything behringer to break about a year in. Still, in my case, if using a compressor helps the audio quality...I'll be able to convince the board to shell out for a better one the second time around.

I have heard consistently good things about dbx gear. But most of that gear is out of my price range. (found a few for under 100...but that's rare).

If you had your pick of compressor/limiter/gate/expander for under 400...what would it be? Has anybody used them all back to back to find the most transparent one?

Theoretically I'm not sure why compressing the audio should sound bad. It's just turning down the volume.

Thanks again.

[buggyboy]

By way of follow up to any who search this thread. I picked up a mdx1600 for $58 shipped. If I had waited a bit more I could have gotten an mdx 2600 for $53...that's what i get for being impatient.

these prices seem about as low as is available in april 2010.

I'll try to remember to post back with a review of the unit.

cheers

[pdc]

When it breaks don't bother trying to get it serviced. Throw it away and buy another. That is Behringer's service policy. It should last you a year or two.

[buggyboy]

I haven't forgotten about this thread, I still intend to post a review.
So far I haven't been able to find a way to get it hooked up and tested in an environment like our main services. I just lately got the insert cable I needed, plus the pastor is ... uncomfortable ... speaking for mic tests.

So I've kinda dropped the ball for a little while, but I'm not worried, I'll get it set up soon.

@ PDC, yeah, that's what I've heard about behringer gear, I'm not against upgrading to a dbx 166 later in the year even, I just wanted a cheap way to see if compression would help.

I suspect I'll end up having the pastor wear a lav mic, just like the rest of the world seems to do.

[buggyboy]

So, little update here.

I finally got around to hooking up the autocom mdx1600 into the pastors lav channel.
results: it helped. I still have some fine tuning to do to get the levels working together. as it is i have the ration pretty much full on to compensate for the pastors changing volume. I am thinking about getting a frequency splitter to send the high end to the second side of the compressor. after running a few spectrum plots a bunch of the changing energy is in the high end.

still, having never used a compressor before, i'm taking it slow. I don't want to make huge changes mid service and screw up the sound.

more later,
David

[buggyboy]

update:

loving the compresor. the hiss i had worried about at the beginning was either in my head, or because of some incorrect hookup. it works great now. i'm still wishing i had more compression available...I am running it dialed up pretty high...probably around 4:1 or 5:1 and I'm still haven't got flat dynamics in my recording loop.

i do think a mutliband compressor would be nice, to cut the high end even more.

but all in all i recommend the unit i got.


i always have more tests to run (i just got a pair or mdx podium mics...but i need a phantom power unit to test them). I'd love it if i could use a podium mic on the pastor...the wireless unit i have sucks a lot. and the wired lav hasn't been well received (but gets really good sound). I've been promoting our hearing aid loop to those that could use it, and they are using it more. we'll see.

this probably closes out this thread. many thanks for the posts who helped me when i was considering the purchase.

ciao.