Review: Allen & Heath ZED-420
 
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2 Reviews:
| Review by | ProSoundWeb |
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| Submitted on | 2011-03-30 12:17:19 |
| I have not used the 28/32-channel versions, but my band uses the 420. Here's my general review of the series: Likes: + The GL2400's little brother; same build quality, similar look & feel, more utilitarian while retaining a lot of the little luxuries that make the GL so lovable. + USB hookup. There is quite simply no easier method of integrating a laptop into your PA, whether for playback or recording. + Matrix feeds. When you're recording live and don't have a 16-channel multitrack recorder available, this is your best friend. + Signal/clip lights on each channel help in a number of ways, mainly identifying a feeding back or clipping channel at a glance and making rough gain adjustments to compensate. + Individual Mono mix. Most Monos are either L/R sum or nonexistent. Allows for an independent sub channel without using an Aux, or a mono PA with stereo recording (i.e. routing guitar/bass/drums to the L/R-fed recording while relying on stage sound for these sources in the live mix). + Per-channel phantom power. Plug in and swap sources without having to turn 48V off to the entire board or a bank of 8 channels. Give 48V only to the sources that need it instead of having to know which ones can't tolerate it (ribbon mics, unbalanced XLR lines, some effects gear). + 2 per-channel pre/post switchable auxes (3 and 4). The possibilities are endless. Bring in a feed from an external source or mixer (say for the MC, or in our HOW's case the cantor) into the band's mixer post-fade while others are pre. Set a stereo channel post-fade to use the monitors as an impromptu stereo system; let the band hear what they just recorded, or listen to the CD track they're covering. If a singer/speaker using a condenser just can't seem to stay away from the mains or monitors, set that channel post-fade, so a quick fader reduction will kill feedback regardless of which speaker they approach. - Headroom; this mixer can handle some seriously high-gain sources and outputs a lot of signal. This can even be a problem for us sometimes, as balancing the entire system, such that input and output gain average zero on the meters, requires pretty low amp settings. Dislikes: - Cost: On paper, this is among the most expensive mixers in its class. However, the rest of the class does not have many of these features. - Size: ZED and GL series both have among the larger footprints for their given number of channels. - Still lacking some little touches I'd like. Per-channel polarity/phase switching (for solving out-of-phase problems when miking drums or guitar cabs), 0 and +6 signal level lights on each PFL/AFL-able source like the GL (for very precise gain adjustments on-the-fly), external source on the matrix feeds like the GL (crowd/room mike for recording), and per-channel pre-post switching available on all auxes would make this a truly stellar live console. | |
| Review by | Music Inc. |
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| Submitted on | 2011-03-30 12:06:10 |
| They layout of this console, the quality and headroom of the pre-amps were what interested me the most. Like I said over a million times now, I have worked on almost all Allen & Heath mixers available to man. (From the ML5000 to PA12) and I still struggle to pin point the difference in tone or quality of the preamps. An ML5000 sounds really clean and natural. The PA12 sound the same, as does the ZED420. That is Allen & Heath’s strongest point. They do not make cheaper mixers, once with less channels and groups yes, but never cheaper. The same goes for the EQ. It is effective and works well. You do not have to over compensate on the EQ for flaws in the pre amps, so you find that even with no EQ the instrument or voice still sounds acceptable. When you do attenuate the EQ gain passed the 3db point either way it really does make a difference and the change become obvious. | |
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