Rane 2016 or Urei 1620

B

BBL

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I havent posted much these days because I really had nothing to say besides reading PopD and Mangazms postings(which I enjoy reading,funny and yet informative)My question is The Rane 2016 is basically an upgrade of the Urei 1620 if Urei still made it.I normally scour ebay to check for Urei's(I collect them).Some of the prices for the Urei are outrageous I would know I tried to get 2700 for mine needless to say I didnt get a nibble.So I bought a 2016 and the XP2016 and must say wow.It is an awesome piece of machinery.It is IMHO better than the Urei in all respects all the stuff Urei should have put in it.So Im saying to myself why buy a Urei when you can get a new Rane god forbid the Urei doesnt have the 3rd phono card in it because its a mission to get one.So in conclusion if you want a Urei get a Rane instead.Thats my opinion...
 
i allways said it...;)
you can get a mp2016+xp2016 for the price of the urei 1620... and the urei don't have allot features that the rane does.
i love them both, but i can't afford them:(
 
You can always get the Vestax PMC-26 its a rotary no sep/eq's for channels but all and all its a good mixer and extremely clean sound and you can get one for 399.00 USD.Has effects in and out 3 channels 3 band EQ great for someone breaking into rotary mixers.No I dont work for Vestax I have one:)
 
I would agree that (especially for doing a new installation) that the Rane is preferable to trying to buy a vintage Urei. Among other considerations, it's going to be harder and harder to get service on a Urei, considering how long they've been out of production....and a used Urei may end up a maintenance headache. Contrary to legend, things *DO* wear out on these things...the input-select switches can get noisy from wear and oxidation, the pots can get loose and crackly, capacitors dry out and lose their value (causing both hum and loss of bass)...and the asking prices are just plain insane.

There's only a few things about the Urei I prefer...one, the balance controls are useful, two, the mono output is useful for certain installations, and finally the output transformers on the Urei can help prevent ground loops in certain situations and also help give the Urei a "warmer" sound. All three of these things can be dealt with using external boxes, of course.

I bought myself the Rane MP-2016, though...but rather than get the Rane accessory EQ, I MUCH prefer the Electrix EQ/Killer...the Rane Eq's only have a 12 dB/octave slope on the bands, where the Electrix has 24 dB/octave filters...and this DOES make a noticeable difference in the precision of the isolation. Also, you can sweep the filter frequencies on the EQ/Killer. Two EQ/Killers mount in the same 19" space as the Rane EQ, and two units can control four channels.
 
oh, and we've been down this road before, but I can't help but add...

Those Vestax things might be pretty, and some of their stuff is fine for home use...but don't for a minute kid yourself and think Vestax stuff will hold up in a club like Urei or Rane mixers. The internal parts quality is NOT up to snuff, and I guarantee that after five years of hard use the Vestax will be giving all sorts of trouble while the Rane is likely to sound the same as it did out of the box.
 
question for Jmark & BBL: I'm looking at getting a new mixer and really want a rotary......unfortunatly I can only afford the MP206 w/o EQs. Would you still suggest it w/o EQs if I spin deep/tech house or would it drive me too crazy as I am used to bringing in tracks with the hi-hats first? After getting used to the mixer are you still happy with the lack of cueing options? I was looking to purchase PMC-25 befor but heard bad things about it and the mixer would be used in a store and left on about 8 hours a day....the split cue and the isolaters and cheap price would be nice
 
if u can buy the 2016 i'm pretty sure u can afford a pair of Electrix EQ Killer.... only 160$ for a pair, and as jmarkSF said, u can connect two sources for each (so that's 4 if u don't know math, JK) and switch between them
 
You can definitely mix deep house well no an MP-2016 without individual EQ's...in fact, it might be better to get used to mixing first without EQ's. Individual-channel EQ's is something that has only reletively recently become common...all the big DJ's learned without it, and in lots of clubs you won't have it.

One nice thing about rotary faders compared to sliders...you can easily use quick wrist actions on a rotary fader to "duck" beats on one song when in a mix, to keep the beats from "colliding". That's one way to work around not having individual EQ's.
 
yeah, you could mix w/o EQ's, but you won't be able to do those long, smooth mixes... you'll be able just to do 20 seconds mix...
 
why would anyone want a rotary mixer in the first place? I would rather have a crossfader... wouldnt it be more tricky to mix with 2 channel level knobs than with one transitional slider? why would people do this?
 
dj alonzo...

umm, no. People (myself included) are able to do very long mixes using no EQ's and rotary faders.

DJ Chris, try it and you'll see. having rotaries gives you a LOT more control over the levels and making the mix work well....for example, you could never do the "wrist-twist kick-ducking" I mentioned before with a crossfader.
 
Answering your question Housie the PMC-25 is not up to par with rotaries out there(bare in mind that the PMC is optional with rotaries it comes with sliders)it only has 2 channels and I wouldnt recommend it.The PMC-26 (which was discontinued and replaced with the 25) is a solid mixer and pretty cheap to start mixing rotaries I have the 2016 with the XP unit also but like someone else said I learned to mix without the EQ's always have mixed like that I use the EQ's to clean up the sound and bring the mixes in longer but as far as using it for other things like killing bass I dont really use it like that.If you bring in the just high hats and you have no EQ's for it make sure you have them on beat make sure you know how long they are and just kill the other track or bring the bass back and forth on the other track once you can do this you will notice something.You can mix darn good..And as far as rotaries I prefer them to faders for some reason you seem to be able to control the mix better, they dont wear out and Im from NYC and thats the norm here for DJs over 30 years old.Every club had a Urei so I learned on the Urei.But thats just me it has drawbacks but Im cool with them...
 
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One other advantage to using outboard EQ (like the EQ/Killer) with a Rane MP-2016 instead of buying the Rane accessory unit:

With an external EQ, you can preview the EQ-ed sound....but when you use the Rane accessory the EQ's get patched in *after* the point in the circuitry from which the cue audio is derived....so with the Rane accessory EQ you cannot preview the effect of the EQ. That, to me anyway, is a big design deficiency.

The advantages to the Rane EQ accessory: all six channels have logically-placed EQ knobs (assuming you did a normal installation!), the addition of the crossfader, and meters. Also, for those using turntables, my hunch is that the RIAA preamps built into the Rane mixer are probably a bit better than the ones in the EQ/Killer (although honestly they sound just fine to me). However to me, none of these issues would make me want the Rane EQ accessory over a pair of EQ/Killers.
 
After my previous experiences with Vestax products, and considering the ridiculously high pricetag of that R-1, I won't be giving up my Rane for it.

Vestax seems to excell in visual design, but their actual TECHNICAL design and technical build quality leave a lot to be desired. On all the Vestax products I've seen, the parts quality is a lot lower than one might expect for the price.
 
BBL said:
I havent posted much these days because I really had nothing to say besides reading PopD and Mangazms postings
Click to expand...

right back at ya, lou. this thread is one of the few posted in the last month that actually has helpful and valuable information in it. i was beginning to lose hope.
 
Thx Mangazm I just follow your lead and PopD's seems you guys know what you are talking about.And about that Vestax R-1 it is incredibly overpriced I have posted about it several times and the hype they claim for it is such a farce.

New York! New York! One of the hottest House Music scenes in the world! The R-1 is set to become the club standard in the big apple. House DJ?s, Techno DJ?s, Club Owners, Installers, Studios, and Broadcast stations who want the highest possible quality in this style of mixer, will all want to invest in the R-1.

Yeah right its not even available in the US yet,though you can get it in Europe.And our prayers were answered already by Rane.They are coming to the party a little late.I have yet to see one or play on one yet they target NYC for it but have yet to release it.This is one that will gather dust on their shelves.But Vestax does make good mixers for DJ's just starting out and I would recommend them but not the R-1..
 
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I had only just found the R-1 and didn't realize it was a point of past discussion. (it is not possible to do a search on this forum for anything shorter than 4 characters such as r-1)

So what is this riduculous price you refer to? I have not been able to find US prices advertised anywhere so far. I'll admit that visually, it is pretty appealing, and I really like the effects inserts per channel idea. (I can't find any hard details on how the effects routing actually works, though)

I have not owned a Vestax before, and I suspected that they may not be top-of-the-line sonically, but still, better than some other brands. I'm just getting over a big burn on a highly problematic Numark mixer (DM1820X :mad: ) and don't want to buy another cheaply made mixer again.

I think the Rane may be the way to go. It doesn't have the effects sends per channel I was hoping for, but I bet I tap some channel direct outs from the interface connector for the XP unit.
-jasonic
 
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