
Allen & Heath ZED 436, USB Mixer
The ZED-436 has a fantastic pedigree which comes from nearly 40 years
of making mixing desks for the professional sound community. The audio
circuitry is based on years of continual development and refinement
and the performance of all the elements within the mixer is has been
perfected to ensure the very best sound quality possible.
This is a mixer for anyone, from entry-level to professionals,
who appreciates fantastic sound, rugged build quality and
imaginative feature sets. It’ll be equally happy running your
gig on stage, recording live or mixing down in your studio at home.
InputsOne of the
great
things about the ZED series is the number and variety of things you can
plug in. In addition to the sixteen mono channels there are two dual
stereo channels, each with a main stereo input on jack sockets and with
additional inputs on phono sockets. the USB return can be selected to
one of the additional inputs so that it feeds either the main LR bus or
the stereo channel.
DuoPreTMBased
on the proven pre-amps from the hugely successful PA series, the ZED
series has new DuoPreTM pre-amps, which use a two stage design, with
carefully controlled amounts of gain in each stage. When amplifying the
signal from the XLR input, the gain range is huge - 69dB of range to be
exact - and is very evenly distributed around the gain control, meaning
better control of signal level. Most of the gain comes from the first
stage, so unwanted noise is kept to a minimum. Line level signals are
simply plugged into the second stage of the pre-amp by using the line
input jack socket, which has the great advantage of less noise when
using the line input.
EQ
sectionZED-420 features a responsive 4-band EQ taken from the
acclaimed GL2400 mixer.
The design utilises MusiQ - optimised slope
(or Q factor) for equalising individual instruments.
Auxiliary sends6 aux sends are
provided, of which 1&2 are prefade for foldback monitoring, and 3
& 4 are switched pre or post-fade for effects sends. and 5&6 are
post-fade. Auxes 1&2 can be sent to the USB bus for recording
pre-fade signals independently to the main mix. Auxes 5&6 can also
be sent to the USB bus for use as effects sends.
USB audio flexibilityGetting audio
to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for live
sound and music production. The way we have implemented this on ZED is
super-flexible and super-easy! No longer do you need to fiddle around
the back of your PC to get to the soundcard inputs, only to find that
the levels are all wrong and noisy. Just plug in a USB lead to your ZED,
select the USB routing on the mixer and the device on your computer and
that's it! Quality audio to and from your PC or Mac. Three switches
provide different send/return configurations for recording, playback and
utilising external FX.
BuildThe
ZED-420 has been designed using individual vertically mounted circuit
boards with each rotary control fixed with a metal nut to the front
panel - making a much more robust product that will resist damage and
give years of reliable use. ZED also has professional 100mm faders for
ultimate control over your levels.
SONAR LE - provided Free!We have teamed up with
Cakewalk to bundle SONAR LE with this ZED mixer. The two team up
together in many ways - for example straightforward recording of a
stereo mix, recording tracks individually to build up a song, or for
inserting a SONAR LE effects plug-in.
Features:
- 4-band EQ with 2 swept mids and in/out switch
-
6 auxiliary sends (2 pre, 2 post, 2 pre/post)
-
4 sub groups fed from each channel
-
L, R and M main mix outputs
-
Individual channel 48V phantom power
-
Direct output on every mono channel
-
2 dual stereo inputs with 4-band EQ
-
Peak and signal indication on every channel
-
2 matrix sections available; can send output to USB
-
Configurable USB stereo audio in/out
-
Master level controls on all outputs
-
Easy to use layout – all connections and controls on top surface
-
Cakewalk SONAR LE bundled with mixer
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