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  #1  
Old 01-05-2018, 06:51 AM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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Default Best compact mixer that can be power-supplied by external battery

Hi,
I'm thinking about getting a nice mixer for plugging in acoustic guitar and microphones (both a mic'd guitar as well as vocals). But I really would like to be able power the mixer from a battery, external pack is no problem. So it needs to accept DC input on a "standard plug" so that I can build my own cable and connect that to a pack of rechargable batteries or similar.

I used to have an Yamaha AG06 mostly for recording, but I sold it as I didn't use it. It was really convenient though as you could power it with a regular USB power bank (as you would have for a phone). But the AG06 is not really suited for live use, it has no balanced output.

The Yamaha MG10XU looks really good, but as I understand it use an external AC adapter, and not a DC. This makes it much harder.

The MG10XU has a compressor for channels 1-2, and this is something I would like to have. So alternatives to the MG10XU with that feature is a bonus.

I also want good effects suitable for vocals and acoustic guitar.

So what are the recommendations?

Thanks in advance,
Per
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  #2  
Old 01-05-2018, 11:15 AM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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The power brick for the Yamaha doesn’t spec whether it’s output is AC or DC. I see that you suspect it’s AC out but that would be pretty rare for low power devices.

If it outputs DC, and only then, something like this would power it for a very long time:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N7...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You’d have to make your own connector though.

The other option is to buy an inverter/battery powerbank and power it as though it were running from wall current. A fairly inexpensive thing would probably work fine, like a $40 special from Walmart:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumache...arter/24200840

(They make smaller, cheaper versions of this but I couldn’t find what I needed to find quickly)
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  #3  
Old 01-05-2018, 12:37 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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You could also use a small recording interface as a live mixer and have potentially far more control than an analog mini mixer would provide.

The Zoom R24 (or the older R16) and this new Motu come directly to mind:

http://motu.com/products/proaudio/ultralite-mk4
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Old 01-05-2018, 12:58 PM
ManyMartinMan ManyMartinMan is offline
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Your quest may result in a great find however, I would NEVER (said loudly) suggest using anything battery powered for live performance. That "oops... I forgot to change the batteries" or bad batteries or will happen..... and could stop or ruin a live performance. Just my decades of live-performance experience.
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Old 01-05-2018, 01:07 PM
RogerPease RogerPease is offline
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If I read the Yamaha specs correctly the MG10xu p/s produces 38 VAC @ 0.62A.
OTOH, the MG06 expects 12 VDC @ 1.0A.
The larger mixers in that series apparently have built in supplies.

That means the power brick for the MG10xu is an oddball not shared with others in that series.

Hmmm...

Last edited by RogerPease; 01-05-2018 at 01:09 PM. Reason: Typofix
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Old 01-05-2018, 02:00 PM
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Chriscom Chriscom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan View Post
Your quest may result in a great find however, I would NEVER (said loudly) suggest using anything battery powered for live performance. That "oops... I forgot to change the batteries" or bad batteries or will happen..... and could stop or ruin a live performance. Just my decades of live-performance experience.
Valid point obviously but I'm following this thread with interest since I'm looking for something like the OP mentions but with built-in battery. My use case is pretty specific: super-quick setup and teardown for brief sets my duo does (two vocals, 1 guitar 1 keyboard) during breaks for a cover band. I don't need tons of runtime and I'd be popping fresh batteries in there. This is the idea, 2 to 3 9-volts:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/1002B

But it lacks reverb. There are a number of small battery powered mixers that "just" mix, others with eq (even if just low/high), but reverb seems to be the killer.

Thinking of using something like the above with an L1 Compact. Sorry for the slight thread hijack, OP is looking for external pack and likely for longer performance than my 15-20 minutes.
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Old 01-05-2018, 02:34 PM
jimmorgan jimmorgan is offline
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The new Zoom Livetrack mixer operates on a 12volt DC power supply. The power consumption specs say 17watts max, so with a 6000mAh battery you'd be looking at at least 4hours-ish? I'm not an electronics wiz, so I might have missed a unit conversion in there somewhere.

https://zoom-na.com/products/product...-l-12#overview
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Old 01-05-2018, 02:58 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerPease View Post
If I read the Yamaha specs correctly the MG10xu p/s produces 38 VAC @ 0.62A.
OTOH, the MG06 expects 12 VDC @ 1.0A.
The larger mixers in that series apparently have built in supplies.

That means the power brick for the MG10xu is an oddball not shared with others in that series.

Hmmm...
That’s an AC out supply then. I was �� at a photo of the brick itself and going by the specs printed on it. Interesting to note that the supply itself is rated at 18.5v.
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  #9  
Old 01-05-2018, 03:57 PM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan View Post
Your quest may result in a great find however, I would NEVER (said loudly) suggest using anything battery powered for live performance. That "oops... I forgot to change the batteries" or bad batteries or will happen..... and could stop or ruin a live performance. Just my decades of live-performance experience.
The reason I want to have a mixer that can be run from a battery (without using a lead battery + inverterter, something I already have), is that I want to be able to use it outdoors with no power outlet available. I have a Cube Street EX that run on battery, and I'm really interested in getting the new LD Maui 5 Go in time for the outdoor season the coming summer (that season is really short here in Stockholm, Sweden).


I have done some further investigation, mostly looking at images, and found that the Soundcraft Notepad series use and external DC power adaptor. For example this one:

18 V DC I could easily fix with a pack of rechargable batteries, and the connector seems to be a standard. But is the Notepad series any good?

/Per
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  #10  
Old 01-05-2018, 04:48 PM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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The new Phonic Celeus 400 mixer seems to run on DC power supplies, 15 V, 2 A. Should be possible to setup external batteries for that.



http://www.phonic.com/mixers/celeus-400/

Feature wise it looks to be exactly what I want.

Note that the bigger brother Celeus 600 has built-in power supply, so that one does not match.

/Per

Last edited by Per Burström; 01-05-2018 at 05:08 PM.
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  #11  
Old 01-05-2018, 05:05 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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Zooms R24 runs on batteries as stock. The Moto Ultralite interfaces run at 12v dc.
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Old 01-05-2018, 09:52 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Default Best compact mixer that can be power-supplied by external battery

Behringer XENYX 1002B 5-Channel Compact Mixer runs on two 9v batteries. 3 if you want phantom power. No fx.
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  #13  
Old 01-05-2018, 09:57 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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VHT Vooster to run 9v or 12 v from a usb rechargeable battery.

https://reverb.com/item/6201082-vht-...-12-volt-black
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  #14  
Old 01-06-2018, 02:22 AM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dannyg1 View Post
Zooms R24 runs on batteries as stock. The Moto Ultralite interfaces run at 12v dc.
If I was looking for something focused at recording/producing I'd absolutely consider the R24, I used to have a Zoom MRS-1266 which I really loved... so I really like Zoom. But for something to bring with me, and mostly tailored for practicing and live situations I don't think it's the best. And a little more expensive than I budget for.

Thanks for the input!
/Per
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  #15  
Old 01-06-2018, 02:24 AM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidE View Post
Behringer XENYX 1002B 5-Channel Compact Mixer runs on two 9v batteries. 3 if you want phantom power. No fx.
I want more features, for example FX. Nice option though, thanks!

/Per
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