And imagine what you could do with 2!
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Yeah, Dave Mech is solely responsible for my troubles! I play in a very similar fashion, but a tad more glitchy stuff. What really bothers me in the db4 is its… age. The thing is ancient and there are no alternatives at all. It goes for the same price of a xone 96 (which are completely unavailable here) so… decisions decisions
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Not willing to discuss again my very bad experience with both DB4 (drivers not stable) and MODEL1 (poor QC on the side of manufacturer).
But… If I was again in the market for a dj mixer (ie not having so many hardware synths to mix or fx to send/return) I would go for a DB4, not a MODEL1.
Yes it is true MODEL1 is stellar in terms of components quality, analogue path etc… But the price is way above what it should be. Take a MIDAS 160/240/320 and their routings, sends, sub groups, surgical EQ and see what does come into play.
I see the MODEL1 like a luxury re-amp analogue item.
On the other hand, if you have the money, I see no issue.
If you have no problem going either analogue or digital mixer, then a DB4 is worth it: stellar effects (taken from their D-Live line of mixers), matrix routing, looper. I would actually forget about their lack of support driver wise.
This is an important point. I’m a bit of purist and was quite keen on mixing in analog - if I’m going to mix in digital I’d be tempted to use Ableton and a controller instead, personally.
(not that it’s the same thing…)
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And this is exactly the reason why i am leaning towards the bd4. I don’t use turntables and laptops, so the driver issues are not really relevant.
I am after the immediacy of the flow and improvisation.The loopers alone on the db4 look insanely useful. Its like having a small OT in the mixer!
For me, the price is not really an issue, with the usability being the too priority. But since i have no way of testing any of the bunch, the chiice is that much more difficult.
I did read your(?) terrifying thread on here about the Model 1 QC… insane stuff
To be honest, I tend to warm things up mixing to reels if need be.
The whole “analogue” thing (to me) is a vending argument. I do appreciate that some people can make the difference by hear but to me, in the end, it is not worth it.
The MODEL1 is a bare bone tool.
The DB4 is more of a Swiss army knife and very immediate. It’s 3 types of EQ is also pretty good.
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Indeed.
I actually like how A&H think their mixers but my lack of trust in their QC and support has driven me away from their gear. Shame.
Now give me a MIDAS 240 
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Well… it seems that it will be a db4 and a model 1.4 for me together lol.
Gonna break the news to my family and prepare for moving out of the house to my clubs DJ booth:))
I think @vasidudu had a particularly bad experience. I bought mine second hand wo years ago and I must say that using a dj mixer has greatly improved the flow and creativity when I make music.
There are several more cosmetic quality issues with the Model 1 that are well-documented (and that should not happen at this price point - but then they are hand-built in small series in Scotland wheres even the SSL six is manufactured in China): the LEDs on the channel switches can have slightly different colours and the printing on the case rubs of really easily…
Otherwise, I had one electronics board (one of the output buses) failing, but Allen & Heath provided quite good repair services - they have a network of accredited technicians in many countries (still about 350 euros repair cost, though).
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As @ccr is saying, the cosmetic issues were not an issue to me. Although at this price point, it is simply unacceptable.
My issues were far more worrying.
Edit: I will not put down (again) the list of malfunctions (as described and stated by the support team themselves) I had to deal with, but, at this level, having had to wait 2 years for a unit swap was way out of respect for customers. And that was with being insistent from my end because they were going to send a second hand unit to replace mine…
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Yeah… i would hate to lug/ship a brand new Model 1 to UK for a repair…
Several people did recommend a ssl big six already, indeed.
By the way:
In the bar that i go to bar they have a ff6000, but from the looks of it, it is a similar thing to the model 1, minus the drive and the filter galore
Mine had to go 5 times to UK for repair.
I basically remained without a mixer for 2 years.
A truly nightmarish case. I cant imagine going through this tbh. Your reservations with AH are totally understandible.
Unfortunately, the only thing full of FX and such I see is a Pioneer v10. But here they go for 50 percent more than even a model 1
That’s terrible! In my case (in France), I could deposit the mixer at a local music store from where it was collected by the technician. The repair took about 8 weeks, mainly the waiting time to receive the replacement board.
PX5 also has pretty good built in effects. But yeh, each channel has only one send knob. It can be send to ext, int and both fx though.
I used to have PX5 and thought was a great mixer. Sold it for the xone 96 tho as needed 6 channels. One day think ill go for model1 too…just pricey lol
Yep… theres no point of getting it for me since, well… 4 strymons. Kinda defeats the purpose.
I wish AH updated their db4. But one can only dream.
If I was to ‘overspend’ on a DJ mixer I’d probably go with the V10. I got lucky with a ridiculous deal on a DB4 a couple years ago though so I’m good for now.
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How is db4 holding up in 2022? Cant really judge the sound from the videos
@Korrektor I’ll preface this with I’m not an expert and am a bit of a rookie with the electronic music. My previous mixers were all scratching types like Rane TTM56 (still have and use that one) various Vestax battle type mixers and some shitty Geminis and Numarks. The DB4 is the first four channel DJ mixer I’ve owned and the only mixer I’ve had besides Bluebox that has effects. I’ve had it about two years now.
First of all I think the basic sound quality is fantastic. I’m not sure what more I’d want in that department.
The effects that I like and use all sound great. Not the best delays or reverbs money can buy of course, but very nice in my opinion. I’ve never done any of that bigtime fancylad festival type DJing so perhaps I just don’t understand some of the effects that I don’t like or use. Some of the applications of the distortion effects are fairly baffling and as far as I’m concerned, unusable for ‘music’. That being said, I get much mileage out of said baffling distortion applications in my harsh noise tapes so even some of the effects that I don’t normally like or find useful in my normal musical endeavors still have a place.
The signal routing, EQ modes, loopers, and filters are all fantastic.
My only slight gripe is that if you juice up the input trim much at all the channel faders will not quite kill the signal completely. However I only use this thing as a tool in the studio so I’ve found easy enough ways to work around that. I’m not remembering what it was that I thought was odd about the crossfader but I rarely find myself wanting to use it since for me, a crossfader is a scratching tool much more than a mixing tool.
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