Description
ZED-24 Mixer. The Allen & Heath ZED 24 audio mixer has a fantastic pedigree: nearly 40 years of making mixing desks for professional sound engineers. The ZED 24 mixer’s audio circuitry is based on years of continual development and refinement. All the elements within the mixer have been perfected to insure the very best sound quality possible. This is a mixer with broad appeal, from entry-level to professionals. You get fantastic sound, rugged build quality, and imaginative features. The ZED 24 mixer is equally happy running your gig on stage, recording live, or mixing down in your studio at home. The features are incredibly advanced for a mixer at this level. The ZED 24 has 23 independent sources to the mix, 10 independent outputs, 4 aux sends (2 pre and 2 post fade), a USB send and return for PC or Mac recording, playback and effects, a unique dual stereo input capability and some very advanced monitoring facilities. In fact, the ZED 24 mixer is so packed with great features that you’d think it would cost much, much more! In addition to 16 mono channels there are 4 stereo channels, each with a main stereo input on jack sockets and the ability to take additional stereo inputs from phono sockets or from the USB audio input, enabling you to control and route any source. The ZED 24 mixer features a responsive 3-band swept-mid EQ, with an optimized slope for equalizing individual instruments. The ZED 24 also features high quality DuoPre pre-amps, which use a two stage design, with carefully controlled amounts of gain in each stage, offering lots of headroom. Allen & Heath includes the excellent SONAR LE digital audio workstation software for Windows with the ZED 24 multipurpose mixer. With audio and MIDI multitrack recording and mixing capability, effects plug-ins and editing features, SONAR LE enables the ZED 24 audio mixer to become a live sound, recording, or home recording mixer.
From the manufacturer
ROAD TOUGH
Designed and Built to Last
All ZED mixers are designed and built to Allen & Heath’s legendary touring grade standards to ensure a long life in the toughest environments. All channels are on individual, vertical circuit boards and all rotary controls are secured to the front panel with a steel nut to guard against impact damage.
USB AUDIO FLEXIBILITY
Getting audio to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for live sound and music production. The way this has been implemented on ZED is super-flexible and easy! 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!
NorthernLogger –
A great board that performs above its pricepoint for small home studiosThis board is the hub of my home vocal studio, where I work as a professional Voiceover Artist.The ZED-14 is an easy way to route my inputs between my DAWs and other outputs (headphones at the recording desk and in the booth, studio monitors, etc.). The board also has the input and output flexibility to allow me to run Skype mix-minus set ups, telephone VOIP patches, etc., so that clients can listen to and comment on my work in real time while I’m in the booth, but I can exclude their inputs from the Mains output, so their comments don’t make it to my DAW master tracks.The USB interface is solid and doesn’t seem to introduce any problematic latency (though I monitor directly from the mains output, not from the USB Return). I also don’t notice any digital artifacting and, in fact, think that it does as well at analog-digital conversion as my much more expensive Lavry converter that’s a dedicated box in my signal chain.The entire board has an extremely solid and professional feel to it. Granted, I’m a VO artist and engineer and don’t tote it from gig to gig or hammer on it during multi-feed recording sessions, but I have a lot of confidence in the durability and longevity of the board.The mic preamps are good, but not great. For a board in this price range, they’re solid and should be fine for most gigging musicians and basic home recording. They’re very quiet with a very, very low noise floor and good responsiveness. The gain controls, 100Hz Hi-pass filter, and 3 band EQ all perform their jobs, and the sweepable mid-frequency EQ is a really nice feature.Unfortunately, for what I do, the preamps don’t have the chops to deliver on powerful Voiceovers with top-shelf tube mics. I can’t hold that against the ZED in the rating, though. It’s not billed as a full signal chain solution; in order to get the sound I need, I have to run through a channel strip with a compressor, more powerful pre, de-esser/limiter, and a more surgical EQ.Overall, this board is a critical part of my studio and sound chain. It’s flexibility allows me to offer client services that other boards don’t, and until I started pairing it with boutique tube mics it met all of my daily needs.
S. Rose –
5 stars but it is not perfect~5 Stars because I love it, it is loaded with features, it sounds amazing and at the price – it is. However, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Quality at cost is excellent. Sound quality was above what I expected, and to be fair – I’m a harsh critic and expected to be disappointed. I have a lunchbox setup with some pro quality pres, some of the best, so I have a reference. However, I needed many more simultaneous channels for recording bands all at once. I decided to replace an older smaller board. This unit holds its own in sound quality and most likely won’t disappoint. I was very impressed with my first recordings through it. The EQs worked well, it just worked and sounded nice. I love the inserts for out/in routing… great for going to an audio interface and mixing to a monitoring solution. So with all that, what’s not great? Well, +48V is all 16 channels on or off. That is lame. No ribbons need apply here. And the USB interface is 2 channels, which is lame for a board with this many channels. But it’s doubly so when you realize MacOS will let you link audio interface units but then you realize that the interface is just 44.1k and 16bit… the lowest of the low of modern digital sampling. It makes the USB part mostly useless since you want higher quality masters to begin with and won’t use this despite having it. And I figure many bought it for that selling point because it wasn’t clear what you were getting. Lastly, the faders have nice travel, but are far too light in feel… not cheap per say, but they slide too easily for proper mixing IMO. I like some tactile feedback… and these don’t have it. Again, for the cost, highly recommended… as long as you understand the critiques are valid and are real limitations compared to more expensive gear.
R. E. Boris –
As close to ‘professional’ as this price range allowsA&H, in making the ZED 14, took a gamble on people who don’t need (and could not afford) full sized studio mixers.. Could they enter the field of producing smaller mixers at prices affordable to these more modestly endowed clients and not risk offending (or worse, losing) their big board professional clientele?First, you need to know this unit was not made in Britain but China. This is probably no surprise.But it gets better from there. Allen & Heath have managed to carve a place in the modest mixer category that not only doesn’t embarrass those of us devoted to their multi-channel studio boards, but provides a worthy companion. And for the price, that is a major accomplishment.You’ll read that the board is solid. It is. What you need to do though is “hear” what it does that other brands of mixers just below this price range fail miserably at doing. This board is smooth, transparent and workable. Once you get over the quirkiness of lit “mute” buttons rather than lit “on” buttons, nothing about this board raises ears or eyebrows. Your work is what it does, and that is done powerfully, dynamically and smoothly.You pay a little more (but not much) and you get what engineers demand: reliable performance. For this market, this box is as close to the upper lines of pro mixers (including A&H’s top lines) as you can get! Oh yes, there are units selling well into the thousands (A&H sells those, too) but the ZED 14 will not disappoint you and perhaps best of all, for the company, it is not the kind of embarassing mix-box you could buy and quickly regret. It’s not a Rolls , nor a Bentley, but let’s say. a worthy Range Rover! Spend a little more, like they say, because later you will never think about the price.
MJB –
Good mixer, solid start for a Voice Actor home studio!I work at a college radio station right now and this was one that seemed to stand out as far as reliability and affordability so I gave my station manager the recommendation. I liked it so I ordered one to begin creating my own home studio. Working well so far! Combined with the ZED-14, I’ve hooked a MXL 67g microphone to it. I must say, it sounds better than the Sapphire Pro preamp I had for a few years. The MXL 67g does seem to need a fair amount of amplification but the ZED-14 seems to be up for the challenge. I haven’t used any line inputs yet but down the road that will be useful. USB and MacBook Pro interface doesn’t seem to be a problem and there aren’t any problems so far with audio latency. A good mixer so far with room for me to grow, adding inputs like a CD player, etc. ONLY NEGATIVE: The phantom power switch is difficult to depress on the board, something that seems inherently frustrating. I used a pen, pressed deep and it clicked. You may have to do the same!
Mirza Alikhan –
Great piece of equipmentGreat mixer. Solid, sturdy and easy to handle.
J. Colon –
Excellent Mixer with Effects…Won’t break the bank either!I orginally bought a Heath & Allen ZED-12FX from an online music distributor (who will remain anonymous!). It turned out that I need more inputs than what the unit had. So, I decided to upgrade to the ZED-22FX…actually found it cheaper on Amazon…more than $150 cheaper! Same quality as the “big guys”. This mixer has it all…enough capability to turn your basement into a studio, or play out somewhere on a medium-size gig with ease. It will easily handle any external music device and any instrument/XLR mic input. The 3-band EQ is fairly straight-forward to use, and you can even adjust the amount of effect to each channel…a nice feature if you want more reverb on the vocals but a lesser amount on the drums. The effects are definitely studio quality, and will stand up to an rank-mounted effects you can buy. All sliders have a pro-feel to them, and it even comes with the Roland X2 Sonar (Calkwake) software to record directly from the mixer to your laptop using the included USB cable. I use it for every gig my band plays in, and all of our practices too. I even go direct to my powered FOH speakers and the sound is clear as a bell! I highly recommend this mixer, you will not be disappointed!
NoYouCan –
Forget the USB interface and this thing is a solid performerExcept for the old USB 2.0 interface, this is a great piece of gear. I tried the USB interface to push a live mix into Logic X with inconsistent results. Search on the web and you’ll find tons of complains about random crackling and static noise —- digital distortion, perhaps, ruining an otherwise great mixer in the ZED series. Thunderbolt of USB 3.0 has to happen when they update this lineup. Won’t help me with this version, though.Reasonable feature set at this price point for 18 channels (10 mono, 4 stereo). I’m using it at a keyboard mixer for vintage synths and outboard effects.Too bad, like most things it’s made in China. Vintage Brit and American gear would be better sound, but higher maintenance and not as feature-rich.
Edwin Parreira –
Should have bought this board in the first place!Bit of a learning curve for me. This replaced a ten channel Yamaha board, which had a little too much hiss for my liking. It’s plug and play, but there’s drivers available for it, I just didn’t need them. I use it with Windows 10 with absolutely zero issues. Still have the owner’s manual out on my studio desktop for reference, but should have this mastered fairly soon. Have read some reviews about the ZED10 AND ZED14 having buzzing or hissing issues. Don’t know about the 10, but this 14 is just as quiet as the bigger boards used at the radio station I work at. This board more than meets my needs. Remember, don’t buy for what you need, buy for what you’re going to need. This has enough inputs to satisfy any additional gear I might obtain in the future.
trash_monster –
the sound and functionality of this mixer are so far excellent. I really like having 4 sendsThe only drawback that i can find to using this mixer is the outer construction feels a tiny bit on the cheap side. The knobs and sliders are solid, but the panel and the side-panels feel cheap. My Zed-14 didn’t balance on a flat surface so i had to slide a piece of rubber underneath one of the feet. However, the sound and functionality of this mixer are so far excellent. I really like having 4 sends. sending/receiving on the same usb channel from a DAW is a really nice convenience, though i’m not convinced i’ll be scrapping my audio interface yet. So far so good.
K. Hurley –
Love this Board.. it Makes everything betterI am a singer in a few Bands and when I could finally get my own gear I went for the Best basic set up that I could get. Reviews alone steared me to allen and heath..after Much deliberation and comparison shopping I decided on this modle. And I have to tell ya… it is amaizing. SO SIMPLE TO USE. I am using two EV, ETX 15p’s ,1 ETX 18sp Sub and two ev 12s for monitors… the cleanest sound I’ve ever had. No his, not hum.. just clean sound or silence. So impressed. It took about a song and a half to dial it all in… the FX are simple clean as well.. nothing to fancy but they are real world FX that make sence for live music. Love my board. Highly recommend it…