Undoubtably better than what you have

I'm a professional house of worship keyboardist with a 5-unit live midi rig (RD-700 + four other modules/keyboards), so I need something to mix down all my keyboards into one stereo feed for the house feed. I know most people use a cheap (small-format) Be******r mixer to combine all their stereo keyboards, and I confess I too did that for some years. But you never realize how much life those things suck out of your sound until you get something of good professional quality like this Ashly. Maybe the average end user can't tell the difference, but when you're using the same sounds all the time you'll be able to tell a difference in them when you change to this mixer. I've owned one for about ten years and I still love it.

The Ashly has more than enough inputs, handy on/off, panning (good for correcting those patches that just lean to one side...). The tone is extremely transparent, the noise level is way quieter than the built-in mixers on Roland amplifiers I've used before, and the TRS ins and outs are perfect for keyboard rigs. I use a TRS to XLR cable to pipe the feed directly into a snake, but I still like the TRS on the unit because it's easier to plug/unplug in the back of a crowded rack. I've also plugged a Line 6 Pod into one of the channels when I had to switch between instruments, which worked great.

Live Tip: I set the "stereo" output to go to house, and send the "buss" output to my in-ear mixer. That way when I need to audition a sound, I just press the "stereo output mute" button (with handy red indicator light) which mutes the send to the house but not my in-ears.

I love the sound quality, the simple, small form factor, and the ease of use, and the high headroom/high gain potential, but beware the high output levels of the buss sends, anything in the yellow on my meters (with stereo output knob at 12 o'clock) clips the Soundcraft and Yamaha house/monitor boards. The only thing I wish it had is a little routing flexibility, so I could put my monitor mix in channel 8, route it only to the front headphone output, and use that as my monitor feed - then I could get rid of this blankety-blank Be******r board I'm using for my in-ears.... That's the only reason I can't give this review 5 stars! But even without the routing, it's an almost perfect feature set for a live keyboardist. My first unit of ten years was severely damaged in a tornado, so I'm back for another. Guess that answers the "would you buy another one" question!

Disclaimer: In my rig I use a fadermaster and a MIDI footpedal to control individual fade outs, swells, etc., by MIDI. I highly recommend doing that (or using a controller keyboard with similar functions) instead of trying to control each keyboard live with knobs on this unit, they are not really meant for changing levels smoothly, though I suppose you could do one at a time pretty smooth. I think the knobs have more friction, to make sure you keep your preset levels. Which for my purposes is great!

Good!

We are primarily a MIDI based studio with a lot of rack and other synths and keyboards. I have two of the Ashley LX-308B units (probably going to add a third) chained together. All I/O is TRS and balanced. There is not to much too them - simple operation, transparent sound, mute button (lit) and a pan pot. Made in the US and worth the money. A really nice solution for high level devices.

joel in Dallas

A quality tool for the Electronic Musician

I bought this unit around a year ago from Sweetwater Sales Engineer Mark Thompson (Nice guy, knowledgeable and helpful.) After using a couple of budget grade mixers from Boss and Behringer for the first 10 years of my experimental electronic music venture (started when I was 15), I decided to completely revise my recording/live rig.

I needed a new single space, stereo, rack-mount mixer for my synths, drum machines and sampler. I was looking to save space in my studio setup and also have something compact I could use in a live situation. I was hesitant at first to shell out $450 on a new Ashly mixer when Behringer makes a model that is similar to the LX-308B for around $100. I first bought the Behringer model (RX1602) since my table top Behringer mixer was still working fine and I figured the sound quality was decent enough for a hobbyist composer/club musician running mostly line level devices through. I was wrong.

The Behringer RX1602 was harsh sounding compared to my old MX1604 Behringer board. It also seemed to roll off the bass frequency in the lower regions. To top that off I was having quality control issues with this new Behringer product (which I'd never had with a few other Behringer pieces I own). I had to return the first unit I bought because the right channel had a lower overall output signal than the left channel. Same with the second unit I got which was returned for a full refund.

After looking at similar models made by Rane, Samson and Rolls I decided on the Ashly and Mark, my Sales Engineer reassured me I would not be disappointed. What a grand decision that was! I was always spending the extra money on the instruments rather than sound reinforcement/recording and cables etc.... which I considered to be kind of boring. What a mistake that was! In conjunction with swapping out the mixer I also swapped out all my old standard cables for premium grade Monster Cable keyboard and patch cables. Suddenly all my synths and outboard gear sprang to life in a psychedelic, three dimensional sonic orgy! What a difference the money makes! The sub outputs are also a nice feature. The mains go into my Mbox and the subs feed my MPC-1000.

Bottom line: If you have lots of synths and drum machines etc. and are looking to improve your sound quality while keeping your rig compact and simple, I doubt you could find a better mixer than the ASHLY LX-308B. Also, Ashly gear is manufactured domestically, which gives me warm fuzzy feelings. If you're thinking about purchasing this mixer don't forget the moster cables!