NAMM 2009: Behringer Xenyx 1002B

Behringer celebrated their 20th birthday and the 7th anniversary of ‘Behringer City’, their manufacturing plant in China, at this year’s NAMM show by announcing a wealth of new products, including six active PA cabinets, two digital pianos (one grand and one forte), and a DJ mixer. There was also a neat compact mixer that created a blip on the SOS radar.

The 1002B is the latest addition to the Xenyx range of compact mixers. It’s a 10-input, two-bus device with flexible routing opportunities. The first two channels are mono and can accept mic- or line-level signals. Each of these is equipped with controls for gain, pan and EQ, a master fader and also an unbalanced insert point, so external processing can be applied.

Three of the channels are stereo, and have dual-mono balanced jack inputs plus mic preamplifiers (mic and line-level inputs on these channels have separate gain controls but can’t be used together). These channels also feature pan, gain and EQ knobs, but don’t have insert points. The final channel on the mixer is home to the two-track return which, unusually, has the same pan, level and tone controls as found on the other channels. (Often, the only parameter given to the two-track return is a volume knob.)

Alongside the stereo master and headphones outputs, the Xenyx 1002B has two auxiliary mono buses: one pre-fader, marked ‘mon’, and a post-fader, marked ‘fx’. Both have master level controls. Other features of the new mixer include five-step stereo metering for the master output, and global, switchable phantom power for all five mic inputs. The device also has the facility to be powered by batteries. In the UK, it costs £91 including VAT.

Other new products that may be of interest to SOS readers are the Eurodesk SX2442FX and SX3242FX four-bus analogue mixers with built-in effects. They’re designed primarily for live use, but can come in useful in the studio as monitor mixers or routing devices, for those with masses of hardware synths and the like. Find out more information from the Behringer web site.

Behringer UK +49 2154 92060
www.behringer.com