Field mixers: SD vs Wendt

N

naavt

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy one of these and I'm now open to suggestions between:

SD Mixpre/Shure FP24 vs Wendt X2 or...

SD 302 vs Wendt X3

Yes I know... You're gonna say "get rid of the 2 channel mixer and buy the big brothers" but listen this first:

I mainly do Doc films, so I probably would never miss the extra channel because... Well, I'm only going to need one for boom operation.

You probably are thinking that Lavs come to hand when talking about Docs but we never interview the characters, we mainly work in a F. Wiseman kind of way, so again... No need for 3 inputs.

My wife's being the sound operator leads to a constant sourcing for the lighter equipment which is normally used interruptibility for several hours on location. We ended up buying some Beyerdynamic mics which are surprisingly light, the plastic cased Tascam HD-P2, carbon poles and light suspensions as the Invision 7.

So the lightest the equipment the better for us.

Besides all that, there's the obvious price difference between those 2 vs 3 channel mixers which makes the cheaper ones more appellative, but on the other end with the drawbacks we know, like meters, limiters, and so on...

So I'll be very appreciated if all you gave me some useful advices on this matter.

Cheers
 
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You'll find the SD 302 is smaller & lighter than the Wendt X3, but I have to say that I really like my X3... It is solid, quiet, isn't too heavy (just under 2 pounds). I like the panel layouts & the battery consumption (I've used it all day on a set of lithiums).

Everyone raves on the SD equipment, but I found the X3 used for only $550... I haven't seen a used SD 302 too close to that price.
 
In all honesty I think you answered your own questions.

You dont need a 3 channel mixer.

You understand the drawbacks with the metering being not quite as good between
the 2 ch and 3 ch mixers.

As far as quality, between the mix pre and the wendt
Ive only used the 2 ch wendt 1 time years ago. So my opinions are a bit clouded
but I do know there is a soundmixer in my town who uses his wendt to this day
on his extreme doc gig's when weight is an issue.

I think its pretty safe to say they are going to be pretty equal in quality and since
their arent a ton of "options" on them..thats not really a factor.

Personally I'd stick with the Sound Devices name. Even though Wendt is a great name (but older), I believe the Sound Devices gear will have a better resell value in years to come.

These are obviously just opinions and no "hard facts".
 
Thank you for your inputs.

I was looking for someone who'd worked with these two brands mainly because I don't have the opportunity to try and compare both before I buy. So the voice of an experienced user will certainly become a major fact for my decision.

I agree with you Rippie about reselling value, but nonetheless I think a mixer is a keeper for many years to come, so if just I could find a bargain deal like the ones of Alpha Monkey... :)

Can you share where you found yours? Or some good sourcing points beside Ebay?

Thanks again
 
Alpha Flying Monkey said:
If you're looking for a 2-channel- there is a SD MixPre on e(vil)Bay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sound-Devices-M...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53de492e0e
Click to expand...

Thank you Alpha Flying Monkey. I've been around Ebay for some time now and I've seen that mixer.

Unfortunately I would like to find a good used mixer for a honest offer (which seems to be impossible on SD mixers because people just buy them used for about as much as their cost new!).

Another thing that I have to consider is Taxes to import it from overseas.

But I'd appreciated tour suggestion. Thanks.
 
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