Given the following choice of mixing desks

Which one of the following would you guys go for?
 
http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/yamaha-mg206c-analogue-live-sound-mixer--40686
 
http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/mackie-1642-vlz3-series-compact-mixer--38503
 
I've already sold the Spirit Studio as I need to make the studio "baby friendly" and need the space
I've also dismantled both racks and intend to be brutal about what hardware is going to be present in the new, minimalist setup.
I still need a desk for routing keyboards/pod etc into the Saffire Pro, and no, I'm not interested in going digital at this stage.
 
Any thoughts people?
 
Thanks,
 
Jonesey
 

Thanks Mike.
 
Problem is, it's also double the price of the other 2.
 
 

Aye, there's the rub.  Money.  And baby. As per Mike, congradulations.  My kids stripped not one, but both screws off my Tascam 38 pinch rollers.  So baby friendly works both ways, and doesn't end until far too late.
 
I've used both makes of boards and both are good.  I'd be inclinded to go w/ the Mackie.  The effects on the Yamaha might be OK for live work, but I always hate paying for such on a studio board where I have better options.  I would think the mackie preamps would be a touch better if you plan on using them, tho the yamas suffice for live work.
 
And I definately check them out in person.  The ergonomics will be important if you plan to live w/ the board for a while (hopefully not for 18 years when the kids should move out!) and the "feel" is probably more of an issue between the two than quality.
 
best of luck,
 
@
 
 
Edit - addition.   the mackies can get kinda crowded if you have big fingers, so double check that

Thanks everyone for your input.
 
This isn't our baby, it's our grand daughter who is starting to stay with us more & more frequently.
 
The desk will never be used for live work, so Fx aren't an issue at all - as you say, I have far better options in Sonar.
 
 

I just bought a Yamaha mg8cx which must use a lot of the same components. Your choice is just bigger. I wrote a review if you care to see what I found. I like Yamaha stuff over all as it sounds good and seems to last the longest of all the gear I ever bought. I would also check out A& H stuff. The word is that Mackie is no longer the company it was and their stuff is declining in quality as a result, so approach with caution. 
 
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/reviews/843873-yamaha-mg82cx.html

I would opine that there would be little difference in sound quality between the two and even compared to the Soundcraft. Unless you had all three in one place and did a detailed blind test you cannot really make such statements that one mixer is a lot better than the other. Mixers are a lot better today than they used to be.
 
Both are good but I see the Yamaha has got more channels, compressors built in which could be handy and effects. It seems to offer more all round. The Mackie will do the job too and will have a very transparent sound.
 
I use a Samson mixer to mix the analog sigals in my studio and I have found from experience that the effects are handy and can be very useful at times. The compressors could also be handy for taming a wild synth or something before it goes into your DAW. I think maybe look at the features and decide which one would better work for you. The sound from both of them is going to be good enough for what you are wanting to do.
 
Given what Cactus has said though the Yamaha maybe the better option. They have always been pretty consistent in their construction and reliablity.
 
Just out of interest the Samson that I use is this one and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/mixers/mdr-series/mdr1688/
It has got 16 inputs, 8 Mic Pres and 4 stereo line inputs. It seems to match all my input sources beautifully. The EQ on the Mic channels is slightly different to the line inputs too. (both EQ's very versatile) The HPF works very well. It is ultra quiet, has a very musical sound and the effects are excellent. It is solid and well built. Nice small footprint too. One of the reasons I got mine. It had to fit on top of a half rack.
 
It would be a cheaper option but you may want something slightly bigger and in that case the Yamaha would be a good fit. I got it for around $300 here in Australia. (180 pounds in your speak) The shop you refer to only seems to have the 12 channel version but you could ask them about the 16 channel model.
 
 

Looks like that model Soundcraft may be out of production like my M12.  Too bad.



 

Some interesting thoughts here.
 
Keep 'em coming, I've got about a month or so to make a choice!!

A+H desks get a lot of love from all over the place.......

It's really hard to say what's what these day when it comes to gear manufacturers. There's been a lot of takeovers and consolidation, and a ton of off-shore manufacturing. A lot of brands are noww owned by corporate parents, and many of them share resources. Look at what happened to M-Audio, the first thing they did after Avid sold it to InMusic was to re-badge some Alesis interfaces. Alesis and Akai don't have the product breadth they used to. A strange story is Chinese manufacturing. Behringer got rightly beat up for quality issues years ago, so they dumped contract manufacturing and built their own plant over there. I'm not sure about Mackie, although they seem to have been in a funk. Certainly, they've let the MCU product line stagnate - no more C3 unit, not sure if the fader expansions are still available

I've had my Mackie CR1604 VLZ since the 90's.  The pre's are very quiet and it is a very flexible board.  Also, go with a four buss board.

I love my Panasonic DA7 the same as I love my 98 Volvo.
But, I never know if today is the day they don't work anymore.
 
Another vote for the Mackie 1202VLZ even though it's small. And, not so much the 1604.
To me, the pre's in the 1202 sound great.

Hi Bristol. I have just download the manual and had a look at the Yamaha mixer. (I assume you are not getting the USB model)
 
Couple of things. The 4 group outs will be handy for routing inputs to your audio interface. Also note that the insert points are after the compressor and EQ so if you use those for any recording duties they have to be factored in.
 
There are plenty of sends too for also feeding your audio interface. (They too are post EQ and compressor) You could also use the insert returns for connecting a high level input such a synth (OdBu) and patch/record that direct to a group or send. The advantage of this is that the insert returns do not go through any pre amp gain, compression or EQ. You will get the most pure sound that way. For some synths that can be desirable.

A note about the Yamaha's simple compressor. Waste of time. I have tried it on a few different situations and find it next to useless. 
If I dial it in on my vocals, they just seem to get louder? It does not prevent an over???
On bass it trashes the sound into nasty distorted grunge. 
It does nothing for acoustic guitar, One would think you got a little sustain like with a Boss Pedal, nope.
 
So do not buy a Yamaha thinking your getting a handy dandy compressor too. 
 
I'm not sure if mine is broken or just a bad design. I would have expected better from Yamaha. 
They also built a similar compressor into the Stage Pass PA's which we used the other day. It's just a switch that only seems to give the vocals a boost. If you shout real loud you'll still drive the peak light Red and won't "hear" any compression. So I don't see it's function. One would think it's sole purpose was to prevent an over. All I can figure is it's wired in after the pre amp making it useless. 

If you are looking for a "compact" 4-buss (to replace your 8-buss?),  you might also consider a s/h Spirit Folio 4 or Rac Pac.