ALLEN & HEATH ZED-420 Recording Console

 ZED-420  ALLEN & HEATH 

 Audio Recording Console 

The Allen & Heath ZED-420 has a fantastic pedigree which comes from nearly 40 years of making mixing desks for the professional sound community. The audio circuitry is based on years of continual development and refinement and the performance of all the elements within the mixer has been perfected to ensure the very best sound quality possible.

This is a mixer for anyone, from entry-level to professionals, who appreciate fantastic sound, rugged build quality and imaginative feature sets. It'll be equally happy running your gig on stage, recording live or mixing down in your studio at home.

The ZED 4-Bus series takes inspiration from different product lines within the A&H range, combining them with fresh new ideas to give stunning results in a neat and easy to use package.

The padless DuoPre mic/line pre-amplifier is the new design first implemented on the ZED-14 and delivers a high-headroom, low-noise signal. The 4 band, 2 sweep EQ, along with the low noise summing amps, is borrowed from the acclaimed GL2400, while the bus architecture is a simplified but equally comprehensive version of that employed in the successful GL series.

The USB audio interface, with its uniquely flexible capability, allows different signals to be sent to USB, from LR or from selected aux buses. The USB return signal can be routed straight to the LR mix or to a stereo channel. The connectors are placed on the top surface for easy plugging & patching, and the construction, with individual circuit boards firmly nutted to the top panel, is as rock solid as Allen & Heath's top of the range ML series mixers.

The USB audio interface, with its uniquely flexible capability, is the same as on the new ZED-14 2-bus mixer and allows different signals to be sent to USB, from LR or from the aux busses, with the USB return signal available as a stereo return. The connectors are placed on the top surface for easy plugging & patching, and the construction, with individual circuit boards firmly nutted to the top panel, is as rock solid as Allen & Heath's top of the range ML Series mixers.

Features:

Inputs

One of the great things about the ZED series is the number and variety of things you can plug in. In addition to the sixteen mono channels there are two dual stereo channels, each with a main stereo input on jack sockets and with additional inputs on phono sockets. The USB return can be selected to one of the additional inputs so that it feeds either the main LR bus or the stereo channel.

DuoPre

Basedon the proven pre-amps from the successful PA series, the ZED series has DuoPre preamps, which use a two-stage design, with carefully controlled amounts of gain in each stage. When amplifying the signal from the XLR input, the gain range is huge - 69dB of range to be exact - and is very evenly distributed around the gain control, meaning better control of signal level. Most of the gain comes from the first stage, so unwanted noise is kept to a minimum. Line level signals are simply plugged into the second stage of the pre-amp by using the line input jack socket, which has the great advantage of less noise when using the line input.

EQ section

ZED-420 features a responsive 4-band EQ taken from the acclaimed GL2400 mixer. The design utilizes MusiQ -optimized slope (or Q factor) for equalizing individual instruments.

Auxiliary sends

6 aux sends are provided, of which 1&2 are prefade for foldback monitoring, and 3 & 4 are switched pre or post-fade for effects sends. and 5&6 are post-fade. Auxes 1&2 can be sent to the USB bus for recording pre-fade signals independently to the main mix. Auxes 5&6 can also be sent to the USB bus for use as effects sends.

USB audio flexibility

Getting audio to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for live sound and music production. The way Allen & Heath have implemented this on ZED is super-flexible and super-easy. No longer do you need to fiddle around the back of your PC to get to the soundcard inputs, only to find that the levels are all wrong and noisy. 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. Quality audio to and from your PC or Mac. Three switches provide different send/return configurations for recording, playback and utilizing external FX.

Build

The ZED-420 has been designed using individual vertically mounted circuit boards with each rotary control fixed with a metal nut to the front panel - making a much more robust product that will resist damage and give years of reliable use. ZED also has professional 100mm faders for ultimate control over your levels.

• 4-band EQ with 2 swept mids and in/out switch

• 6 auxiliary sends (2 pre, 2 post, 2 pre/post)

• 4 sub groups fed from each channel

• L, R and M main mix outputs

• Individual channel 48V phantom power

• Direct output on every mono channel

• 2 dual stereo inputs with 4-band EQ

• Peak and signal indication on every channel

• 2 matrix sections available; can send output to USB

• Configurable USB stereo audio in/out

• Master level controls on all outputs

• Easy to use layout – all connections and controls on top surface

Specifications:

Inputs

• Mono channel (XLR) Input +6 to -63dBu for nominal (+17dBu in max)

• Mono channel Line Input (Jack socket) +10 to -26dBu (+30dBu maximum)

• Insert point (TRS Jack socket) 0dBu nominal +21dBu maximum)

• Stereo Input (Jack sockets) 0dBu nominal (control = Off to+10dB)

• Stereo Input (phono sockets) 0dBu nominal (control = Off to+10dB)

• 2 Track Input (phono sockets) 0dBu nominal +21dBu maximum

Outputs

• L, R & Mono Outputs (XLR) +4dBu nominal. +27dBu maximum

• L, R & M Insert (TRS Jack socket) -2dBu nominal +21dBu maximum

• Group Outputs (Jack sockets) +4dBu nominal. +27dBu maximum

• Group Insert (TRS Jack socket) -2dBu nominal +21dBu maximum

• Aux Outputs (Jack sockets) -2dBu nominal +21dBu maximum (Bal Option +4)

• Matrix Outputs (TRS Jack socket) -2dBu nominal. +21dBu maximum. (Bal Option +4)

• 2 Track Output (phono sockets) 0dBu nominal. +21dBu maximum.

• Direct Out (TRS Jack socket) 0dBu nominal. +21dBu maximum.

Frequency Response

• Mic in to Mix L/R Out, 30dB gain +0.5/-1dB 20Hz to 20kHz

• Line in to Mix L/R Out 0dB gain +0.5/-1dB 10Hz to 30kHz

• Stereo in to Mix L/R Out +0.5/-1dB 10Hz to 30kHz

THD+N

• Mic in to Mix L/R Out, 0dB gain 1kHz +10dBu out 0.004%

• Mic into Mix L/R Out, 30dB gain 1kHz 0.014%

• Line in to Mix L/R Out 0dB gain 0dBu 1kHz 0.005%

• Stereo in to Mix L/R Out 0dB gain+10dBu 1kHz 0.003%

Headroom

• Analog Headroom from nominal (0Vu) 21dB

• USB in & out headroom from nominal (0Vu) 14dB

• USB Audio CODEC (Coder/Decoder)

• USB Audio In/Out USB 1.1 compliant 16-bit

• Sample Rate 32, 44.1 or 48kHz

Noise

• Mix Noise, LR out, 16 channels routed, Ref +4dBu, 22-22kHz -90dB (-86dBu)

• Mix Noise, LR out, 24 channels routed, Ref +4dBu, 22-22kHz -89dB (-85dBu)

• Mix Noise, LR out, 32 channels routed, Ref +4dBu, 22-22kHz -88dB (-84dBu)

• Mic Pre EIN @ max gain 150R input Z22-22kHz -127dBu

• Dimensions: 5.08" H x 28.2" W x 22.1" D

• Weight: 31 lbs

SALE: $2399.99

FREE S&H in continental US (e-mail for international / offshore USA rates)