Peavey's XRD 680S Plus mixer/amp features eight mic/line input channels, a seven-band graphic equaliser, and a digital effects section. Teamed with the HiSys 2XT speakers, Paul White assesses this keenly priced compact PA system.

Powered mixers are making something of a comeback for smaller gigs because of their compact size and the fact that they are easy to set up. Not so very long ago, they had rather a poor reputation, largely due to the number of badly designed products in the marketplace, but now virtually all the big mixer and PA companies have something serious to offer. Many have opted for the conventional 'mixer with a pair of amps in it' approach, but Peavey's XRD 680S Plus is built more along the lines of the 'mixer amp in a box' that was so popular in the 1970s. The difference is that today's mixer amp is stereo, powerful, and includes on-board digital effects.

Rated at 300 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms, the XRD 680S Plus has eight mic/line input channels, a seven-band graphic equaliser, and a digital effects section. The whole shooting match is built into a wooden box with a strap carrying handle. The internal amplifiers are fan cooled. Speaker connection is by means of conventional jacks only, and the mains lead is fixed.

Each channel of the XRD 680S Plus includes an Effects send followed by a three-band EQ, a Monitor send, Pan, and Level control (see right). No mic/line selector switch is necessary and phantom power is globally switchable. All the controls are knobs — there are no level faders. Other than the speaker outputs, all connections are on the front panel. The EQ provides the usual 15dB cut/boost range at 10kHz, 600Hz, and 50Hz.

The Effects send control feeds the internal effects processor. However, front panel jacks are fitted, enabling an external effects unit to be used instead of the on-board one if required. Similarly, the mixer outs and power amp ins are accessible on jacks, allowing, for example, the internal power amps to be used to drive a monitor system and the mixer to drive a larger external power amplifier. The same sockets may be used to bypass the graphic EQ or replace it with a different processor.

In the master section of the mixer are the master level controls for the Main, Monitor, Effect (send), and Tape outputs. The tape ins and outs are on phonos for connection to a cassette deck or DAT machine; tape in jacks are also provided, allowing tapes or CDs to be played through the system (these go through the same level control as the stereo aux return). The graphic EQ uses ganged faders so that only one set of sliders covers both channels.

The Effects section includes an effects return level control for the main mix and a second return control for feeding effects into the foldback mix. Similarly, the external effects return/tape input signal may also be mixed into the monitor feed. So far so good, but the effects section itself is more than a little confusing.

There are two, 16-way rotary switches, the top one labelled Time and the lower one Effects. The Time switch is numbered 1 to 16, while the 16-position Effects switch is numbered 1 to 8 twice. The manual is rather vague on how the effects are arranged and the following description is offered: "Rotating the Effects Selector control determines which particular digital effect is drawn from whichever bank has been selected by means of the Time Selector switch". There is no mention of the reasoning behind the numbering of the second knob; nor is there any explanation as to whether the first set of eight differs from the second.

In fact, the quoted number of 128 effects implies a 16 x 8 selection matrix, but the manual implies that 16 effects are available for each time setting. If that were true, it would mean 256 effects options, not 128. In fact, I tried to compare the two sets of eight Effects settings and found the results similar, but I'm not convinced they were exactly the same.

IN USE

Technically, the XRD 6805 Plus behaves extremely well in respect of power, low noise, and EQ. However, there were one or two ergonomic shortcomings. For example, I didn't find the layout of the effects section particularly helpful. Because this is a box-style mixer, it's very likely to be placed on a chair rather than being propped up at head height where you can see all the controls. In a modestly lit pub or club, the front panel legend is all but invisible, unless you are looking the thing straight in the eye. As the Main level control is the same size as all the other controls, in a dimly lit environment, it would not be immediately obvious which one to dive for when everything starts to feed back. A single short fader might have made more sense here I feel.

The fine divisions on the effects switches make it very difficult to see what setting is currently selected. Despite the presence of a printed guide on the front panel, you still don't really know what sort of effect you're getting until your hear it. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that the effects engine has been lifted directly from one of Peavey's budget stand-alone studio effects boxes. Unfortunately, the numerous long echoes, cavernous reverbs, and reverse type treatments available are virtually useless in a live situation. In fact, I spent about ten minutes trying to find a suitably flattering reverb-plus-delay patch, but nothing I came across was entirely suitable. I eventually settled for a shortish reverb. For my money, a choice of eight or 16 standard vocal effects with a variable decay time knob would have been more practical.

The effects section can be switched on and off via an optional footswitch, and I just happened to have an off-the-shelf footswitch to try it with. I soon discovered that there was no LED to indicate whether the effects were active or bypassed, and when you're playing in a noisy pub without the benefit of foldback, it becomes far too easy to turn the effects on for the announcements and off for the songs! This problem is compounded by the fact that most budget footswitches suffer from contact bounce, so sometimes the effect won't turn on or off as expected.

Tonally, the mixer is fine, and there's plenty of clean power on hand. The graphic EQ is useful for general room tweaking, although for serious feedback fighting, something like Peavey's Q231F dual 31-band graphic with feedback identifying LEDs would be more suitable. Having the external access jacks does, of course, mean that you can patch one of these in circuit in place of the regular graphic EQ.

CONCLUSION

The XRD 680S Plus is a very attractive one-box solution to mixing a small number of mic or line signals, providing a sensible amount of stereo amplifier power for small venues. The weakest points are ergonomic: the small legending, which is difficult to see with the mixer set up in a typical position, and the tiny graduations on the effects selection switches.

Attractively priced, the XRD 680S Plus is solidly engineered and features all the essentials necessary to form the heart of a compact PA system. Although I personally would favour a conventional mixer layout for visibility reasons, there is no denying that the format of the XRD 680S Plus is ideal if you stand it on top of your guitar stack or keyboard combo.

XRD 680S Plus £899 inc VAT.

Peavey Electronics Limited, (Contact Details).