Competition in the sub-£1000 mixer market is getting fiercer by the day, and the newest contender is the Samson MPL2242. Roger Brown mixes more than his metaphors as he checks to see whether this bit of mixing muscle has encountered Delilah yet...

The success of the Mackie 1604 has certainly revitalised the home studio/live mixer market. In recent months we've reviewed Citronic's Ephos 16:2, competing on sound quality and price, but minus that extra pair of aux sends. Then there's Allen & Heath's GS1, notching up 'eight busses under a grand', as those of you who entered our competition will remember. But anyone looking for an alternative home for their hard-earned pennies would be well advised to check out a new name from the States, now being distributed over here.

Samson are the company, and they produce an attractive range of mixers, powered mixers and servo amplifiers, all of which offer similar build quality and specifications to the fabled Mackie range. Nothing has been shorn from this Samson, and the MPL2242 looks to be a serious contender for those of us interested in a good quality desk for digital quality recordings from home.

A Trim Contender

The 'MPL' of the Samson's name stands for Microphone Program Line, indicating the range of signals this desk is designed to handle. It's a robustly-built unit occupying 6U of rackable space, and can be supplied with side plates for desktop mounting.

The first ten channels are designed to accept microphone or line level inputs, with XLR and line level inputs available from the rear of the mixer. Nestling below the ¼" line jacks are ¼" insert points for patching in outboard signal processing such as compression, equalisation or noise-gating in a standard effects loop. Following on from these, there are six stereo inputs, perfect for those stereo outs from modern synths and also well designed for patching in CD players, tape machines or other stereo sources.

Each channel boasts a 4 band EQ with 15dB of cut or boost at low (80Hz) and high (12kHz) frequencies, and 12dB of cut or boost at low mid (800Hz) and high mid (2.5kHz) ranges. This provides an excellent EQ, and with the Input trim on each channel offering a range from +4dB to -50dB on mono and up to -30dB on stereo channels, means the Samson is well equipped to take any signal you care to throw at it.

Flexibility is further enhanced by the four buss output, leading to the stereo mix. A simple, large knob controls the main output, calibrated from -infinity to +6dB with a zero point clearly marked. The switchable busses are set up with 1 and 3 normalled to the left mix output, and 2 and 4 normalled to the right. This allows you to easily mute selected channels from the buss switches, and create submixes within your main mix by adjusting the four buss faders and switching of busses.

"Setting up a mix utilising the mix busses and faders is a breeze"

There are also six auxiliary sends with four stereo or eight mono returns. This allows you to switch between external effects processors or other outboard devices on auxiliary sends 3/5 and 4/6, which are configured as post fade, as is the aux send 2. Any more switching options than these and the Samson would start to lose the ease of use that is its ultimate goal. Auxiliary send 1 alone is configured pre-fade, making it ideal for a monitor mix.

All of this flexibility makes the Samson ideal for live use, as a keyboard sub mixer, or even, given its low crosstalk and noise figures, as a main recording mixer. The Samson circuitry places each channel's input preamp and four band EQ on the same circuit board. This low impedance design results in less noise, low crosstalk and extended frequency response.

Phantom power is provided for the mic/line channels. This is switchable from the right control section, with an LED just below the level meters indicating its status. Once this is switched on, inserting the appropriate XLR lead from your condensor mic will activate power to the mic on that channel. The level LED meters are switchable between the main stereo mix, buss and PFL levels, and provide clear readings of your output levels. A clip light on each channel allows easy monitoring of peak levels.

The main board is well laid out, with the switch for aux sends 5/6 nestling under the 4 send pots, and the buss and PFL switches occupying a little more space under the pan/balance pot, coloured white on the mono channels and dark grey on the stereo ones. Above these, clearly marked by blue tops, is the 4 band EQ section with the frequencies clearly marked, and a centre indent at 0dB making tuning of sounds a pleasure.

Getting to grips

In use, the Samson proved to be a pleasure, its faders providing smooth, even response with a satisfyingly solid centre indent at 0dB. The aux return section offers level and balance control from two rows of pots, the level pots distinguished by their green tops. Setting up a mix utilising the mix busses and faders is a breeze, with monitoring being made just as simple. As I've already mentioned, the grey-on-greyness of the Samson led me to have reservations about its ease of use, but with a stage light shone on it, the colour proved ideal, with minimum glare. So, initial reservations overcome, how does it sound?

"It's clean, it's clear and it's certainly up to digital standards"

The 4 band EQ is certainly well thought-out, with sufficient cut and boost to allow wide tonal variations. EQ is a subjective thing, and this unit offers a sound that is going to be loved by some and loathed by just as many. It's clean, it's clear, and it's certainly up to digital standards, if anything perhaps just a touch too clean for those of us used to the character of big studio desks. But this is the very quality which has made the Mackie so popular; an EQ section which gives the performer clear control over his sound without excessive coloration.

I certainly became converted to its ease of control over a small setup in a very short space of time, and found the EQ to be equally as satisfying as the competition, perhaps even better.

All of this month's sequencing tutorial was recorded using the Samson, as was last month's. The only difference was that last month I used the TLA Valve amp/compressor after the main mix and before the recording stage. In other words, colouring the mixed output of the Samson with valve warmth. So this month's tutorial shows the undiluted output of the Samson. As you can hear, there is plenty of punch in the bottom end, with clean midranges and a sharp crispness to the tops.

Verdict

If the Samson is beginning to sound a lot like a Mackie to those of you who are familiar with the 1604, you're quite right. Without being a clone, the Samson does offer similar specs to the 1604 at a competitive price. Even its layout is like the big M, just as clear and user-friendly.

But the Samson is no mere imitator, boasting its own rugged build and custom circuitry to provide a desk which is actually cleaner than the Mackie to my ears, and would certainly supplant it in my affections were I not an aficionado of computer-controlled mixing. The Mackie of course has the added attraction of its Otto remote controller module. Recording your mixes and being able to replay and fine-tune them is a boon to recordists, and the market is showing signs of hotting up on this front. So watch this space.

That said, using the Samson's centre indents and controlling everything via MIDI, provides much the same controllability as a fully automated setup. For the forseeable future, the luxury of mixer automation will still come in at over twice the price of the Samson, and with its extra stereo channels, this mixer has shown itself to be a powerful beast. No barber's shears in sight, except on the price tag!