I had an ancient I entered Mackie board, was playing an outdoor gig barely had enough juice. The Mackie after almost 2 decades of service finally quit. I ordered the yamaha 16 mixer. My power was set at the same venue 11:00 on the lows and 2:00 on the highs ( I'm bi-amped) but the deals is my faders were on 4 to 5 for vocals and 3 to 4 on drums and amps. Clean head room out the ass. Plus the convenience of USB straight to my recording software. On another note I bought a Firebird 1 silvermist had it about 40 days when I noticed the dreaded gibson death fracture. I called AMS. They not only took the firebird back they nextday aired a replacement to me. If you need gear and want the customer service that is unmatched among online order company's, do yourself a favor ... MoreI had an ancient I entered Mackie board, was playing an outdoor gig barely had enough juice. The Mackie after almost 2 decades of service finally quit. I ordered the yamaha 16 mixer. My power was set at the same venue 11:00 on the lows and 2:00 on the highs ( I'm bi-amped) but the deals is my faders were on 4 to 5 for vocals and 3 to 4 on drums and amps. Clean head room out the ass. Plus the convenience of USB straight to my recording software. On another note I bought a Firebird 1 silvermist had it about 40 days when I noticed the dreaded gibson death fracture. I called AMS. They not only took the firebird back they nextday aired a replacement to me. If you need gear and want the customer service that is unmatched among online order company's, do yourself a favor check American Music Supply. They have a customer for life in me. Give me a call if you think I'm not a verified customerBest regardsFstEddie541-254-4137

A Big Step Toward Pro Sound

By the time my 7-year-old Behringer 12-channel (6 mics) board bit the dust, I needed a mixer with more features. High on the list were 10 mic inputs, the ability to control 4 independently-mixed monitor feeds, and on-board effects. The MG16XU filled all those needs and more. I'm still acquainting myself with the board and the ways channels can be routed through it, but my impression so far is: WOW! Yamaha was highly recommended by a few audio folks I trust, all of whom praise the board's sound, and I needed to graduate from micing singers to mixing a full 5-piece band for outdoor gigs. This will do it the job nicely. A nice step up for anyone who needs to enter the world of full-sized mixing environments.

Awesome Mixer for the price

Great features for this price point. Purchased for the USB capabilities and the wide array of input/outputs. I pair the mixer with a Yamaha PX3, connected to over 40 speakers through Stereo main (XLR), dual Aux to a FM transmitter and separate PC and audio cloud streaming (Stereo 1/4 jack out). Input wise, I am using 4 Shure SM58, 2 SM57, and 2 SM388s with wireless transmitters (XLR), USB from main A/V computer. Highly recommended. Great quality sound. Only improvement would suggest would be the Fader/Sliders be made of metal and that there was less play. For the price though, this is a great unit (my second Yamaha UX USB series mixer).

Best bang for the buck

This thing sounds amazing and for the money best preamps I've heard. The big downer for me and I seen it before I purchased was there are no insert or Aux returns. If this had those it would beat all other mixer in this price range and above. It has descent fx but you can only use one for all channels. Aux returns would be nice for signal routing flexablity. Inserts would be nice for outboard compressor/gates for drum mics, all though the one knob compressor is nice on the 8 channels that have it but no gate for drum mics. All and all this is worth the money and I'm very happy with my purchase. If your on a budget and/or in a pinch like I was this is the mixer for you. Plus stereo recording capabilities through the usb that might come in handy one day.

Broke my heart

This product hands down had the very best sound i have ever heard from a mixer, it had raw power and sounded beautiful, the eq controls are very powerful and let you reeeeeally get in depth with each band, the only thing that really threw me off and the reason i had to return this mixer is because i wanted to use it for tracking out, and unfortunately i was fooled by the advertised "usb" feature on it because i expected a product that cost over 500 bucks with 8 mono channels on it and usb compatability to be able to track out each one separate but i got a very big surprise when i tried to do so and found out you can only track out through either the 2 group, or master tracks. I currently have a multi track recorder but it does not have an analog eq the way the ... MoreThis product hands down had the very best sound i have ever heard from a mixer, it had raw power and sounded beautiful, the eq controls are very powerful and let you reeeeeally get in depth with each band, the only thing that really threw me off and the reason i had to return this mixer is because i wanted to use it for tracking out, and unfortunately i was fooled by the advertised "usb" feature on it because i expected a product that cost over 500 bucks with 8 mono channels on it and usb compatability to be able to track out each one separate but i got a very big surprise when i tried to do so and found out you can only track out through either the 2 group, or master tracks. I currently have a multi track recorder but it does not have an analog eq the way the yamaha did but It was definitely due to my lack of experience using usb mixers and lack of research before buying the product. Overall it had an extremely beautiful sound and probably would work great for someone just tracking out a vocal and a guitar or for live performances, but if you have something like an mpc and want to use an analog eq on each track while you track out each track simultaneously through your 8 outs unfortunately this is not the product for you. Really lazy on yamahas behalf to add the usb instead of allowing multi track recording imo, which is the reason for my rating. This product could have easily been a 5 and could have been the ideal mixer if it did allow each track to be tracked out separately, if anyone does know of a mixer with an analog eq which i could achieve that with that doesn't cost $1000+ please let me know, thanks!

Great mixer

We use this mixer for live sound gigs. Indoor with up to 150 people and outdoors with up to 300 people. This mixer sounds excellent. We had a smaller mixer from another company but this mixer makes the band sound great! Effects aren't the best but works for most situations. (Better than nothing). We use three vocal mics, three acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drum machine and midi controller with inputs to spare. It is a bit on the pricey side for a small band but with the excellent job that it does, it is well worth the expense. Yamaha quality indeed.

Great mixer, get's the job done, easy DSP with nice preamps

Competitive price for 16-channel mixers! Worked out really well for a gig I did recently, with a full band w/lead vocal and backgrounds. Only wish it has a multitrack recording like the Tascams, but the price kinda makes up for it.

Great unit, Looking forward to more Yamaha reliability!

Currently have used this on a few jobs at this time. The unit is an addition for handling medium sized jobs that we provide sound reinforcement and lighting. This is our fifth Yamaha mixer and so far it has been a great addition with just the right amount of additional channels. In the past we would have to use or larger 32-channel boards for some of our smaller venues that only need up to 12 channels. The MG XU16 is so far a rugged unit. Easy to learn and control for our newer board operators and offers great flexibility. FX controls are a plus.

Nice!

Overall:I bought this mixer as a small format mixer for live gigs in moderate sized clubs and outdoors. It has plenty of inputs for most situations but what drew mw too it even more were the 4 auxiliary busses. Four separate monitor mixers should resolve most potential problems and if not there are at least 3 more sends available. The board is ultra quiet. I was using it at an outdoor gig by the river so was running things fairly hot for volume and there was no hiss, no hum, just nice sound at a good level. Having on/off mute switches also cleans up the signal path for unused channels. Some people have complained that 48v phantom power is on for all channels when on. Unless you have a passive ribbon mic, that voltage should not be a problem. Dynamic mics are not ... MoreOverall:I bought this mixer as a small format mixer for live gigs in moderate sized clubs and outdoors. It has plenty of inputs for most situations but what drew mw too it even more were the 4 auxiliary busses. Four separate monitor mixers should resolve most potential problems and if not there are at least 3 more sends available. The board is ultra quiet. I was using it at an outdoor gig by the river so was running things fairly hot for volume and there was no hiss, no hum, just nice sound at a good level. Having on/off mute switches also cleans up the signal path for unused channels. Some people have complained that 48v phantom power is on for all channels when on. Unless you have a passive ribbon mic, that voltage should not be a problem. Dynamic mics are not affected by 48v. And if you have a sensitive ribbon you should already know not to plug it in unless you have the proper gear to isolate the ribbon from potential voltage anyway. My only real "complaint" is the effects are pretty good, good enough for several to usable, but there are no stacked effects like reverb and delay together. My Allen Heath ZED 10FX manages to have stacked effects.....but overall I really like this mixer and all the great features! Lots of bang for yer buck!

Review of Yamaha MG16XU 16-Channel USB Mixing Desk with FX

Love it. Clear sound and surprisingly easy to use - just nake sure you understand how the signal routing works. Used at a local festival. Used for vocals and also a mandolin plugged straight into the desk. Sound for both was very transparent. Worth the extra money over budget gear to get that extra quality.