REVIEWED PEAVEYXR1212
This powerful and versatile powered mixer from US giants Peavey contains some useful tricks up its sleeve...
Words: Tim Slater
Peavey is renowned for developing groundbreaking technology, the majority of which is utilised in its vast range of sound reinforcement equipment. The Peavey XR 1212 powered mixer appears to be a perfect example of the cutting edge meets affordability ethos that the Mississippi-based company is renowned for but beneath the user-friendly surface there is a lot more going on inside the XR 1212 than meets the eye. We’ve taken a peek under the XR 1212’s hood to find out what its myriad of extra features do and how they can benefit the grass roots working musicians that this sophisticated mixer amplifier is aimed at.
A brief overview... Let’s begin with the basics. The XR 1212 is a 12 channel powered mixer/
PEAVEY XR1212
SRP £902.00
All prices include VAT CONT
ACT
Peavey Europe T:
01536 461234 W:
www.peavey-eu.com 40 3pickup
amp that contains two separate 600 watt power amplifiers. The majority of users will probably split the desk so that one amp drives a set of PA speakers whilst the second amplifier powers a set of monitors. There is certainly enough headroom (clean power before the amps begin to clip) to provide a very powerful and efficient set up for a pub or club band. There is also the facility whereby a summed (combined) mono signal from the left and right power amps can be fed directly out to a separate PA; usually a larger in- house theatre system. The flexibility of the setup also gives this XR model a unique ability to remove all of the frequencies below 100hz from both internal power amplifiers, effectively making this mixer amp a real active crossover. In this mode, all of the power sapping low frequencies are bypassed to be dealt with by an external source, usually a pair of active subs, leaving the XR with bags of free power to drive the mids and highs with maximum efficiency. Powered mixers like this one can help to reduce the amount of gear that a band needs to drag around and with modern PA speakers becoming lighter and ever more efficient, combining the XR 1212 with a set of decent passive mid/tops, an active sub and maybe a pair of passive monitors will constitute a very powerful and still fairly portable rig. There are plenty of inputs including balanced XLR and ¼” jack
inputs, plus line level mono inserts on channels one-to-ten. Channels 11 and 12 also feature dedicated XLR inputs, although Channel 11 also includes mono/stereo line jack inputs whilst Channel 12 has stereo RCA inputs for connecting an external CD player or else, far more likely these days, an MP3 player or iPod. Purely from a build-quality perspective the XR 1212 looks well up to the job. The steel chassis includes drilled lugs that allow the mixer to be fitted into a rack or flight case for easier transportation and security, with a large slotted grill at the rear that helps to dissipate power-sapping heat generated by the twin 600 watt power amps.
Combi jacks on the main and monitor left and right outputs are also an encouraging inclusion because they offer a choice of conventional quarter-inch jacks, Speakon connectors or XLRs. A powerful onboard DSP contains a useful selection of high quality digital effects including reverbs, delays, chorus and even multi-effect combinations with individually adjustable levels for two separate effects. Favourite effects patches can
even be stored in the DSP for instant recall and like the majority of modern digital processors the XR 1212’s DSP feels very user-friendly. There is even a footswitch socket included for hands-free adjustment of delay times using the DSP’s tap tempo mode.
Mojo filters To really begin to appreciate what the XR 1212 is capable of, it’s important to mention that it contains an impressive range of useful features that are more commonly associated with the sophisticated EQ and processing equipment used by professional sound engineers. These are helpfully arranged into five separate switchable modes that allows the XR 1212 to automatically filter out certain frequencies that might otherwise impair the overall sound, often utilizing several clever ways of using the desk’s dual built-in graphic EQs. We’ll get into these in more detail later on but another major selling point in the XR 1212 favour is its built-in anti-feedback protection. Peavey were one of the first companies to incorporate automatic anti-feedback technology into its mainstream PA products (the
Most users will welcome the XR1212’s anti feedback counter measures…
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