The Behringer Eurorack MX802a is a small, versatile and very affordable mixing board.

When I purchased equipment for my home studio. I kept two things in mind. One, that I was mainly going to be recording me...solo, and two that I would like to be able to record a full band if the chance arose. I needed a mixer that was small, but had multiple XLR inputs. I also needed phantom power for my AKG C 1000 S condensor microphones.

I found the Behringer Eurorack MX802a at Guitar Center. The price was right. If I remember correctly, I got it around $150. The Behringer Eurorack MX802a was very cheap and powerful. Behringer had quite a few other mixers to chose from, however, the Eurorack MX802a had everything I needed. Plus it was right in line with my limited budget.

According to Behringer's website, this model has been discontinued. It looks like the closest mixer would be the 602a. Half the size, and the next one up is a 16 channel. Looks like they killed their midrange line of mixers. What a shame.

The Behringer Eurorack MX802a offers:

• Four mono mic/line channels with INVISIBLE MIC PREAMPs plus two stereo channels
• MIDI equipment or other stereo sound sources and a 2-track input/output for recording and playback
• 3-band equalizers in each channel plus switchable low-cut filters in the mono channels
• Two aux sends
• Two stereo returns
• Phantom power
• Accurate peak LED’s and level meters

I've also used the Behringer MX802a  as a PA for playing live. Paired it with my powered Event monitors and it sounded delicious in the "acoustic coffee shop" setting. The Behringer MX802A really sounded great with my 12 string and a cello.

The Behringer mixers are definately affordable. Don't rule them out when building your home studio. You might even find a deal on a discontinued model. The Behringer Eurorack mixers will definately help your overall music production in your home studio.

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