Line Mixers and Their Uses

[cphr3d]

First off.... Im a total noob when it comes to mixers. In looking around I noticed the rackmounted line mixers. Is a line mixer just like a regular mixer without the preamps? What exactly is the use case for a line mixer and does anyone here actually use one?

 

[Elethan]

Yup, I used to use one to for a wet-dry rig. It's generally used to have two or more signals coming to it and used it to control the mix (and panning) of the output signal (what goes to the power amp). The intention is to keep the analog signal (your preamp or various other stuff) from being converted to digital and back again - like when you plugged your preamp out to a DSP. So in other words, the signal that hits the power amp is always a sum of at least one 100% analog signal + various other converted signals - great way to use tone sucking gear.

Almost all purists will say it's essential to keep your tone intact throughout the whole chain. It used to make a difference when I was using some of the older gear (like a TC G Major 1), but with the newer processors like the Axe FX there really isn't any tone suck (none that I can hear anyway), so for me it pretty much became dead weight in my rack

 

[Zachman]

 

[cphr3d]

Awesome... Thanks for the feedback guys. Makes sense.