Will I loose quality connecting through a mixer?

[Brick_top]

Hi,

I need to buy a small mixer for my cover band. Will I loose quality by connecting through a mixer?

Do I need to look for some kind of qualities in the mixer?

I'm looking at a Soundcraft EPM 6

Thanks

 

[chris]

the more stuff you add to any signal chain, you run the risk of degrading your tone. that said, i used to play with my axe into a personal mixer, then into the main mixer, and all my tone was still there.

if you use the right cables (xlr if over 18 feet to the mixer, etc) and gain stage properly, you really won't lose anything.

i'd say the #1 mistake with most people is not gain staging properly. examples are turning your axe fx output all the way up and then you can barely turn up the mixer knobs, or the other way around; you turn the axe output barely on and max out the mixer gain and level controls.

make sure you have good input into the mixer without distorting and have enough headroom with the gain on the mixer when you play loudly.