Soundcraft Ui12

I now own 3 of the Soundcraft Ui12's.

The first one I bought years ago has had a lot of use. Over that time it has dropped 6 of its 8 channels. I sent it back to Thomann for an out of warranty repair and their third party repairer (Soundcraft I presume) said it was too costly to bother with. Much cheaper to buy new.

The second unit I bought relatively recently as a replacement for the first. It had a fault where the power supply connects directly to the unit. Sent it back for an in warranty repair and all is well with it now.

The third unit I purchased recently as a backup to the second. All running well with it, so far...

As a regularly gigging musician you need to be able to rely on your gear. Most of the items in my setup are extremely reliable (RCF EVOX 8's, Sennheiser e865, NS Design electric cello) but I can't say the same for the Ui12.

Apart from the reliability I really love its features and here are three of my favourites:

A: The multiple shows you can save, load and backup.

B: The ability to record directly to a USB stick and instantly playback to hear how your balance is. Great feature for doing your own sound engineering and getting your setup just right

C: Graphic eq on each channel and compressor

I recently changed my solo setup and I'm no longer using the Ui12 for that. A bit relieved to get away from it because of the reliability. Always on the back of my mind when doing a gig. Will continue to use for my other projects.