THE ZOOM L-12 IS A MASTERPIECE
This is a no-brainer! The Zoom L-12 has no equal at any price with one possible exception from Presonus. The Zoom L-12 covers so much ground that it is an absolute “must have” for those of us who need a mixer, recorder, effects module and headphone amp for on location audio projects. There are enough things to carry and set up such as mics, cables, snakes, monitors, effects pedals and direct boxes. Even recording and sound reinforcement for a small group can get frustrating with short available time to set-up and tear-down. Enter the Zoom L-12 which combines full mixing capability, 5 headphone jacks which can be used as monitor sends and has full multi track recording capability. Adding to all that, it has a pretty good effects section. Everything is packaged in a single light weight unit. The build quality is substantial. My only criticism is the lack of some kind of handles for picking it up without putting pressure on the controls or jacks. The sound quality seems quite good. Ease of use is very intuitive. As a digital mixer, I'm delighted you don't control everything from menus. It has a very analog feel. If there is only one omission, it would be the lack of ability to play mp3's during breaks. For that, you need to connect a player to one of the line-in jacks. That brings me to the Presonus I alluded to earlier. The Presonus AR series of mixers do record but only as 2 track stereo and they have one single headphone jack. The Presonus does however have bluetooth and mp3 capability via the USB port. That may be an option if you don't need all the other great features of the Zoom. The zoom isn't cheap but it is very reasonable. It's “affordable” in snob terms. For the rest of us, we need to stay away from Starbucks for a few weeks to save-up the 6 hundred cash bucks. For all that the Zoom does, it's a real bargain. Zoom always seems to hit one out of the park for us real world audio people. I love it.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned