Vestax VMC 004 XL Review

Not exactly new on the market, but it's all I have to review.

A review perhaps for the DJ looking for an affordable mixer.

The first thing you may notice from my picture is that the fader knob is missing from the channel 3 fader, which brings me to my first point - the fader knobs don't stay on very well.

They are alright to start with, but as soon as you have to take them off to lift the lid for a good fader clean, they work loose each time. It should be noted that the missing fader actually belonged to the cross fader, and was lost while performing at a friend's party.

Other than that, which can be expected from a lot of mixers, the build of the vestax is very good. It's a good weight and doesn't move around during use, which can be a problem being a battle DJ.

You may think it's odd, a battle DJ using a 4 channel mixer, and it is. The face of the mixer is very cluttered with the four faders, and 16 EQ settings. My train of thought was that I could scratch with the two turntables while playing a CD instrumental through another channel. The four channels did open up windows in that respect.

The mixer is a lot better for recording for me, as it has two separate outputs, meaning I can hear exactly what I am recording, as loud as I like, without distorting the recording.

The sound quality from the mixer is superb, it offers both RCA and XLR outputs and both produce great stereo sound. The volume level lights on the mixer also ensure you do not harm your amplifier or speakers, which are expensive pieces of equipment to replace.

In terms of aesthetics, I think it's a good looking mixer, obviously not as good looking as it's sister machine, but it has a nice stainless finish to it, the Vestax logo looks good on any piece as it is.

My main gripe about this mixer is that the crossfader isn't very durable. Saying that though, it is not a scratch mixer and isn't designed to take the amount of crossfading as I do as a battle DJ. I have cleaned the crossfader on countless occasions and it has started to make no difference anymore, still bleeding, still crackly.

I now have my eye on the PMC 06, as it is a minimal design, a lot less cluttered on the face of the mixer, and aimed at scratchers rather than mixers. Yes, it has less EQ settings, but that's not what I'm looking for in a mixer, I want durability on the fader, and an easy to use face. I hope that certain scratches will be easier to perform with a less cluttered face, and that the crossfader will be easy to slide back and forth as I wish.