Allen & Heath SQ5

Allen & Heath SQ5 hire in Melbourne. A 48 channel 96kHz digital mixer in a Pelican flight case, under 20 kilos, with a router in the lid so you can mix from an iPad anywhere in the room.

Plenty of digital desks need a day to learn. The SQ5 doesn't. Sixteen preamps on the surface, total 48 input channels, motorised faders, eight stereo FX engines with their own returns, access to the RackExtra FX library and 12 stereo mixes you can set up as auxes or groups. Dugan auto mic mixing is built in, which turns a 12 person panel from a fader workout into a job where you watch the room instead of the desk. Scenes and snapshots mean soundcheck on Friday is the show on Saturday.

It's the desk on our own band, corporate and broadcast jobs and the desk in our Band PA package, which is why it goes out in a custom Pelican 1637 Air case with the GL.iNet Slate wireless router already paired. Power, patch and walk away from the booth. Add the AR2412 stage box and the mixer sits at front of house while 24 inputs and 12 outputs live on stage over one Cat5 lead.

Good for: bands, live events, corporate shows, conferences and panels, broadcast style playback, festival stages, theatre and any setup that needs more control than an analogue desk.

Good to know: An iPad isn't included. Bring one with the SQ MixPad app on it, or mix from the surface. Add the AR2412 if the stage is more than a few metres from the mix position. Ask us about an operator if the show is a big one.

What’s Included

• Gl.iNet Slate router
• IEC cable
• Ethernet patch cable
• Pelican 1637 Air