Allen&Heath brand was founded by Neil Hauser and Steve Battist in 1969. The company was located in a small factory in London, where it was engaged in the production of mixers. It’s potential was quite invisible, so it turned to some serious people who could help find the right approach to realizing new ideas in the near future. Later Allen&Heath became widely known thanks to the geniuses who took part in its development: Andy Bereza, Ivor Taylor and Andrew Stirling.
In the 70s the brand was under pressure because of constant competition with other well-known manufacturers. The company responded with the release of MiniMixer and MiniMixer MK2 (with 6 channels and 2 outputs) that opened the door to a new world. After the release of these mixers, the company began to flourish and prosper. After a while, the most famous invention made by Allen&Heath - Mod mixer - was launched. Shortly after the release, in the early 70's they created a quadraphonic mixing console which was used by the legendary Pink Floyd and The Who.
Mixers of the 2000s are the most relevant among the DJ's gear. Therefore, each time, with announcing of a new product release, fans instantly add them to their "wish list" and incite discussions. Their most famous mixers are presented in Xone and Zed series. Initially, all efforts were focused on design portability. The compact Xone mixer: 2D has a multi-audio I/O card, 4 faders, 8 knobs, 4 switches, 12 buttons, a turntable (MIDI CC), and a tempo display. Soon the company released a hybrid mixer Xone: 4D with a 4-channel analog mixer. Around the main faders there are buttons and knobs, which are designed for MIDI control. It has a “warm” 3-band equalizer, as well as 2VCFs, assigned to the X and Y channels of the crossfader. Its step sequencer sports an old school design, and uses 8 sliders to adjust the level for each step.
10 years after Xone:2D was released Allen&Heath decided to revive portability again – now with Xone:K2. The mixer is a common arrangement of DJ-oriented controls: 12 analog and 6 encoders with switch buttons, 4 linear faders, and 30 LED buttons that provide up to 171 MIDI sends. It also has 2 stereo outputs, 1 RCA pair on the rear panel, and one 1/8 (3.5) headphone output.
Xone VF1 was released especially for fans of racks. It has envelopes with switchable release (into slow or fast mode), as well as a knob for adding overdrive with a "on/off" switch. LFO has various waveforms with a depth control that allows you to control the modulation of the filter.
ZED line was created for professional production. ZED 14 included 6 mono outputs, a microphone and linear input, and 4 stereo channels. They are supplemented by 2 main stereos and an auxiliary stereo via USB. Each of the 6 main mic channels has a DuoPre amplifier. Low and high pass filters can cut up to 15dB, or increase frequencies within the range from 120HZ to 4KHZ. Each channel also has 4 AUX sends, 2 of which are pre-fade or CUE, and the rest are post-fade, to access any external effects.
ZED-10FX comprises a 4-channel mono mixer. The first 2 are for a microphone or linear sources, and the 3rd and 4th ones are for a microphone or guitar. All 4 channels include volume control, high pass filter, flexible 3-band equalizer, sends to auxiliary and external effects, solo buttons and an additional button to rout the signal to recording. There is also a 48V phantom power for 4 mic preamps, 2 stereo outputs with simplified controls, and a 1/4” headphone input.
Allen&Heath influenced the recording and DJing industry and has been doing it for the last 47 years. The brand changed the idea of sound mixing completely, and made the company’s devices more intuitive and accessible to users.