Jon Chadwick, front of house engineer for the acclaimed band Papadosio, recently put the compact and powerful Allen & Heath Avantis Solo digital mixing console to the test on the group’s latest tour.
Chadwick had extensive prior experience with Allen & Heath‘s dLive and SQ series, making the transition to Avantis intuitive. Chadwick strategically opted for a digital split over Dante with the monitor console, leveraging three DX168 expanders positioned throughout the stage. This choice offered significant flexibility for I/O placement and simplified cabling, replacing bulkier analog snakes with more convenient ethercon runs.
“The Avantis’ flexible I/O routing made setting up the Dante split seamless,” Chadwick noted, “I could tie-line mix outs from the monitor console to DX168 outputs, ensuring the band retained their familiar monitor setup without needing to run any additional cabling.
Chadwick’s decision to use the Avantis Solo stemmed from a desire to bridge the gap between portability and powerful features. He had previously considered an SQ5 for its compact size, but needed more bus flexibility than the console allowed. Conversely, a dLive setup, while appealing for its capabilities, was not in the budget. Chadwick found the Avantis Solo to be the perfect middle ground: “Avantis Solo fits perfectly between SQ and dLive, offering an abundance of mix buses and more advanced processing capabilities without the massive price tag- all while still being a great control surface.” The Avantis Solo features a powerful 96kHz XCVI FPGA engine, delivering ultra-low latency, and comes with the option for a dPack upgrade, which includes acclaimed dLive DEEP processing.
The console’s processing power proved to come in handy for Papadosio’s dense sound. Chadwick specifically praised the DYN8, a dPack feature that offers dynamic EQ and multiband compression. “The DYN8 was a game changer across vocals, keys, guitars, and our Ableton mix bus,” he noted. Chadwick also highlighted the Mighty compressor model for creating a parallel compressed drum bus, and the Opto compressor for its effectiveness on bass and vocals – both of which are part of the DEEP Compressors available with dPack.
Beyond the technical prowess, the Avantis Solo’s compact form factor was a significant advantage for touring. “It’s small enough to check on flights, transport in a sedan, and still powerful enough to handle complex mixes,” Chadwick commented.
The sonic impact of the Avantis Solo was immediately evident, particularly to the band members. “One of the standout moments on this tour was the reaction from the band when they put in their IEMs during soundcheck,” Chadwick recalled. “They immediately noticed the increased clarity and transient response, despite keeping the same mics, mic placement, processing, and gain staging.”
“Overall, the Avantis Solo exceeded my expectations,” said Chadwick. “The combination of portability, processing power, and flexible I/O, especially with a DX-Hub and DX168s, makes it an incredible value.”
