Peavey PC 1600

This is an article culled from archive material, circa 1997.

The PC 1600 is a 16-fader control box with the usual functionality: each fader can be programmed to generate an arbitrary MIDI message, including system exclusive. In fact, the PC 1600 is slightly more powerful in this regard than the MRC - the messages can be longer, the parameter encoding is more sophisticated, and arbitrary messages can be built, including sequences of conventional channel messages.

The PC 1600 is very solidly built, with all the rear panel connectors bolted in place. The faders have a good, firm action; unfortunately, on my unit at least, the buttons are less good, with a tendency to stick or bounce. The rear panel has the usual MIDI sockets and two footswitch/pedal sockets.

MIDI functionality is respectable. The unit has a bank of patches and a second bank of scenes (settings for faders). Incoming MIDI can be merged with locally-generated data for output, and the faders have various kinds of nulling and punch-in functionality. (Since I use Max for everything, the actual functionality of the PC 1600 is irrelevant to me.)

I generally prefer the MRC since the architecture is more sophisticated, and the MRC will also do 2 x 2 patching. The PC 1600 is more solidly built and, of course, has four times as many faders. It also looks more impressive on stage.