Indie combo Aqualung recently supported UK band Feeder for a series of dates on their UK arena tour. This was one of the first outings for the brand-new Midas Verona console, officially launched at the NAMM show in January 2004. Front-of-house engineer Tony Perretta and monitor engineer Roberto Pieroni (also house engineer at Fabric) took the opportunity to put the new Verona through its paces.
“I thought Verona was a great desk for many reasons,” said Tony Perreta, “not the least of which it’s a Midas! It looks and feels like a Midas and, more importantly, it sounds like a Midas. It was a very easy transition from the larger Midas desks, and I was pleased that while Verona is clearly designed to be a far more cost-effective option than its larger brothers and sisters, it retains all the traditional Midas qualities. The mic preamps sounded great, the control surface was sensibly laid out and easy to navigate, plus there were some really nice touches like the fact that all four bands of EQ had frequency control. For my money, this console is going to be big business for Midas, and rightly so—it is without doubt the best desk in its class. It leaves competitive desks in the shade.”
Pieroni agreed: “I’m delighted that Midas has finally brought out a console for this market. I’m a great fan of the Venice, which I think is a fabulous little desk, but unfortunately, just a bit too small for many venues. Verona is exactly what we need, and I hope to see it replacing the current crop of desks in small to medium-sized venues. I spec’d a Venice for Aqualung in New York recently, but I would have jumped on the Verona if it had been out at the time. It’s very simple to use, and I liked the fact that you can use the stereo channels as mono channels if you like. It adds a bit of extra flexibility to an already very competent console. And it’s a Midas, with all that that entails. It is quite simply a much better console than anything else currently available in this market sector.”
For more information, visit Midas at www.midasconsoles.com. For more information on the band, visit www.aqualung.net. For more touring news, visit mixonline.com/live_sound_tour_profiles/index.htm.
