Mixer purchase advice, please

[stones@rocheste]

I am a home musician who uses Logic Express 7.1 as a hobby. Trust me--no
one is paying money to hear what I create. My setup (don't laugh) is a
933 iBook, Edirol UA-5 audio box, Yamaha S08 synth, and a couple of
guitars.

Problem: The input knobs on the UA5 are so sensitive that a turn of
1/32 of an inch drastically changes the input level. (This isn't
new--they've been that way since it was new.) My thought is to put a
small mixer between my mic/guitar/synth and the UA-5. This way I can
toy with faders looking for a suitable input level.

While I generally only record one track at a time, ideally I could end
up with an 8-12 channel mixer which could also see occasional use in
coffee shop gigs.

Question: Can all this be done for less than $300? And if so, will it
add unacceptable signal noise when recording. I've been looking at
Yamaha MG and Behringer Eurodesks.

Thanks for any adivce. And thanks for not yukking it up at my
decidedly low-end setup.


JEC