I've never used an A & H myself... So I can't comment on it...

BUt I think the reason The Pioneers are so popular is because the layout of the mixer is perfect....

It's extremely easy to find everything... And its difficult to confuse any of the knobs and switches... It's almost fool proof that way.. Everything is spaced out nicely, and they are even colour coded.

Whereas I have worked on a particular model of Vestax that drove me INSANE because the knobs were all the same size and colour... It was very easy to confuse the PAN for the HIGHS, and the PAN for the Gain.... etc etc....

Everything looked the same... Everything was silver... And it was tough to read in the dark.... Not to mention those annoyong toggle switches for EQ.... (whereas Pioneer has the nice clearly orange lighted cue button)

So basically I think the popularity of the Pioneer is that it doesn't feel intimidating.... Even if its your 1st time on one.... Its very functional in a live unpredictable atmosphere.....

-jOHNNY