Mackie

Lyle Bradford · From: Gilbert WV USA (deceased)

Does anyone use a Mackie 32/8 board for their studio. If so do you like the way it performs.

Robert Parent · From: Gillette, WY

I have used some of their smaller boards (1604, 1202) and liked them very much. They always sound good, are built like a tank, and fair in price. My guess is the larger boards are much the same.

Dave Boothroyd · From: Staffordshire Moorlands

They are probably better in the bigger sizes.
Mackie is one of those brands that people get hooked on,while others barely acknowledge their existence. I have a very technically expert colleague who will only ever use Mackie desks Mackie monitors, Macintosh computers, Eventide pre-amps etc.
He makes a decent living with them, but so does Rick B who swears by Klark Teknik!

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Cheers!
Dave

Jay Fagerlie · From: Lotus, California, USA

My control room board is a 24/8, my remote system is based around a 1604 w/VLZ, and my near-fields are the 824's. I have been using Mackie for about 10 years now and have no complaints at all. I have ran into other users that didn't like Mackie's, but they were confused about how Mackies are designed to be used.....Greg Mackie did a brilliant thing (IMHO) when designing these mixers- he does what he calls "0 reference" gain stages....which means EVERY gain stage is referenced to 0 db, making setting gain stages a breeze. If these mixers' gain stages are set up correctly, there is PLENTY of headroom, with no final mixer overload distortion. FMOD is a BIG problem in mixers in this price range, but Mackie has made it a non issue. Other points of interest: The 'rude' solo light-you always know who is solo'd and who isn't....VERY usable EQ and low cut shelves on each input channel (The sweepable mids are GREAT!). VERY comprehensive AUX sections (6 sends on the 8 buss series) 'Flip' feature that effectively doubles the inputs for mixdown (That means 48 ins on my 24 channel board)....stuff like that just makes these boards a really big bang for the buck.
I am in no way affiliated with Mackie-just a satisfied customer.

Jay

Alan Kirk · From: Paso Robles, CA, USA

I got a 24*8 when they first came out (mid 90s). Although Mackie seems to offer a lot of bang for the buck, I always felt that the board sounded "brittle" and lacked "transparency." Additionally, they used some cockamamie noise reduction feedback circuit that really took away from the naturalness of the sound.

Specs don't really tell the whole story. Your ears are the ultimate judge.

Maybe their newer stuff is better.

I use Yamaha now. More expensive, but sounds way more musical than Mackie, IMHO.

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James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

I'd have to go with Alan on this one...Mackie offers great bang for the buck and some nice features, but as far as the quality of the preamp's, and the actual tone you get from them is an average tone....Not bad, but nothing to write home about either ...Don't forget, you're getting a lot of bang for the buck...It's like the saying goe's ....You get what you pay for .... I have (2) - 24x8 Behinger mixers which are copies of the Mackies with a better EQ ... I use them for my keyboards, and my tone modules that are set up in stereo ...I have them all patched into the Behringers.... They're fine for that ....I have other mic pre's and other preamps that are much higher quality for vocal's and for individual intruments ...For general purpose , the Mackie is fine...Jim

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

I'll have to agree with everybody on this one! I've used both Mackie 24/8 and the Behringer Clone in my studio. The Mackie is a brilliant design, but I much prefer tracking through outboard preamps, especially for vocals, bass and anything acoustic. (doesn't leave much!) But any board in that price range will have to compromise somewhat on things like preamp quality. The Behringer is a very cost effective copy, hence the lawsuits! I found the EQ to sound somewhat different, and some difference in the buss gain staging. Now I'm using the little Behringer digital board, and I suggest you take a look at that one- perfect for up to a 24 track rig, fully automated, flying faders, great Crystal converters, very nice sounding preamps, actually decent onboard effects, full eq and comp/gates on every channel. How they make it at their current $999 price point I have no idea. I've tracked and mixed 15-20 CD projects on one so far with no complaints.

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Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

chas smith · From: Encino, CA, USA

I have had a 1604 VLZ in my rack since the day they came out. At one point I was going to replace it with a Speck and I was talking about it with a friend, who is an engineer at Disney. He said, "don't underestimate your Mackie". So I kept it and I'm thinking of upgrading to the Onyx, at some point.

Lyle Bradford · From: Gilbert WV USA (deceased)

We bought a 32/8 Behringer and had to have it exchanged for a new board twice already and the 3rd one is doing the same thing. The left channel drops out and then comes back in constantly. I have owned a 16VLZ for about 8 years now and i love it. I think the peamps are weak too but the reliability is worth the trade off and one could add better preamps in time don't you think.

Michael Lee Allen · From: Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois

DELETED

seldomfed · From: Colorado

I've had a Mackie 24/8 since about '97. Just retired it after going all digital. It served me well. I had to service it once to replace the Talk Back switch. I got my money's worth.

Chris

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon"
www.book-em-danno.com

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