I've never had a problem with Mackie mixers. Had the original VLZ 1202, the VLZ 1202 pro, and now I have an Onyx 1220, an Onyx 820I and a VLZ4 402. All sound great and are built like tanks. Incredibly flexible mixers.
I have a CR1604 VLZ and lo and behold..it still works. Used it live when I toured a lot...now it has a home in my studio as an output console so I can monitor and get headphone mixes to the players. Only thing I hate about it is the dreaded right channel going out from time to time thing that this era of mixers was notorious for. I tried the ribbon cable thing..still does it. But if I mute a channel and crank it to the right and turn the gain up..it magically comes back on. Sure wish I could fix that! hint, hint, mackie... But given the thing is almost 20 yrs old, has been through hell and back...and it still pretty much looks brand new simply by dusting it with a paint brush every once in a while. The preamps sound great. Especially on DI Bass tracks. Bottom line...I've been eyeballing the 1604 VLZ and plan on getting one soon. And probably keep my CR1604 as well because it will still do lots of other things that don't have anything to do with the L/R main outs. Such as using the direct outs as 8 channels of extra pre's just in case I need them, or to pass it through the EQ section after one of my expensive preamps then use the direct out's back to my DAW. I can go on and on about the countless things the 1604 can do. I've spent countess hours looking at other brands around the same price range and the final conclusion in my opinion is, for the best options, routing, and user friendly options nothing compares to the thought Mackie put into the design. I cant tell you how many times when I was putting my studio together years ago that I would think to myself , "I wish I could..." on some kind of routing idea ...and to my surprise I could do it with the CR1604. It truly was always a step ahead of me as I grew as an engineer. So hats off to Mackie. Especially now that the problem of one of the main channels cutting out is no longer an issue.
Agreed. But again, I think this is something that began AFTER the selloff and everything began being made overseas. The stuff made in Washington during the 80s and early 90s was pretty decent. No API or Neve military-grade components or built quality, no. But my 1202VLZ looks, sounds and functions just like new. And it's been in use every day, 12+ hours a day, for over 20 years. Never once been serviced, just sprayed the pots every few weeks and kept clean in the vox booth.
I don't think the knock on Mackie has ever been durability. Nice to have better preamps, but still concern about the long term repairability due to extensive use of thin PCBs and ribbon cables. The biggest competition to a new Mackie VLZ? An old Mackie VLZ! A church I know is still rocking one I installed 14 years ago!
Are you kidding me? Three times I went back to Behringer just to find myself grossly disappointed. They can't even steal ideas correctly - I have a burnt up power amp section PCB to prove that, because they don't know how to route high voltage correctly.
Can u make video on how to fix Error 43 on Mackie MDR . Lots of valuable stuff on it , but following your instruction on web page - it doesn't work . Already replaced battery and inserted ATI Radeon 7000 to it and nothing happens . Please help :)
If you weren't able to get it running after following the instructions in the MDR FAQ, you'll want to talk with our support team and they can help you through the process. Email them at techmail(at)mackie(dot)com or call 800.898.3211 if in the USA
Behringer products have always lived up! They sound terrific, their build is pretty good, but they save by not having to do all the heavy lifting (up-front R&D). So they're not exactly paving any new road in the field of pro audio, but they WILL work great and save you lots of money. So if your conscience is okay with supporting the 'idea thieves', you won't be sorry with going for Behringer products, no matter WHAT they are. That said, this has to the silliest test and waste of good equipment!
How fuckin' dare you say are you KIDDING me? Who are YOU to doubt what I say, in other words, that I'm kidding you? I've owned several Behringers and they all lived up. Mileage does vary, don't forget. I really think Mackie's quality and design aesthetic has declined since the big sell-off. I loved my 1202VLZ (original, which I still use to this day as a kick ass Swiss Army Knife and even headphone mixer in the booth), 32+24+24 8-Bus mega console, and d8B. Everything since, sucky! Sorry. Lame.
Did someone just recommend buying Behringer?? Are you kidding me?! That stuff is absolute crap, sounds like crap, but looks cool (and even then they aren't original designs). I'm not saying Mackie is the best sounding board on the market, the boards they were showing in the video? Mackie or A&H get my vote, then Yamaha, and Behringer shouldn't even be compared. Behringer = Daewoo of sound equipment. (and you probably don't even know who or what Daewoo was!)
Absolutely stupid. But this IS the same company who used lame ass potty-humor to sell its products in the 90s. They're a joke. I only clicked the video from some stupid email I received from them to see what the hell a "Mixer Buster" was. My hunch was correct. A waste of time. Seriously, who'd do ANY of that to a mixer. Even as superlative exemplary scenarios of realistic damage, they failed. If a 400 pound dude stomped on my mixer like that, he'd be buying along with his cheap beer.
I've never had a problem with Mackie mixers. Had the original VLZ 1202, the VLZ 1202 pro, and now I have an Onyx 1220, an Onyx 820I and a VLZ4 402. All sound great and are built like tanks. Incredibly flexible mixers.
I have a CR1604 VLZ and lo and behold..it still works. Used it live when I toured a lot...now it has a home in my studio as an output console so I can monitor and get headphone mixes to the players. Only thing I hate about it is the dreaded right channel going out from time to time thing that this era of mixers was notorious for. I tried the ribbon cable thing..still does it. But if I mute a channel and crank it to the right and turn the gain up..it magically comes back on. Sure wish I could fix that! hint, hint, mackie...
But given the thing is almost 20 yrs old, has been through hell and back...and it still pretty much looks brand new simply by dusting it with a paint brush every once in a while. The preamps sound great. Especially on DI Bass tracks. Bottom line...I've been eyeballing the 1604 VLZ and plan on getting one soon. And probably keep my CR1604 as well because it will still do lots of other things that don't have anything to do with the L/R main outs. Such as using the direct outs as 8 channels of extra pre's just in case I need them, or to pass it through the EQ section after one of my expensive preamps then use the direct out's back to my DAW. I can go on and on about the countless things the 1604 can do.
I've spent countess hours looking at other brands around the same price range and the final conclusion in my opinion is, for the best options, routing, and user friendly options nothing compares to the thought Mackie put into the design. I cant tell you how many times when I was putting my studio together years ago that I would think to myself , "I wish I could..." on some kind of routing idea ...and to my surprise I could do it with the CR1604. It truly was always a step ahead of me as I grew as an engineer.
So hats off to Mackie. Especially now that the problem of one of the main channels cutting out is no longer an issue.
Mackie build quality is probably second to none, but stable drivers are a completely different story.
Agreed. But again, I think this is something that began AFTER the selloff and everything began being made overseas. The stuff made in Washington during the 80s and early 90s was pretty decent. No API or Neve military-grade components or built quality, no. But my 1202VLZ looks, sounds and functions just like new. And it's been in use every day, 12+ hours a day, for over 20 years. Never once been serviced, just sprayed the pots every few weeks and kept clean in the vox booth.
I don't think the knock on Mackie has ever been durability. Nice to have better preamps, but still concern about the long term repairability due to extensive use of thin PCBs and ribbon cables. The biggest competition to a new Mackie VLZ? An old Mackie VLZ! A church I know is still rocking one I installed 14 years ago!
Nice test very useful crazy-funny :)))
you pretty much sold that mixer to me now lol i weren't going to get anything apart from a mackie anyway.
Are you kidding me? Three times I went back to Behringer just to find myself grossly disappointed. They can't even steal ideas correctly - I have a burnt up power amp section PCB to prove that, because they don't know how to route high voltage correctly.
You don't even have to hit Behringer products with guitars, they break on their own!
Can u make video on how to fix Error 43 on Mackie MDR . Lots of valuable stuff on it , but following your instruction on web page - it doesn't work . Already replaced battery and inserted ATI Radeon 7000 to it and nothing happens . Please help :)
Has Mackie completely done away with the green "signal" light on each channel?
If you weren't able to get it running after following the instructions in the MDR FAQ, you'll want to talk with our support team and they can help you through the process. Email them at techmail(at)mackie(dot)com or call 800.898.3211 if in the USA
We don't want to name any names..... so we'll just show them to you instead lol.
Behringer products have always lived up! They sound terrific, their build is pretty good, but they save by not having to do all the heavy lifting (up-front R&D). So they're not exactly paving any new road in the field of pro audio, but they WILL work great and save you lots of money. So if your conscience is okay with supporting the 'idea thieves', you won't be sorry with going for Behringer products, no matter WHAT they are. That said, this has to the silliest test and waste of good equipment!
African children could have eaten these consoles...
xD.
How fuckin' dare you say are you KIDDING me? Who are YOU to doubt what I say, in other words, that I'm kidding you? I've owned several Behringers and they all lived up. Mileage does vary, don't forget. I really think Mackie's quality and design aesthetic has declined since the big sell-off. I loved my 1202VLZ (original, which I still use to this day as a kick ass Swiss Army Knife and even headphone mixer in the booth), 32+24+24 8-Bus mega console, and d8B. Everything since, sucky! Sorry. Lame.
Did someone just recommend buying Behringer?? Are you kidding me?! That stuff is absolute crap, sounds like crap, but looks cool (and even then they aren't original designs). I'm not saying Mackie is the best sounding board on the market, the boards they were showing in the video? Mackie or A&H get my vote, then Yamaha, and Behringer shouldn't even be compared. Behringer = Daewoo of sound equipment. (and you probably don't even know who or what Daewoo was!)
Absolutely stupid. But this IS the same company who used lame ass potty-humor to sell its products in the 90s. They're a joke. I only clicked the video from some stupid email I received from them to see what the hell a "Mixer Buster" was. My hunch was correct. A waste of time. Seriously, who'd do ANY of that to a mixer. Even as superlative exemplary scenarios of realistic damage, they failed. If a 400 pound dude stomped on my mixer like that, he'd be buying along with his cheap beer.
I totally know the Daewoo name. That *is* crap. But I put Mackie at the same level as M-Audio. More bullshit cheap junk.