mackie 1604 vlz?

[tremblayj]

I have a chance at getting a mackie 1604 vlz (not the pro) but am not sure how much to pay for it as it is fairly old. One just ended on ebay and it sold for $450. I have been into recording for less than a year but most that time was spent just putting down rough ideas. I am using an sm58 and other cheap dynamics which goes into a behringer Mx802a and then into a delta 44 to computer. I started off with very little money and this is the best I could get. Now this mixer is being sold by my church and I am thinking that maybe its time to upgrade to some better pres. I will eventually get better mics but they wont be much good through behringer pres. So what I am really asking is if it would be wise of me to get this mixer at a cheap price now or stick with what I have? I don't really have the money now but my dad is the one in charge of selling it so I can make the payments as I get them. should I go into debt to get this now?

any answers would be really appreciated.
also what are the big differences between the vlz and vlz pro? its seems a search on google will only turn up the pro version.

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by tremblayj

I will eventually get better mics but they wont be much good through behringer pres.

Yeah, that's what the anti-Behringer crowd here preach. I've made very good records on ancient Tascam boards that didn't even come close to the quality of the Behringer mic preamps. Back then we dealt with background noise by minimizing it as much as possible, then tracking as hot as possible. When we needed to record something quiet we usually used a noise gate.

In my opinion, it would be a lateral move at best to go from a new Behringer to an older Mackie. The Mackie mic preamps have a sound, but so do the Behringers. It's not worth going into debt for what would probably be a small improvement.