Recording Chick
New member
I've been thinking of getting a Mackie 1640 Onyx mixer. A friend of mine just got one and shared his initial impressions with me. I found it helpful, especially how these pres stack up against a $500.00 stand alone single channel mic pre. I thought some people here would find his comments useful as well. I would like to hear anyone elses impressions of these Onyx Pres and the new Perkins EQ on this mixer.
The Onyx 1640 arrived yesterday ! I just got finished right now checking out the mic pre's. Here's the test I did.......
I connected two Rode NT5 small diaphragm condensers , One to the Presonus Eureka , with it's line out connected to channel 3 of the Onyx, and the other NT5 to channel 4 of the Onyx mixer.
I then calibrated them both ( bypassed compressor and eq of the eureka, and set mic impedence to 2.5 kohm, just like the Onyx has, and made sure their gain was set the same. the two mics were on a stereo mic rack, about 6 inches away from each other , and I sang, and spoke right into the middle of them. I listened through some Sennheiser headphones which really let me hear differences in clarity.
I am really surprised to say this, but the Onyx sounded a little clearer than my Eureka !! I think this is really incredible, since the Eureka is a single channel mic pre which cost me around 500 bucks !! It wasn't a night and day difference, but what I did sense is a more intimate sound, with a bit more clarity. ( AND I'VE GOT 16 OF THESE !!! ).
Now...here's the downside..... which I heard from some guy from Canada who was going to buy one ,....but didn't.... he said the knobs and faders seemed cheap.... I think he's right. When I got it yesterday I was not happy with the amount of play in the knobs and faders. They almost all wobble a little in my fingers, and also, all the channel strips and knobs are really close together. I guess they had to do this to cram all those channels into a 19 inch rack mountable mixer. I sent mackie an e-mail complaining about this.... let's see what they say. I was thinking of returning it before listening to it because of the knobs, but now after hearing the mic pre's....I think it's great ! Just wish they'd have paid a little more attention to the quality of the knobs. I hope this doesn't mean that the potentiometers are going to fail sooner !!! Before this, I thought my eureka was going to be my go to mic pre for acoustic guitar ...... this is good news since now I've got more clean options for mic pres.
I'll give ya updates as I continue testing the Onyx.
The Onyx 1640 arrived yesterday ! I just got finished right now checking out the mic pre's. Here's the test I did.......
I connected two Rode NT5 small diaphragm condensers , One to the Presonus Eureka , with it's line out connected to channel 3 of the Onyx, and the other NT5 to channel 4 of the Onyx mixer.
I then calibrated them both ( bypassed compressor and eq of the eureka, and set mic impedence to 2.5 kohm, just like the Onyx has, and made sure their gain was set the same. the two mics were on a stereo mic rack, about 6 inches away from each other , and I sang, and spoke right into the middle of them. I listened through some Sennheiser headphones which really let me hear differences in clarity.
I am really surprised to say this, but the Onyx sounded a little clearer than my Eureka !! I think this is really incredible, since the Eureka is a single channel mic pre which cost me around 500 bucks !! It wasn't a night and day difference, but what I did sense is a more intimate sound, with a bit more clarity. ( AND I'VE GOT 16 OF THESE !!! ).
Now...here's the downside..... which I heard from some guy from Canada who was going to buy one ,....but didn't.... he said the knobs and faders seemed cheap.... I think he's right. When I got it yesterday I was not happy with the amount of play in the knobs and faders. They almost all wobble a little in my fingers, and also, all the channel strips and knobs are really close together. I guess they had to do this to cram all those channels into a 19 inch rack mountable mixer. I sent mackie an e-mail complaining about this.... let's see what they say. I was thinking of returning it before listening to it because of the knobs, but now after hearing the mic pre's....I think it's great ! Just wish they'd have paid a little more attention to the quality of the knobs. I hope this doesn't mean that the potentiometers are going to fail sooner !!! Before this, I thought my eureka was going to be my go to mic pre for acoustic guitar ...... this is good news since now I've got more clean options for mic pres.
I'll give ya updates as I continue testing the Onyx.
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