mackie xdr preamps
- Thread starter 70sbaby
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Blue Bear Sound
New member
Mackie pres, while not going to provide the depth or texture of the high-end pres, are perfectly functional.
I just bought a used Mackie SR24-4 VLZ Pro, with the understanding the preamps are pretty decent and not colored. It is also my understanding the weak point with Mackie is the EQ and summing busses, not the preamps themselves.
I've heard preamp --> direct-out recordings done through an SR32 to ADAT that sound very nice and clear. My friend has since replaced his studio SR32 with something more pricey and exotic, due to many channels being "the bottleneck" as he puts it.
My SR24 is for live mixing only.
I've heard preamp --> direct-out recordings done through an SR32 to ADAT that sound very nice and clear. My friend has since replaced his studio SR32 with something more pricey and exotic, due to many channels being "the bottleneck" as he puts it.
My SR24 is for live mixing only.
I'm not sure of the build quality of the sr24 but I had a 1642 VLZ Pro and after about 3 years of owning it, there was nothing but problems and grief. Recently I ditched it for a Presonous central station and am much happier. Now I can go out and get some good preamps now. Mind you I just recently recorded my bands new album with the 1642 before I got rid of it and it sounds pretty good, but I'd like to see what I could do with better preamps.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Funny eh? I've used a 1604 for the odd remote recording session and the results came out excellently......... and I still use the pres on a Mackie 8-buss occasionally and those recordings also turn out very well......Teacher said:
As I said earlier - Mackie pres are not spectacular, but are quite functional...... not being able to put them to good use speaks more to the skills of the engineer than anything else......
distortedrumble
all up in yo grill!
Blue Bear Sound said:
teacher....i think blue bear just said you suck lol. well i agree with the skill level having a big factor in it. i got to use one of those old soundcraft boards a few days ago and i wanted to take it home. it was connected to cubase and with the delta 1010lt. when i started mixing, a few guys asked me how did i get the guitars to mix with the bass so well and i showed them. one dude said "see thats why i need to buy that expensive crap but i cant afford it." I told him that i learned that from homerecording.com and i use a behringer mixer so its not exactly a ton of money thats needed to make things sound good. it just takes a little extra focus.
fretmeister
New member
I use a RNP on as many tracks as possible, especially the lead vocals, etc. and the mackies for everything else. It's hard for me to hear the difference immediately (and this may be due to my lack of experience as well as the quality of my monitoring gear). I've been told in this forum that the coloration of Mackie preamps (or any other preamp) cumulates the more tracks you use it on. By mixing in a different preamp, the more important tracks stand out and don't muddy up as much. I've also read that even those with the best equipment use this technique to prevent the accumulation in certain frequency bands. Does this make sense?
if you dont mind getting into some diy and learning you could build your own mic pre's. its a fascinating experience. you can build a decent mic pre out of a jensen transformer(or llundahl) and op37 op amps and a few caps and resistors. the most expensive part is the transformer.
krimson said:
I've got a 1604 VLZ that I've used rough and tumble for live work for over ten years- never a problem. It seems like Mackie ran into some problems when the VLZ Pro line came out. I was working in a retail store at the time, we sent back so many VLZ Pro boards and power amps when they came out. It slowed down eventually, but compared to earlier lines the failure rate was through the roof. One of our salesman returned his SR24/4 four times, eventually giving up after his third replacement board in a year and a half. Meanwhile, my 1604 still rocks on....
giles117
New member
Blue Bear Sound said:
Such a cruel thing to say Blue.
However, I Used an 8-Buss with them darned Mackie Pre's on my remote truck till 2003 and I found them quite useful. And I have to agree with Blues statement.
You know what my teacher taught me, you can have all the Top notch gear and if you aint got a clue it aint worth a dime, but you can take lowly gear gear with a great engineer and get a FANTASTIC product. This lesson was taught after I did a show in Jacksonville, FL where the opening act out mixed me. (My 2nd year in the biz. Mind you) He had a nice desk and I had a lowly mackie. Since that time I didnt care if I had a 5 channel Shure mic/line mixer no way was I gonna let the gear stop me from producing a superior mix live or in the studio.
SO yes Mackie Pre's are quite useful. Perfect? no, but for the price you can get some GREAT results.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Personally, I track through very good pres, through good converters and mix OOTB, but occasionally I do use the Mackie pres anyways, and still get great results -- but that's just me........Teacher said:
