help me buy a mixer

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J Wah

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I am trying to decide between a Mackie 1202 Pro or a Berhinger mixer. I have read almost every post on this site about the two and I am leaning toward the Mackie. I just need to justify the additioanl cost. I will be using it in a basic home studio and will record to a PC in the future.

I compared specs on the Mackie 1202 Prop and the Berhinger 1604. The difference in specs that I see is Country of Orgin and the Berhinger does not have channel inserts. Would I be kicking myself later for not having channel inserts?

I have looked at Musician's Friend and they show a Berhinger 1604 for $200 and a Berhinger 1602 for $280. The Berhinger web site doesn't list a 1602. Anybody know the difference?

I could get a Berhinger and a Rode NT 1 or NT3 for about the same price as the Mackie. Is the Mackie still worth it?

I do not have access to a retail store that has either brand so I have put a lot of faith in posts on this site. Replies are greatly appreciated.

Make Music,

J
 
In my opinion, If it were me, I would buy the mackie.....

To say it bluntly... for the most part Behringer is crap gear.........I mean there is good and bad in every brand, and Im sure plenty people have good experiences with the Behringer equipment.... But when it comes to weighing the two of them, I would stay leaning towards the mackie....

If you are panning on using any external processors, including reverb, and compression, yes you will regret not having channel inserts.

The mackie preamps in that little board are the same ones that are in the expensive mackie boards (so im told), like the 32/8...which is about $6000 US give or take a bit.....

For onboard preamps, they are very decent.

I have heard of many people, who jump for the cheaper deal, and the 6 months later are trading in there behringer for a mackie....

Thats my personal opinion... watch this thread for others....

Joe
 
See above icon on ANY Behringer mixer!

I own a used 1202 and the preamps alone are far superior to the Behringer.
ALSO:
Behringer mixers are subject to:
A) Extreme heat buildup!
B) Faders that go bad under normal useage
C)Below-par eq controls that were constructed on the cheap
D) No channel inserts
And the most impotant aspect:
E) The LOUSIEST customer service dept on the planet!
 
Some of us never have a problem with thier behringer mixers but you really want the inserts for adding effects to individual tracks.
that justifies the extra cost right there. I have a 602 eurorack and Its pretty solid.(but I only use it for midi now).
 
Thanks.

I am watching ebay. It makes me a little nervous though. Some people selling don't seem to know the difference between the 1202 micro series and the 1202 pro. I deffinately want the pro.

I was in a store last weekend that sold alesis. I asked how the pre-amps were on the studio 24. He said "It has _____ brand (I can't remenber the brand) pre-amps. It's the same pre-amp all the small mixers use. Alesis, Mackie, Behringer...". He about named them all! Are they the same?

check my post under mic's to see what he said about the Shure 57 & 58.
 
No, they are not the same at all. Possibly the all use the same op-amps, but the circuit design is in any case different, so the sound is not the same. The Mackies VLZ preamps are widely acclaimed to be the best you can get for that money.
 
What sources will you be recording (vocals, drums, bass, guitar) and how many will you be recording at once.......also, you said you will be recording to PC in the future....what are you recording to now? and why arent you recording to PC now?......
 
I will be recording vocals, guitar, keys, sax, drum machine, synth bass. I will be doing alot of accoustic guitar recording where I will mix a piezo pick up and at least one microphone and maybe do a vocal track at the same time. I currently record to a 4 track tape but would like to get a new computer and start recording on it. I haven't done any computer recording so I need to do my homework before I get into to that. Playing guitar is more fun than homework so it might be a little while before I start with the PC. I will mostly record one track at a time accept for the accoustic.
 
Theres a good chance that the computer you are using may be better than a four track recorder. and theres a free download of a DAW program I think its called N-studio(ive never used it but alot of us do). I would prefer to track and edit and burn from computer than 4 track tape anyday.
 
Honestly I dont see where you need a mixer....I would jump into multitracking with a Delta Omni Studio.....$399....comes with two awesome preamps (better than mackies)...more than enough inputs for your needs.....

If you dont want to jump in that quick Id look at a standalone preamp.....a Mackie mixer is very nice if you can use it, but youll be paying for alot of features you wont use.....
 
the tascam u428 also is a good solution if you have usb ports (i dont know if you are using a laptop or desktop). It also has good pre's and 8 inputs at arround450.00
 
I want something I can also use while I practice. I was thinking I could run everything (keyboard, drum machine, accoustic guitar, mics, cd, etc.) through the Mackie and amp and not have to change the chords while I practice. I also thought the Mackie would be usable for recording now and in the future. The compute I have now (if it can still be called a computer) is not capable of recording and I don't have $1000 to buy a new computer right now.

Am I looking at this with tunnel vision?
 
Your PC problem is understandable. It's difficult to implement PC recording on a mildly old system.

For what it's worth, I also agree to stay away from the Behringer.
 
No, you don't have tunnel vision....I think your ideas about your gear purchases are valid:)
 
Jwah, regebro is correct! Along with the 1202, I also own the Alesis 24 and 32 boards. Alesis pre's are 2 steps up from a Behringer and 1& 1;/2 steps below Mackie! Alesis makes average,
middle-of-the road boards that are basically suitable for ADAT recordings as it features direct-outs which eliminates the need to
re-patch. With inserts on each channel, this board is much better than any Behringer.
However, my complaint about the Alesis; buttons so small you can't tell whether they're depressed or not and not enough auxes
or busses (on the 32).
 
Please don´t hate me :(
...but small mackies and behringers are pretty same mixers. Same carbon-track pots and cheap components. Small mackies have same VLZ preamps as big mackies, but who sez that big mackies sound good ? They are good for live sound an give a nice tactile feel of 32 channel console, but new digital 8 buss uses apogee preamps/converters. I work on Soundcraft 7.1 surround 40 ch. dual in-line, and D&R Orion 32 ch. dual in-line consoles. From time to time i mix surround on SSL Avant. I think i know what to expect from a preamp. We use small mackie for multiple headphone mixes. Few friends of mine have behringer eurorack series, so we tested ( for fun ) behringer, mackie and neve 9098 preamp with neumann u87 microphone, recorded to adat and monitored on genelec´s 1031a. From this day i love neve much, much more. :D
Mackie is good, behringer is good until you touch eq - phase and ringing problems.
My tips are:
if you can get mixer and mic for price of mackie, take it, this is good start
get cubase 5 vst32, put it in a 32 bit tape mode, use tape saturaton emulation when recording ( you can push signal over digital zero and it won´t distort, it will be compressed tape-like ), so you can push behringer preamps higher ( higher gain- better signal/noise ratio ), later convert tracks from 32 to 16 bits or other resolution to get more cpu/disk horsepower for mix. ;)
 
Hamilton Beach.....10 speed! My Cabo ritas come out PRISTINE.....smooth , no transients!!!
 
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