Mackie, Soundcraft, or Other

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Fallen
  • Start date Start date

What's the best mixer overall (IYHO)?

  • Mackie

    Votes: 81 25.5%

  • Soundcraft

    Votes: 149 46.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 88 27.7%
  • Total voters
    318
Chris Fallen

Chris Fallen

New member
What's your preference for...

Best overall (vote)?

And explain in your post which you think has...

Best preamps? Best EQ? Most bang for your buck? Any other grand bonuses?


C'est simple!

Christopher
 
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Have you ever gone to the soundcraft web site? I just went to look at a couple boards, got locked up in there. Didn't even really see anything.
 
dont forget Allen & Heath...i think i read about them in a magazine or something:rolleyes: :eek: :cool: :D ;) :p
 
The allen & heath boards are great, alot warmer than the mackies to my ears. I love the eq's. Also they are very road worthy, the ones we have at work are atleast 5 years old and all in perferfect working order. I've used the GL2(now a mixwiz), a GL3(now a GL2200) and a GL3000(now the GL3300). The We don't have any soundcraft boards right now, the boss was thinking about picking up a serise 2 but now I think he is going for an Allen & heath ML-3000 or 4000 and another GL2200 for montiors.
 
Hey Flash, I rate the Soundcraft web site very highly, their learning zone is a good source of material. I didn't think much of the Mackie web site in comparison, far too much Church and religion stuff and not enough product and sound focus.

And I have a dilema right now, cos I'm in the market for a mixer, either a CRX 16 Mackie or FX16 from soundcraft. Thats with effects on board. Both have same price here in the UK.

But I might ditch the effects and go for the 1642vlz pro or the sx 16.

I will watch and read with interest any posts on this thread that might provide me with some information that may influence my ultimate decision.:cool:
 
I've used Mackie's for years and you really cant go wrong with them. I havent used Soundcraft enough to say that I prefer the sound of one over the other.
 
I think alot of you dont realize that there are tons of factors here. If you are a wise recording person, then you are most probably gonna direct out of the preamp and forget about everything else, including the mix buss and all that shit. Therefore, they are probably all about the same, with the soundcraft M-series coming out with a slight edge. If you are going to use them WITH the mixbuss, then the Mackie is out since the mixbuss is where all your headroom goes down the toilet, and the Mackie in general has an inadequate power supply when pushing more than a couple of preamps. The Allen and Heath stuff I'm pretty light on ideas about, but personally if I were spending the money between Mackie and Soundcraft, the Mackie doesnt have a chance. Keep in mind that the SOundcraft M-series are the ones with the Ghost preamps in them, and are the way to go unless you are looking at big boards. The EQ in the Soundcraft M-series will stomp the Mackie to death, as well as its mix buss. Take it however you want... you're still gonna buy a Mackie, I bet.
 
Another vote for the Soundcraft M-Series.

Better preamps. MUCH better EQ. I want one, but don't have the $$. Mackies are fine, though, for your purposes. Can't go wrong either way.

Beware, though, you will probably get more votes for the Mackies because not as many people are familiar with the Soundcrafts.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I must say, I am quite surprised at the response, all I ever read in homerec forums is how great Mackie's are. However, I would tend to favour Soundcraft because they are British made and I live in the UK. And so I expected a big bias towards the Mackie cos they are US , are very well known and regarded and most of the members of these forums are American.

But what I didn't expect was such a positive differential for the s/craft. I didn't think there was very much in it, one way or another, technically speaking.

What about the debate over whether to go with fx or without fx in the mixer? What opinions do people have over this?
 
tubedude said:
Take it however you want... you're still gonna buy a Mackie, I bet.
Click to expand...

Actually, I've seen you post quite a bit and I value your opinion quite a bit.. After hearing you say that the preamps are better, and the EQ 'stomps the mackie,' I'm going to look into soundcraft a little more, and probably get one, no matter how BUTT ASS UGLY their mixers are. :)

If I can get a 1604 VLZ for 300, though, I'm still going to buy one.

Christopher
 
And also, can you guys post some reviews of the Allen & Heath boards. Don't get me wrong, I do some research, but I really can't tell if it's better or if the EQ is weaker or etc, etc, unless I hear some reviews from people that've used them. Let me know.

Christopher
 
I have an Allen & Heath Mix Wizard WZ16:2DX

I can't really compare the Preamps between this, the Soundcraft and the Mackie, but I do like the sound I am able to get with this board and have used the other brands. I purchased mine from Musicians Friend on a Scratch and Dent deal.

Feature wise, it was very competitive within the constraints I had layed out. I was looking for a rack mountable sixteen channel board under a thousand dollars that would do live or recording work.

Here is a short list of what I find useful on this board that you may not find on other boards in the same price range. All channels are full featured that includes. Four bands of EQ per channel plus 100 HP filter, Inserts, recording out, quarter inch and XLR, six aux sends, ON swich/light.

Check it out
http://www.allen-heath.co.uk/WZ162DX.asp


john
 
Mackie Maybe Not

I setteld on a Mackie and, frankly, I am a bit dissapointed. Now, in part, i am somewhat of an inexperienced recordist and as such, some of the probelms are caused by my own misuse or inexperience. Nevertheless, I am quite sure that the Mix "B" function in my less-than-six-month-old Mackie analogue 8 bus board is already fried, or busted, or has some bac connections or, just plain sucks. I am not quite sure and the idea of having to lug this SOB to some shop or ship it somewhere for repair is extremly unappealing. What, pray tell, will I do for a mixer whilst this thing goes on tour without me. This in my opinion is the real proving ground. As far as sound goes, for the most part, if you have good ears, you can get a good sound out of a mackie board. I know, I have done it many times. Will a Soundcraft sound a bit better? I don't know but according to some of the more experienced people on this site, people whom you can tell know what they are talking about just from reading their threads, the answer is yes. However, there is always a caveat and that is, the ears and experience of the recordist a/k/a engineer, will, ultimately make that most difference. So, reliability, service, access to information, repairs etc. These are extremely important issues with an item the size of a decent sized board. I live in New York City. I do not have a car, we use taxis. What a pain if you think about it, to LUG AROUND THIS DAMN MIXING BOARD. So, anyway, there it is for what its worth.
 
Jack Hammer,
I would suggest you contact Mackie direct with you problem, they may be able to save you having to move your console anywhere.

In reference to Soundcraft ..........their sound in general is "warmer" for want of a better word, than Mackies. Allen and Heath also have that "warmer" sound. Obviously, what one person hears will be different to the next and influenced by mic choice, external processors, etc. I have used both S/craft and Mackies in 16 channel, live situations and while both are nice compact desks, I found the Soundcraft "sound" easier to work with.

In relation to 8 buss desks, the Mackies are a compromise design to allow for both live and studio applications, whereas pre-Ghost Soundcrafts were either a 4 buss "live" design or an 8 buss "studio" design.


:cool:
 
When I started recording I grabbed a Mackie 24x4 with the vlz pro pre's.......it did ok, and I never really got to enough going through it to get to the buss issues i constantly read about. It seemed to sound fine....BUT, when I decided to go the next step in mixers I read a ton of reviews, bulletin board posts, etc.......I was torn between the harrison, A & H and the Ghost. I bought the ghost.
We recently did some A-B'ing (actually we did a,b,c,d+) I noticed some very surprising results. We tried a C1, TLM103, and a c1000s through the Ghost, a Aphex107, a John Hardy M1, and a Great River MP-2NV.
I found that the Ghost sounded much better for certain things than the other pre's we tested, and not as good for other applications. The Ghost eq and pre's are great....the only thing I don't like about the ghost is it has a little bit of noise (which I have read others refer to), but it's not real bad, its just there.
I wish I had a chance to hear the harrison and the A&H, but..........I do know that to step up from the Ghost I would have to spend between 10k and 20k..........
 
Tubedude, on what do you base your weak power supply comment? I'm considering the mackie mainly for 16 good, clean, inexpensive preamps.
 
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