Rep. of Mackie mixer pre's pretty high round here, but same pre's avail. racked?

[junplugged]

I don't know, are the Mackie pre's fabricated by them? Or are they using something very close or similar to or farming out or using 3rd party that we can get our hands on ~ affordably. Considering the decent price of their mixers, the pres alone 'could' be extremely affordable....just a thought.

 

[therage!]

You can get the Onyx 800R...http://www.mackie.com/products/800r/index.html

Mackie say's this about their Onyx Pre's

We think you’ll agree the Onyx preamp gives you transparency and fidelity on par with any preamp on the market.

LOL, an inexpensive (less than a $1000) little consoles pre's are gonna give me fidelity on par with lets say a $2500 Avalon.

Mackie say's this...

The Onyx team quickly set out by specifying the highest-quality analog components--from premium op-amps to IC chips costing exponentially more than previous designs. In many cases, we developed components completely from scratch. With Greg Mackie himself steering Onyx mixer layout and design, we took a "real world" approach to the entire process.

They developed ""what"" components from scratch? In a console the circuit board is a "component". Is that what they are talking about? I don't know, but this sounds to me like they are buying op-amps etc and you should be able to get the same components yourself, but at a higher cost unless you order in volume.

I haven't looked at any Onyx pre's but if one were to look at the Onyx PCB it would probably tell us quite a bit.

Behringer probably already has one reversed engineered.

 

[junplugged]

right, how much room is in a little portable mixer anyway....

And I see now that it looks like the consensus is that people here like the Soundcraft pres even better....

 

[xstatic]

The majority of the people who prefer the soundcrafts have yet to use the Onyx stuff. Compared to the VLZ crap, I would take the SOundcraft any day of the week. However, the new Onyx preamp (and EQ) is MUCH different than that of the VLZ stuff. The Soundcraft tends to have a warmer beefier tone to it, but lacks clarity in the highs. Often times this is preferable (especially when pairing it with a cheap condensor that has a brittle top end to it). The new Onyx preamps are a little more invisible. They don't pack the same low end, but seem to have a smoother and more extended top end to them. Much more transparent than either the Soundcraft or the old VLZ stuff. If you want the middle ground, then look at the Allen Heath stuff. Fairly neutral sound with a little less lows than the Soundcraft, and a little less HF extension than the Mackies.

All this aside, I would never be so bold with my statements concerning Mackie equipment as they seem to be