Best Mixer for my powered Mackies Acoustic/Vocals?

[JohnG]

Hi There,

I'd love some recommendations on what Mixer to get for my 2x Powered 15's. Max I would be running is 2 Gats and 2 vocal mics, but it would mainly be the solo acoustic thing. I can spend up to a Grand if worth it, and I'm guessing I need FX...reverb etc...
Feel free to point out any TM Bargins!

Would appreciate any help with this,
Thanks Heaps!

[RUDENBARK]

Haven't got anything useful to suggest here. But it's veeery coincidental you should be asking that, have just been in the same boat (looking for mixer for a pair of Thumps).

Won a TardMe auction a couple of days ago for an old Ross mixer (at the "right price"). Probably won't be of any use to you, but will reply on here to let you know how it works out.

Going to be giving the buggers a bit of a work-out, lol. Will be running my gat (2 channels), three mics, and a bass; possibly be giving a bit of tweakage for the drums at some point in the near future too, and leaving the door open for another mic and maybe keyboard/gat.

Sounds like a dodgy set-up I know, but I'm quietly confident that it'll sound pretty shit hot (provided the mixer doesn't eff up the sound of course), have run all of that sort of stuff through them already and it all sounds sweet, just haven't had them all at the same time. At the least running everything through the one system will make balancing up all the sounds a hell of a lot easier!

[crowbgood1]

I/m needing a mixer for mackie 15s too....ha we better make sure we not competing on t.m. for the same auction. I been borrowing a 16 chan yamaha...sounds great.

[NZRS-Dave]

If you guys don't have any joy with TM or with any other suggestions from here, send me a PM and I can see what I can do.

[sambrowne]

I use a Soundcraft FX8 desk and it's fantastic. It has a built in Lexicon designed FX section which is the best I've heard for built in effects. I use it with 2 x JBL Eon G2s and it's the biz.

[JohnG]

I use a Soundcraft FX8 desk and it's fantastic. It has a built in Lexicon designed FX section which is the best I've heard for built in effects. I use it with 2 x JBL Eon G2s and it's the biz.

Thanks for that Sam. I noticed one sold on Tm just recently. Do you DI your acoustic straight into the board, or are you using something before it?

Cheers,
John.

[rickenbackerkid]

I use a Soundcraft FX8 desk and it's fantastic. It has a built in Lexicon designed FX section which is the best I've heard for built in effects. I use it with 2 x JBL Eon G2s and it's the biz.

Thanks for that Sam. I noticed one sold on Tm just recently. Do you DI your acoustic straight into the board, or are you using something before it?

Cheers,
John.

If the cable run is no more than 5 meters you don't really need to use a DI box. I have always liked the sound and ease of use of soundcraft stuff, and lexi verbs do usually sound great.

[nzsimon1]

http://www.jansen.co.nz/product.php?b=&sku=ZED12FX more gain than any other brand of mixer nutted pots indiviual circuit boards USB out internal power supply all neutrik connectors recording software

This range goes right up to 32 channels

The two new models which will be here in a month have 4 mic inputs and also have guitar hi- Z inputs and guitar software

There is nothing in the market that competes with these for features / price

[sambrowne]

If the cable run is no more than 5 meters you don't really need to use a DI box. I have always liked the sound and ease of use of soundcraft stuff, and lexi verbs do usually sound great.

Yeah we go direct, sounds great (no different to DI box).

Yep they sound good, they're easy to use, the lexiverb works great....they're just a winner all round I reckon. Yeah get one secondhand on TM and you're golden. I paid something like $1400 for mine new.

[RUDENBARK]

An off-topic update, 'cause I said I would.

Had our first (new)band prac on Sunday, which sounded surprisingly okay for a first prac. Anyways, the mixer idea (ie running everything through it) worked really well - recap; had gat (stereo), bass, 3 vox mics, and 3 drum mics. Had an "oh crap, it's not working! " moment when I was hearing a a heavy "flange" like effect over everything, but then smacked my dumbarse head when I realised it was just my ears playing tricks on me as I was pacing in front of the speakers - D'OH!

Didn't really crank it so don't know what it'll be capable of (realistically, not going to be a very powerful set-up), but we had it up a little bit and it all sounded pretty good, especially considering we only really did a basic mix and haven't 'fine tuned' it yet. Still got a bit of headroom from where we were playing at, but as always I'm very apprehensive about it not being loud enough. Probably just being a dick about it; used to think the same thing when I was just using it for the guitar, but when I cranked it then it was sweet as. So logic should assure me that when we crank the set-up now it should be sweet as also. Guess it'll just be a matter of 'wait and see' for when we get the chance to prac somewhere with a bit of room.
My general idea/opinion on the matter has been that as long as it's good enough for a small venue we should be all good, and for situations where the gear would likely have to be mic'ed up anyway we can just plug into and piggyback off the house system (or whatever).

Side topic - love my trusty POD and hasn't let me down yet (at least not in any major way - power switch is stuffed, but I've just put in a jumper to bypass it). But thinking of getting an OD pedal 'just in case...', something I can plug it the mixer if the POD ever fails (going in clean, the guitar sounds quite nice through it).
Just hate the idea though of buying something that I'm planning and hoping on not using, lol. Rather than GAS I might just keep my eye out for a reasonable sounding cheapy.

[DrMarv]

Had an "oh crap, it's not working! " moment when I was hearing a a heavy "flange" like effect over everything, but then smacked my dumbarse head when I realised it was just my ears playing tricks on me as I was pacing in front of the speakers - D'OH! .

Even so, sounds a bit weird. I'd expect this if you're using high frequency horns side by side - in an "array". There's always a little arrival time difference which causes the "flanging" sound you're describing. However, I wouldn't expect to hear it if your speakers are a decent distance apart, pacing or not. You might want to check that one of your cables or speakers aren't wired with their polarities reversed.

What kind of speakers have you got? Passive (driven by a separate amplifier) or powered (amplifier built into the speaker box)?

[nzsimon1]

The title is Powered Mackies ?

[NZRS-Dave]

Had an "oh crap, it's not working! " moment when I was hearing a a heavy "flange" like effect over everything, but then smacked my dumbarse head when I realised it was just my ears playing tricks on me as I was pacing in front of the speakers - D'OH!

If you think it's a problem, take them into the Hamilton store (your location says Waikato so the Hamilton Rockshop may not be the best store) and we can get them looked at. Mackies and most speaker brands don't phase unless there is something wrong with them. And for you to hear the effect is a bit of a concern.

PM if you want me to look at it further for you.

[RUDENBARK]

Even so, sounds a bit weird. I'd expect this if you're using high frequency horns side by side - in an "array". There's always a little arrival time difference which causes the "flanging" sound you're describing. However, I wouldn't expect to hear it if your speakers are a decent distance apart, pacing or not. You might want to check that one of your cables or speakers aren't wired with their polarities reversed.

What kind of speakers have you got? Passive (driven by a separate amplifier) or powered (amplifier built into the speaker box)?

If you think it's a problem, take them into the Hamilton store (your location says Waikato so the Hamilton Rockshop may not be the best store) and we can get them looked at. Mackies and most speaker brands don't phase unless there is something wrong with them. And for you to hear the effect is a bit of a concern.

PM if you want me to look at it further for you.

Cheers guys. But nah, the speakers are fine, strictly just down to my perception (in fact the other guys didn't even notice it, just me). Still don't have a proper prac space yet so we were using the basement/garage at the drummers place, ie just enough room to comfortably move around in (not so when they come around and use my lounge for prac today - the lack of space will be interesting, lol). Speakers were set up too close to each other out of necessity, only about 3-4m max apart, and with me walking back and forth in front of them whilst playing (duh! ) then of course (in hindsight) it's gonna sound "flangy"; when I stayed in one spot to play it was fine.
Would only have used one speaker normally, but had been talking to the bass player about the difference between playing in mono and playing in stereo and took them both to prac to show him.