Mackie Onyx 1640

[SceneMaster]

What do people think of the onyx 1640 Mackie mixer? This is a bit like my Yamaha desk topic a week or so ago. Basically what experiences have you had with the desk anything which you like/don’t like. This is for small scale live church sound. Is it value for money (as in is it worth the £950ish pounds) would you buy one of these over a Mix Wizard or the Yamaha MG (16 mono channel versions in both cases) series bearing in mind I am on a fairly low budget and if I get a more expensive desk I have can’t get as many decent mics/foldback speakers (we have a system already we are just adding the mixer (we have a rack mount 1u mixer at the moment) and buying new mics/foldback). I have about £1.2k for the lot.

 

I think the MG series is ok except I have had negative feedback (no pun) about the EQ is it really that bad if it is good (not great) then I am inclined to thing it would be worth a second look rather than buying a more expensive Mackie as this will give me about £600 for a few mics and one or two foldback speakers? Or should I just go with a mix wizard even though I don’t personally like them… I find them too compact… well that’s what they were designed for and is not what I want.

 

(and blueshift I know you love the Mackie desks so let someone else reply :o but I do take you point)

 

Thanks,

[J Pearce]

The eq on the yamaha is usable, just not great. If you have the money buy the mackie, you won't regret it. We have a SR24/4 at church and it feels quality, the mackies just feel so much better to mix on than the yamahas or folios.

 

However if there is a need for foldback then make sure whatever you buy leaves you with the dosh to buy some foldbacks and amps.

[SceneMaster]

Ok, well I would appreciate more comments. I do except Mackie are great but the Yamaha desk must be good for it’s price (the desks are in two different price ranges so of course the one in the higher price range will be better). Basically for a small (very very) small church. The Yamaha would be fine even with the strange EQ and the Mackie would just be over kill for something used about once a month. Unless we could get a good second hand deal on a desk.

 

On the subject of foldback I need fairly small speakers which can double was FOH in smaller venues. What do people think of the power cubes?

[BlueShift]

Ok, well I would appreciate more comments. I do except Mackie are great but the Yamaha desk must be good for it’s price (the desks are in two different price ranges so of course the one in the higher price range will be better). Basically for a small (very very) small church. The Yamaha would be fine even with the strange EQ and the Mackie would just be over kill for something used about once a month. Unless we could get a good second hand deal on a desk.

 

On the subject of foldback I need fairly small speakers which can double was FOH in smaller venues. What do people think of the power cubes?

 

Jon,

 

For our new portable rig im tossing up between an allen & heath mixwizard 16:2 and a mackie onyx 1640 - both are great desks in the same price range... certainly better than the MG, but then again much pricier.

 

Ive never been a huge fan of powercubes to be honest... they are very heavy, quite pricey and ive never found them to sound brilliant. have a look at mackie SRM350's / Mackie SRM450's. If you have a bit more money, take a look at some of the smaller HK active stuff like LUCAS, Actor or DART

 

Cheers

[mal421]

I use Mackie SRM 450's on foldback , they are simply the best monitors . However the coolng is not so efficient and they do run a little hotter than normal but so far no problems . Earlier this year ran them for 9 hours non stop with no problems . The muso's love them too because they generally give a better on stage sound than alot of FOH systems . If you are interested I have a secondhand Mackie 12/4 FX came from an Illusionist who traded it in against a Lucas XT , probably only been used a dozen times .