Mackie 802-vlz03

Thanks man!
The soundcard with multiple line ins sounds like a good option but I didn't find any soundcard with multiple line ins, only some hardly available expansion (expands by 4 channels) which is more expensive than a mackie vlz 3... hmm... we'll see
Thanks again man.

doctah wizard wrote:Thanks man!
The soundcard with multiple line ins sounds like a good option but I didn't find any soundcard with multiple line ins, only some hardly available expansion (expands by 4 channels) which is more expensive than a mackie vlz 3... hmm... we'll see
Thanks again man.

What audio interface were you looking at? The Lexicon Omega has 4 inputs at $189, and the Tascam US1800 has 16 inputs at around $300. But yeah, for under 3 bills, your choices are limited.

Back on topic, I have a Mackie 1604 VLZ3 and it's a great mixer. Also the larger ones can heat a small room in the winter.

How do they sound if you start to overdrive the inputs, do you get a nice warm distortion?

innovine wrote:How do they sound if you start to overdrive the inputs, do you get a nice warm distortion?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yheX4yrOOQI

Didn't you say you were a jungle/drumfunk man? Instant old Dillinja bass with a cheap Mackie desk.

Yep, and I'm considering a vlz3 for christmas, mainly to get a nice overdrive on the inputs. I've heard people say many times about warming the sound on a mackie, just wondering if the vlz3 is up to it

innovine wrote:Yep, and I'm considering a vlz3 for christmas, mainly to get a nice overdrive on the inputs. I've heard people say many times about warming the sound on a mackie, just wondering if the vlz3 is up to it

I'd bet it is like Scooby said, I'd be willing to bet a lot of those guys were using inexpensive desks as well, some probably with the Mackie CR series which led to the VLZ's.

innovine wrote:Yep, and I'm considering a vlz3 for christmas, mainly to get a nice overdrive on the inputs. I've heard people say many times about warming the sound on a mackie, just wondering if the vlz3 is up to it

The VLZ 3 are the newer ones with that more refined design aren't they? I honestly couldn't tell you about those. Mine is an earlier VLZ model, as is the one Fracture and Neptune use. In my opinion mate you'd be better off going on eBay and getting one of the older ones second hand. They're rock solid anyway, and people are practically giving them away. I got my 1402 for £70 including postage, whereas a brand new one will set you back £300 according to DV. Bit of a no brainer, especially if you're just using it for driving the gains to death

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mackie-1642-vlz-pro-mixer-/170708844017?pt=UK_Mixers&hash=item27bf0a3df1#ht_500wt_1136

Not a bad place to start. I don't imagine that will go for much more than 100-150 fazooles.

scoobylol wrote:especially if you're just using it for driving the gains to death

if that's honestly all you need, a cheap tape recorder being overdriven and used solely for distortion is probably the cheapest and definitely a very cool sonic choice.

I have a 4-track cassette machine, but it's too noisy. It's also hard to get a mild distortion from it, it sort of makes mush of everything. I've a reel-to-reel too which is quieter but it's n mono. I'm looking for a nice analog mixer that'll gently overdrive (read, subtle) without adding an enormous amount of noise the way my tape machines do. Besides, I've been stuck using a tiny behringer mixer since my previous one died, so I need a general purpose mixer too. Just that a little warmt would be great.

innovine wrote:I have a 4-track cassette machine, but it's too noisy. It's also hard to get a mild distortion from it, it sort of makes mush of everything. I've a reel-to-reel too which is quieter but it's n mono. I'm looking for a nice analog mixer that'll gently overdrive (read, subtle) without adding an enormous amount of noise the way my tape machines do. Besides, I've been stuck using a tiny behringer mixer since my previous one died, so I need a general purpose mixer too. Just that a little warmt would be great.

is the noise a problem just taking the audio direct out of the tape machine? or do you mean after bouncing to tape?

i'm not talking about recording to tape for tape distortion, i'm talking about overdriving the inputs just like on a mixer... just to clarify.

might not work for everyone, but its an option.

Both. The outputs on the tape machine are really noisy, so even if it's a clean signal on tape, it's got way more noise in it than I find acceptable. But the sound as it saturates is pretty good, if a bit excessive. Eventually the inputs overload and it sounds nasty. That's not what I'm after, is that what they mean by overloading the mixer channels??

I'm also looking around for some kind of stereo rack warmer effect, that's good for a gentle overdrive, but since I'm in the market for a mixer anyway...

Maybe if I sent a wav file to scoobylol he would be good enough to run it through the mackie so I can hear the distortion?

Send away mate, I'll do my best. Make sure you check out that video I posted earlier too with Fracture and Neptune.