Members stunningbabe Posted March 10, 2013 Members Share Posted March 10, 2013 I'd like to know if there are more LOVE or DISLIKE for MACKIE from the folks here. I trust the opinions from you folks here more than from other forums...so the replies here get the most attention from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dookietwo Posted March 10, 2013 Members Share Posted March 10, 2013 I remember seeing Mackie stuff around 1989 or so. They only made mixers at the start. Some just for keyboard mixing use. The mixers were rock solid and were "simple" to run. Around 1996 or so they started making different products. To me it seemed when they went public the product quality started to go down hill. I used a 16:4:2 vlz or something like that mixer another band had purchased new around 1997 and only after about 6 months the Aux sends started to go dead. Never really considered any of their products or followed them after that.I do know the newest line of speakers from them get good reviews as far as sound and output. But like some of the new JBL powered speakers they seem to have alot of failures when they first came out.I believe Greg Mackie sold the company or at least stepped down around 2003/2004. He may be over at M&W pro audio now.Loud tech owns the company the last I heard.Mackie had some great products when the company started out. Now days they've seemed to lost direction. I don't think I would buy anything Mackie. But thats just me.Dookietwo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted March 10, 2013 Members Share Posted March 10, 2013 I don't remember any mackie stuff in 1989. I would be curious to know what they made back then. I remember Mackie as being really popular in 1994/95 with the 1604, which was super popular with the ADAT/DA-88 crowd. In 95/96 (when the poster above says they got bad) I remember the 8 bus series came out and were litterally everywhere. I would bet it was the most popular console in small studios at the time. Around that time they did some other really popular things - the small 1202, 14- whatever and the Ottomix system that would provide some automation to any mixer. I remember things going downhill later on. Again, if they had products in 1989 I would like to see some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sick boy78 Posted March 10, 2013 Members Share Posted March 10, 2013 Mackie fan boy here! But, and that's a big but... I remember falling for Mackie years ago when the srm450s hit the scene here. I was very impressed with their sound, and look. Once I heard these speakers with acoustic guitar and vocals I was hooked. I made a plan to get a mackie system for myself after that. Now that was long time ago, and while I do use older Italian made c300s, things have defiantly changed! Mackie products are being made in China, reviews have gone down hard on most of their stuff, failure rates have gone up. So as much as I still lean towards mackie for whatever reason, I personally would NOT buy anything that was manufactured in china from them. It's just not worth the hassle to me. And the reality is they are way over priced while being made in China. I'm still attracted to mackies designs. I like the hd series of speakers among others. Keep in mind I'm speaking from a small band, or acoustic solo/duo act perspective. I don't think they would cut the mustard with any big bands, or serious hard pounding in house system.(My opinion) If anything there are better options out there now for the price, and the whole made in china just turns me off. If you want an idea of how Mackie products stack up now, go hit the mackie forums and read a few posts. That is, when the site works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vinny D Posted March 10, 2013 Members Share Posted March 10, 2013 When Mackie was owned by Greg it was a great product.These days I would not buy a Mackie product if my life depended on it, easily the highest failure rate (especially on mixing boards) I have ever seen...first hand.Quality control is gone, ease of getting parts/repairs are gone. If you buy something today just consider it a throw away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted March 10, 2013 Members Share Posted March 10, 2013 BTW the DL1608 is made is Mexico . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted March 11, 2013 Members Share Posted March 11, 2013 Had a Mackie CFX-12 mixer. After reading the manual and learning how to use it, I didn't have any complaints. UNTIL the #1 Aux channel failed. Sold the mixer as was to someone in San Francisco. He didn't have a problem with the one failed aux. (I sure did and now that I have 4 pre-fader aux's available, I would have a hard time going back to only two.) That particular unit ran pretty warm, but I don't have any idea if that contributed to the failure. I had a small Behringer mixer and an Alesis Multi-mix 16 firewire that have never given me any grief. (The Behringer I gave to a friend who needed it for mixing his keyboards. The Alesis I still use for recording and times when that small a board is appropriate. I have a MixWiz that is my main board since 2008.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pro Sound Guy Posted March 11, 2013 Members Share Posted March 11, 2013 I have a few Mackie mixers. One of which was a pain with the bad internal cables. I have not had any issues with any other Mackie product Ive owned. I have friends whom have the Mackie Thumps, and other model self powered Mackies with absolutely no issues. Mackie subs. No issues I did hear that Mackie wants nothing to do with Canada though I am kidding on that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted March 11, 2013 Members Share Posted March 11, 2013 Pretty much every 1604VLZ eventually came back... some in 10 months but all by 10 years. That was quite a few repairs and eventually replacements. A couple of unhappy customers as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sick boy78 Posted March 12, 2013 Members Share Posted March 12, 2013 They pretty much live off their name at this point. Mackie came out swinging in the 90s with some innovative products. Great designs! And pleasing to the eye. That's about the only reason I like any of their stuff now. I don't think a lot of people know they sold out to loud either, or that they are being made in China. Even now I read stuff on line about folks who brag them up and down. And playing out, people who know a little about music equipment give comments on me using my mackie stuff. I promptly tell them mackie sucks and don't bother with any new products. Had they kept on the same path, they would probably be in the qsc, jbl, ev category rather than behringer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stangconv Posted March 12, 2013 Members Share Posted March 12, 2013 I'd put behringer a step above Mackie right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BillESC Posted March 12, 2013 Members Share Posted March 12, 2013 As stated, there are two Mackies. Pre Loud and post Loud. If you own gear purchased when Greg owned the company chances are it's still working today. If you bought gear after Greg sold the company chances are it arrived DOA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sick boy78 Posted March 12, 2013 Members Share Posted March 12, 2013 Fender bassman? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 sure, for guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stangconv Posted March 17, 2013 Members Share Posted March 17, 2013 Well I am far from a Mackie fan, In fact I would way rather buy anything Behringer then Mackie. However I did buy the Mackie DL1608, and put it through its paces today. I had the Dl1608 side stage of a Bridal show/fashion show, running through an apple airport express. I then had music from my Djay app sending back via AirPlay. Ran this from 10:00am until 7:45pm without a single hitch and I was probably over 120' for 95% of the time. Flawless I'd never buy one of there speakers though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gordonsound2 Posted March 17, 2013 Members Share Posted March 17, 2013 I have had good and bad with mackie. When i bought a Sr32.4 ( not VLZ pro w/ screen) I waited about a year after they came out. I was one of the most reliable consoles i ever owned and i paid $1650 for it (a good deal @ the time) Anything I have owned with the VLZ pro has been a dog, I have a CFX that has been decent but it just sounds cheap, like a nady or old ross or sunn console. I need to replace it its a dog, the behringer I had before sounded better. I like the little 1202's but the little 502 and 802 behringers work just as well and sound just as good for 1/2 the money.Also Behringers support is much better than mackies now, I have tried to get parts for makie products and been told its on order to finally we arent getting any. Behringer has had its share of dogs as well, now I find myself looking seriously @ peavey/Yamaha options for small 24/32 cch mixers but even peavey had done some dippy stuff latley like saving a penny on dust guards on faders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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