Yeowch... Dying Mackie 24X4 mixer...

[AVGuyAndy]

So Yamaha and Soundcraft should be avoided? Riiiiight...

 

[fosstech]

Well I have to disagree on Mackie being crap that lasts for 2 years and dies. My old school bought a Mackie SR24-4VLZ 10 years ago and it's still going strong, nothing has gone wrong with it. I myself have a Mackie 1202VLZ-PRO that needed one minor warranty repair, there was a bad solder joint on the gain knob of channel 1. I bought it in 2001, made in 1999. I also own two Mackie SRM450's, they're outstanding sounding speakers for the price, made and bought in 2002. And they haven't failed me once. My high school's theatre backup/portable system is a Mackie 1604VLZ-PRO, and two SRM450's, all of which work perfectly, bought in 2001. With our new installed sound system this year, we got a Mackie TT24. It's an awesome board...I love full dynamics, parametric 4-band EQ, four effects processors, 12 auxes, and 100mm faders

 

[soundlight]

I've currently got a soundcraft spirit 8-16 (now live-8 series), and it's really nice, and has not had a problem in 8 years of operation. Everything works perfectly. Go soundcraft, no question. GB8 would be my reccomendation. It's got the pre/post switchable auxes (8 of them), and plenty of other useful routing options. My school will hopefully purchasing a soundcraft series 2-32 channel console.

 

[Austinro]

We have a Mackie SR32-4 that works great after what I have been told is ten years. It is in a high school environment where it is on almost all day and is used by people who have no idea what they are doing. I am the only one who ever covers it, and I go up into the booth to find food crumbs on the board. It still works great. I came back from a three day weekend to find the board still on, and I have no doubt that it has happened many times in the past. The only thing I know is wrong is a scratchy control room/headphones volume knob.

 

[Foxinabox10]

Mackie boards will last a good length of time if you take care of it. We just ordered a Mackie Onyx and from what I hear it is a very nice board and has the sound and feel of a much more expensive board. Everyone that I have talked to that has used it absolutely loves it.

 

[zac850]

Wow, I just realized how old this post is when I see in the begining I was talking about not being able to fill an 8 channel mixer, long time ago.

Anyway, this is right on time because my Spirit 8 16 channel board just died. It had been slowly dieing for a while, flashing level when there was none, getting worse and worse until I brought it back from a community theater, plugged it in, and heard the insides hum. I brought it to a professional sound guy's place, and I haven't heard back from him. I am fearing the worse.

The reason I fear the worse is that I love that board. 8 subs (4 if you run them stereo), and 6 aux outputs, 4 EQ plus sweapable mids, 48v phantom power switchable per channel, and to top it all off, in addition to the 16 mono channels I have another 4 stereo channels (that don't have the same aux settings, but still... its nice.


Honestly though, I have no history of this soundboard. It was donated to the school used 2 years ago, and I have no idea its history before it came into our care. I would still recommend Soundcraft to anyone though, and would buy another board from them in a heartbeat.

 

[icebook1]

We have a Soundcraft Spirit Live 2^4, which is great for all of our uses, from drama productions to just assemblies. I find it very versatile. Phantom power can be sent on a channel-by-channel basis, which is great when you only have 1 or 2 mics that need it. The only thing I don't like (as of now) is that the TalkBack port doesn't supply phantom power, so our "God" mic won't work on it, thus taking up a regular channel.

 

[mbenonis]

Zac, you might call Soundcraft and see what can be done. Almost all professional audio companies have excellent customer support and they may be able to help you out here.

 

[avkid]

The only thing I don't like (as of now) is that the TalkBack port doesn't supply phantom power, so our "God" mic won't work on it

Just get an inline phantom power supply.

 

[soundman1024]

In my experience Soundcraft has been a good company for consoles. I haven't had any problems with them. As far as Mackie goes A 32x8 at our church went out due to water damage from a new roof that didn't get sealed up well. That board has been around the church longer than me so it had at least 8 years worth, however it only got used Thursday, Friday, and Sunday for the majority of the time. I still would advise a Soundcraft over a Mackie. They seem to be better sonically I think. The difference between the 32x8 Mackie and the Soundcraft Series TWO was definately there. Even though the Soundcraft doesn't have a fully parametric high mid like the Mackie did, I like the EQ more.

 

[TassieBogan]

we have a 40ch Midas Verona, a bit on the expensive side, but i'd highly recommend the Venice series for a school. i think they go for around $7000 for the 32 ch version?

 

[Andy_Leviss]

The A&H also has individual channel 48v Phantom where the Soundcraft is global phantom--and individual channel phanton is good to have cause if the glbal phantom should die--all your channels die--where if you loose a channel of phantom you can switch channels.

Well, I agree that it's a benefit, but for an altogether different reason. I think you're misinterpreting what the global vs. individual labels mean; they refer to the switching of the phantom power, not the supply. The phantom supply is still global with individually switchable phantom on channels, it's just that there is a switch at each channel instead of one before all the channels are connected. They're still all coming off the same 48V power supply, and are wired the same. In fact, arguably, there are more points of failure, since you've now got X number of switches--with a minimum of twice as many solder joints and the added mechanical connection--added in where there used to be only two solder joints per channel.

With global phantom, if one channel goes, you can still move to another channel, since each channel is hooked up in parallel. If the actual power supply goes, you're out of luck across the board no matter whether the phantom switching is global or individual.

What you do benefit from, however, is that you can use line level XLR devices and ribbon microphones, which can be severely damaged by phantom power. On a console with global switching of phantom power, you need to use an adapter with a transformer or a 1/4" input for these input sources (and that's assuming that the 1/4" is a separate input...some low end consoles just parallel the jacks, which is very bad!

--A

 

[soundlight]

Individual phantom IS available (yes, the supply is global, but the power to mics is individual) on Soundcraft boards, including the Spirit8 (now Live-8), as well as many of it's other consoles.