MACKIE.32.8.2 - Is it as crap as everyone says? (Page 1 of 2)

Like i've said a few times get a Sony desk.
Best bang for the buck you can get them real cheap and most off them were ovr 10K new.

Get any other cheap console.... I have a Tascam M2600 which is not great but it beats a Crackie any day. I see Soundcraft Spirits popping up for way less then 1000£ here in Denmark, and they are also decent consoles.
My point is, look around some more. A 15-20 year old well kept quality console from one of the better brands is often a much better buy then a 10 year old low budget console.

also Mackie™  aftersale service blows

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/aug94/tascamm2600.html

I bought one of these for less than 800£. Its no Sony or MCI so if you get lucky buy one of those cheap. But remember cheap old pro consoles are usually cheap for a reason, whereas a Tascam or Allen&Heath that has been sitting well cared for in som accountants home studio is usually mint. This being said a console like the M-2600 is harder to service than a fully modular pro console.

There is also the dutch build DR consoles which have been sitting in many midrange studios. They are nice consoles if you find one in good shape. But they do have a sound to them, so that boils down to taste. Rude has one and is a fan of these if I remember correctly.

Pros/Cons all the way.

What about Soundcraft Ghost LE - quite a few second hand in SOS in the UK

From what I heard the Ghost is a great desk, but Erik vs Broek who had one never seemed to stop complain about how badly build and full of malfunctions his Ghost was. To make matters worse, he found the support to be misarable at best. Quite different than from smaller brands like D&R, who even have a good legacy support.
As for Mackie, I hear a lot of people complain about their dull sound and lack of headroom, also outside the synth community. Mackies aren't absolute crap, they're just not exciting. Bookkeepers will love them But for the money you spend on a new Mackie you can get a much better sounding console if you can live with the fact that it might need some extra attention from time to time.

I've never seen a D&R mixer for sale in the UK so i'm pretty much stuck with what comes up for sale over here. 

Reliability is a big issue.  I don't mind taking a synth over to a tech every now and then but having to unplug a heavy mixer and transport it around London is not my idea of fun.

well, were comparing desks that are close to 30 years old to brand new ones. i highly doubt that in 20 years my close to 10 year old mackie onyx (my live mixer) will still be working. its already showing signs of needing attention.. and since i can compare both directly here at home,. i did. and of course ive tested many small mixers for the magazine i write for. the small ones are not bad by themselves and if you just need something to amplify your sounds. but oif you want something that adds, that makes a good sounding production sound better and more professional, those small mixers and cheap brands dont do that. the difference of an 808 through my d&r or through my mackie is amazing.

if youre in the uk, sell your soul to the devil and buy a toft atb. that was the best sounding mixer i ever had here, and its brand new. of course its also more expensive..

I think a 1000 pound budget will get you far on the 2nd hand market. I bought my Dayner for 600 total, which includes spare parts, psu and some stuff I needed to repair it. Maybe I was lucky, but your budget should really be suffice.

I think Mackies get a bit of a hard time on this forum. DMX Krew recorded all his stuff using a Mackie CR1604 and his records sound great. Obviously there are better desks out there, but I wouldn't consider them the worst of the worst.

I own a Mackie 1402VLZ Pro, a bit noisy but not terrible. Legowelt used my one a few times when he played live in Dublin for the Electric City guys. (and yes, live use vs studio use are two different things)

no not the worst, there is still Behringer afterall