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Author Topic: Mackie SR 32-4 VLZ (non-pro) for main desk.  (Read 6090 times)

Daniel Holmes

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Mackie SR 32-4 VLZ (non-pro) for main desk.
« on: February 03, 2013, 07:50:41 AM »

Hi there, I'm new to this board so hello everyone!

Just a quick question - We're in the process of moving into a new church building, and I'm researching the new install equipment. We currently meet in a village hall and use a pair of 15" Yamaha active speakers (I forget the model number, but they are old and sound tired.) And a small Yamaha 16 channel desk, which only has 3 aux outs, one of which is taken up by the internal FX.

We're looking at upgrading the whole kit for the new building, including a desk with more channels and more Auxes, to potentially give us more monitor sends. We've already bought a pair of Martin F12s, coupled with Martin F15, all driven by the M3 controller and QSC amps.

Unfortunately, like all installs of this kind, the budget is pretty tight so we've got a lot of the gear from eBay.

Anyway, I've got a chance to buy a used Mackie SR32-4 VLZ (not the pro version) for around the £200 mark. I guess I'm just finding out whether this will be worth it. I've done some research and found mixed reviews of this mixer, with some reporting ribbon faults and others saying the mic preamps don't give you much headroom. Conversely I've found other threads saying they've used the desks for many years without any problems.

Band wise we'll have electronic drums, keys, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass DI, and up to 6 singers (using SM58) going through the desk at any given time.

So what I'm asking is you opinion as a well respected forum - is the Mackie a reasonable desk for that price, and do you think it would fulfil our needs? Or even though it's that cheap, would we eventually find shortcomings and be better saving up for an Allen & Heath or similar?

Thanks for any advice you might be able to give.

Dan
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Mac Kerr

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« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2013, 10:25:53 AM »

Hi there, I'm new to this board so hello everyone!

Please go to your profile and change the "Name" field to your real first and last name as required by the posting rules displayed in the header at the top of the section, and in the Site Rules and Suggestions in the Forum Announcements section, and on the registration page when you registered.

Mac
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Kelvin Gryder

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Re: Mackie SR 32-4 VLZ (non-pro) for main desk.
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2013, 05:02:15 PM »

Dan,
We used the same board for many years and it was a real workhorse. We never had any issues.
The biggest drawback I had was that each channel had a mute button while the Yamaha board I was also using had an off and on button. If the light was on on the Mackie the channel was off, on the Yamaha it was on.
We moved into a new church and actually sold the old system with the building, but it was doing fine the last I heard.
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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Mackie SR 32-4 VLZ (non-pro) for main desk.
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2013, 06:10:23 AM »

...
Anyway, I've got a chance to buy a used Mackie SR32-4 VLZ (not the pro version) for around the £200 mark. I guess I'm just finding out whether this will be worth it. I've done some research and found mixed reviews of this mixer, with some reporting ribbon faults and others saying the mic preamps don't give you much headroom. Conversely I've found other threads saying they've used the desks for many years without any problems....

The VLZ's don't offer very good EQ control, but at that price point with 32 channels you might be hard pressed to find a better deal assuming it works.  I'd want to go through the board channel by channel, aux by aux, bus by bus and make sure everything worked.  Preamps all deliver the same gain, no noise, no crackly pots,... If the board is noise free it's a good value for £200. If there are two or three dead channels you may still be OK but if the EQ sections or preamps gains are crackly,... it might not meet your needs.
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Mark McFarlane

Brad Weber

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Re: Mackie SR 32-4 VLZ (non-pro) for main desk.
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2013, 07:36:16 AM »

Just a quick question - We're in the process of moving into a new church building, and I'm researching the new install equipment. We currently meet in a village hall and use a pair of 15" Yamaha active speakers (I forget the model number, but they are old and sound tired.) And a small Yamaha 16 channel desk, which only has 3 aux outs, one of which is taken up by the internal FX.

We're looking at upgrading the whole kit for the new building, including a desk with more channels and more Auxes, to potentially give us more monitor sends. We've already bought a pair of Martin F12s, coupled with Martin F15, all driven by the M3 controller and QSC amps.

Unfortunately, like all installs of this kind, the budget is pretty tight so we've got a lot of the gear from eBay.
Hopefully I am wrong but hopefully you have addressed infrastructure such as conduit, cable paths and power as well as equipment locations and space, room acoustics and so on or are very early in the process of where you can still address such issues.  That can be important as not only can these factors impact what equipment is appropriate or practical, they can also sometimes represent a significant cost themselves.

I also hope you are selecting products based on how well they fit your application and not just some arbitrary budget.  For example, were the mounting options and the resulting coverage and levels considered when you purchased the speakers?  And why an F15, which is a full range box with a 15" woofer, in combination with the F12s, which are full range boxes with a 12" woofer?  Did you perhaps mean two F12s each with a companion S15 subwoofer?

Similar for the mixer.  For example, you mentioned that on your existing mixer one mix bus was for the internal effects and if you currently use that then do you need similar effects capability, either integral to the mixer or outboard, for the new system?  With that and any other needs in mind (monitors, recording sends, auxiliary sends, etc.), are two pre-fader/pre-EQ, two post-fader/post-EQ and two switchable aux sends sufficient for your needs?

As Mark noted, the condition of the mixer can affect its value.  Do you know the condition of the mixer or are you going to get a chance to assess the mixer before purchasing it?

That is somewhat the general point in that there can be a difference between value and cost.  If something works well for you then that adds to the value regardless of the associated cost while if something does not work well for you then that decreases the value regardless of the cost.  So while cost may be a critical factor, don't forget that it can be the value that matters and that may be very dependent on the application.
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Mackie SR 32-4 VLZ (non-pro) for main desk.
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2013, 07:36:16 AM »


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