Sound:
I use this mixer in my duo with recorded backing and live guitar and vocals. The sound is the "crispest" of any mixer I have ever used, with exceptional front end gain and chanel eq. With smart use of the chanel"input gain" knob,the chanel headroom is great with fantasticaly low noise. Clever use of the graphic is required to get the best out of your speakers, especially if you want to "warm up"the sound. I run this head with JBL Eon1500p's, and find I need to Cut 250 hz and 4Khz by approx 3db to reduce harsh and boom. The secret to the sound on these things is the Master eq, very musical and rich.
Feature:
Inserts- Love em !! (Yamaha Heads are yet to do this).Main Inserts /returns- Smart- Insert gear or take main mix from here.Power amps - he onboard LED meter only shows level @ mixer out, and I drive the master well into the yellow constantly, and havent seen the "clip" leds come up yet. With the master @ unity, there is still approx 17db of headroom b4 power amp clipping, which is protected by on board compressor anyway. I find it more than enough power for my duo @ 8ohms to easily cope with a room of 300ish people, but you may find it lacking if your speakers arent as responsive. This hi current amp will happily drive another set of (8 ohm) bins (total of four ohms/ch ) doubling the FOH Spl if push comes to shove.
I personally have not had any of the overheating problems that some others suggest- and I run this pretty hard. The heat sink DOES get hot, as its supposed to, but It is HUGE and I have felt hotter heat sinks on ducted fan amplifiers. I always leave about 6" behind it (as recommended) and all is fine.
The FX are a bit limited, I would swap the flanger for a good reverd/delay combo, but are simplicity itself to adjust. I generally run Delay x 2 across the vocals with a slight lift in the presence, really nice.
Break switch - Way cool.
Monitor send is Pre fad AND PRE-EQ which is the only Major gripe with this head. This should have been a switched choice to allow you to send the chanel strip ed'd sig to the Monitor Bus. Sure, you can eq the monitor bus via the onboard graphic, but this has a global effect on the Monitor Output. (I have worked around it but it should have been thought out better).
Splitable Main Stereo / Main+mon - For me this means "small paying gig" or "Large blow'em away gig", the less gear I have to carry the better.
Ease of Use:
Once you understand how Mackie thinks, then the ease of use is a snap. The unity gain points (U) on all of the knobs seem to have been optimized for standard use, and produce a great sound straight up. This is also on the FX controls (I find I have only tweaked them a touch).
The pre-chan gain trim is FANTASTIC, sing and adjust until the yellow led starts to blink, set chan gain to unity,(do the same on all chans for all inputs) and virtually a perfectly ballanced mix from the word go. (No more "Bass on nine" , "Vox on 3", "Git on 4.5" ETC".)
Quality:
The unit looks, feels and sounds great out of the box. I immediatley purchased a soft cover for it (as I do)and it has had a few solid bumps.
It has never let me down. The sockets are all genuine "Neutrik" and the pots have a very smooth "pro" feel to them, much better than my yamaha. Everything looks put together very well, and the look and finish is very pro, much better than the behringer,yami, and a world away from phonic, alto and wharfdale.
Value:
For my particular situation, nothing touches it. To have a HEAD that sounds this "clean" with inserts and "large desk" quality sound in a package that can fit on a bar stool, its great. I always get comments on our sound, and about how clear we sounded. It was expensive when I bought it, but the new price points can not be beaten.
Manufacturer Support:
Never had a warranty claim, and I seem to know alot more about this mixer than the dealers who I bought it from. Having said that- to mackie's credit- when I was researching the 808s pre-purchase, mackie responded to all of my emails, and I actually got to talk to one of the engineers in the states when discussing specs, that was way cool. We have a 3 year warranty here in Aus, I dont know if that is the same anywhere else.
The Wow Factor:
Nothing touches it, (not yet anyway) but I know some companies are trying. Still the best, and people still say "wow, a mackie !!" (I kid you not).
Overall:
In my current set up, this remains the pinnicle. I did pay extra for the stereo, and for my guitar fx and the stereo backing this was a choice well made. (It does mean I now have to carry a small power amp extra for the FoldBack). Only if I lost/stole/broke this one would I look at a small boutique style desk with some powered EV SRX or G2s, but until that day, this will do me fine.
7 of 7 people
(100%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
THIS IS A GREAT BOX,HOOKED UP WITH MACKIE S500 SPEAKERS,COULD HAVE MORE POWER. 500 REAL WATTS PER CHANEL IN STEREO AT 8 OHMS WOULD BE NICE.NICE CLEAN SOUND.ALSO USE EVENT 20/20/15 SUB HOOKED UP TO MONITOR OF MIXER AND IT DOES THE JOB WELL.
4 of 5 people
(80%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
The quality of sound is the best. It is a very small unit and sounds better than some big units I have seen. I am using a Pioneer cd+g player and Sonic speakers and floor monitors. I really like this unit.
Feature:
This unit has features I have never used. I like the various reverb settings available, along with a few other features that I use regularly. I also like the reverb mute button, I don't like to talk with reverb on and would tire of turning it up and down.
Quality:
I have been using this unit since 1999 and have never had any problems with it. It is made very well. It has been dropped a couple times by want-tobe helpers and it still works great, and no scratches or dents or broken pieces. I do not have a back up because I have never needed one.
Value:
If this one would ever die I would definetly buy another one. I have run shows for other kj's and used their systems. I did not like them as well as this one. Some of the other machines were much more expensive than this unit, and definatley not worth what they paid. I paid less for my unit in 1999 than they are selling for today, but I would not switch to a different unit no matter what the cost.
Manufacturer Support:
I have had no reason to deal with the company the made this product. I did have a very good experience with over the phone registration. People were very friendly and professional.
The Wow Factor:
I think it is an ok looking unit, although I do wish it was square or came in a case that was. It is not practical if you want to stack things on top of the machine due to the slant. I did make a shelf to go over it so I can stack things above it. NO BIG DEAL! I hope to have a case built for it someday. I like the face of the unit very much.
Overall:
This unit has more than paid for itself, and if it ever does wera out I will replace it with the same thing. If it was no longer made....I guess I will have to do some serious investigating to find a unit this good.
2 of 4 people
(50%) found this review helpful. Did you?
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
I have never found the sound of this mixer very pleasing. The mid-range is harsh. Vocals do not sound pleasant and present. Adjusting the EQ helps, but it never completely solves the problem. Also, this mixer is prone to feedback.
Feature:
The effects are lousy...most of the reverbs sound swirly, nothing like good digital reverb. A good built-in digital compressor would help more than the crappy chorus, flanger, and phaser that they included. The phantom power is the pits...it only provides 12mV when 48mV is needed for most phantom-powered microphones. I found this out the hard way, with vocals dropping out, and occasionally back in, for a whole set before going back to a regular microphone.
Quality:
Don't take this thing on the road. This is a good practice mixer. I have mine hooked up for monitoring in my home studio. You could also use it for running a set of stage monitors. Of course, there are other pieces of equipment that will do these two tasks for cheaper.
Value:
Not worth $800, given the nice mixers that are out there, and the availability of inexpensive but decent-sounding power amplifiers.
Manufacturer Support:
No contact with Mackie, just with the dealer I bought it from (on the phantom power issue).
Overall:
I won't own this one any longer than I have to.
Sound:
Not enough power. Good EQ Crisp sound
Feature:
Could use an extra aux out.
Quality:
Well made, dependable
Value:
It seems a bit overpriced.
Manufacturer Support:
Have never had to contact the company.
The Wow Factor:
Looks cool but underpowered
Overall:
I have found that the output of this mixer is low. Just kicking bass or running a drum machine through it sucks all the power out of this thing. 1200 watts? I don't think so. It acts more like 100 watts per channel. If you are looking for a high power portable mixer, look somewhere else.
Overall:
Nope - you blow a fuse with this and you are going home. The fuse is not user replaceable.
We had a gig last Friday night, blew a fuse when we plugged it in and that was it. No PA. Game over...
2 of 4 people
(50%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
The sound's good when it works. At least at the beginning of a gig.
Quality:
Horrible problem with overheating which leads to loss of output and subsequent shutting down during gigs. I can't play ANY room which might remotely run the chance of getting a bit warm during the course of show. Forget about playing outdoors..and I'm talking about in the shade.
Value:
Naw, I've had to make do with, *ahem*, "cheap" (and I don't mean simply inexpensive, either) brands that have FAAAAAAAR out performed this wimp. I wouldn't take another of these as a gift, it's not worth it...I'd rather have the comfort of knowing I'll be able to finish a gig in one piece.
Manufacturer Support:
Support was "ok". Each time I've called I've managed to talk to one kid or another, each of which seems to have been new on the job. Friendly but stammering and fumbling on the line in response to simple questions.
Overall:
I don't like it at all and it's only reliable in the fact that it will progressively overheat in live performances as the gig progresses, with simultaneous loss of strength and ultimate shutting down before the gig's over. A friend and I both rushed out to buy the 808S when it first came out and he's had the same problem as me. A question of Mackie rushing to market with an ill-tested, bug-ridden product? Seems like it. The cooling mechanism's wholly inadequate. Yeah, we both do live in Socal and play here and in NV, and do occasionally play outdoors...in the SHADE...but even the ambient heat in dancehalls and casino lounges, coupled with the task of coping the normal usage, seem to be too much for this system to handle. AAAAnd to make things worse, blow a fuse and need to replace it, forget about doing it yourself..."no user serviceable parts". Besides the hassle of having to try to track down a mackie certified repair person (to change a simple fuse, damn!), and the downtime and cost involved, if a fuse happens to blow during a gig...end of show. In the end, it's pointless to buy a system like the 808s for it's compactness and portability only to have to carry around a redundant back-up system in case the unit shuts itself down or you lose a fuse (yeah, it only happened once...and that was more than enough). In fairness, I'd be curious to know if this is simply a matter of first generation bugs which have been eliminated in latter models, but for what I'm stuck with, I'd never....EVER...had wasted the money on this item if I'd've known the troubles it'd cause me. For the record, I've had much cheaper, and older, Fender and Sun heads that have never given me these sort of problems, regardless of the venue, regardless of the lenghth of a gig.
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