That Behringer vs Mackie debate (again)

[Steevp]

Well, after 7 years of service my Behringer 2442 Eurodesk finally got too flakey to live with.. (One channel strip out, main VU meters sometimes all on.. durr) it's been back to Germnay twice so far and I figured time has come to replace it, but what with?? there aren't that many 24 channel analog desks around these days for the kind of money I can afford.

So, I took the plunge, I said goodbye to 8 channels (Figuring inserts would do and doubled my financial outlay to get a Mackie 1604VLZ Pro.

Every time I've seen a "Behringer are rubbish" thread here I've covered my ears, patted old Euro on the fader & muttered "they're just snobs.. we'll do fine you & I.."

Ooops.. I *can* hear the difference! previously I always had to add a touch of 12k and a dab of 1 - 2k to get what I considered a "flat" sound from most things.. and now? er.. well "flat" means "flat" shock horror! .. I even found myself backing off some top today, unheard of!

So, the end result, ..I wish I'd bought a Mackie 7 years ago when I couldn't afford one and there's a still working but flakey Eurodesk heading for the trash. (or going free to anyone in the Cambridge UK area, but after this review.. who'd want it?)

-S.
-happy shopper..

[pk_hat]

Yup, better late then never. I got a Behringer MX2004 a while back and now 2 faders are out, not to mention it's pretty noisy. I'll either be going digital later this year or get a Mackie 1604 as well. It's one thing that Behringer rips off anothrer company's schematics, I actually couldn't care less about that, but the reality is, they manufacture utter garbage. It's not always apparent when you first get their gear, but give it time, it will speak for itself. Never buying Behringer again. If it was ever offered to me, I'd smile, say thank you and give it to the Salvation Army.

[Brad Ferguson]

I've got a Behringer Eurorack 2642.

Frankly, I can't wait until it's replaced.

It's done a lot of good work for me though. Lots of live shows, lots of recordings. It doesn't really owe me anything..
The reason why I bought it is because the price was right at the time.

I wouldn't go for a mackie though, no matter what my situation may be. I've just had a couple of bad experiences on them (although one that i've worked on had about 3 beers poured on it, and every channel strip worked fine.. the pots were a little sticky, but hey, that's to be expected.) I find Mackies awkward to work with.

The next mixer I'm getting is going to be a Yamaha 01v.

My second choice? - Allen & Heath 16 channel Mixwizard.

[dans]

I bought a 1604VLZ-Pro 3 years ago. The first one had distortion in two busses (1&2 I think) and I returned it for a new one from the store. That one developed the same distortion also in two busses (3&4 that time). Mackie was nice enough to do an advaced exchange for me, providing me with a new board even though it was about 60 days after I bought it. This third mixer developed the same type of distortion on input channels 3&4. Again Mackie was very cool and did another advanced exchange for a new one, despite it being now about 6-9 months after purchase. The fourth unit worked great for two years until recently when the headphone amp went bad. Now I'm about to bring it to the shop for a warranty repair which will take at least 2 weeks. Bummer.

I can't say this is normal, but it's a true story. I do also have a 1402VLZ-Pro and a pair of HR824s that have worked great for years. And the support from Mackie has always been excellent. When they work, Mackie gear sounds excellent. I honestly think I've been unlucky with the 1604 and would buy from them again. Maybe I'm crazy?

[Rob1797]

well its still made with cheap ****** components isnt it?

personally yamaha O2R for digital and A&H Mixwizard or GL3300 for analogue is my first preference.

[aziel]

...or GL3300 for analogue is my first preference

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I´m almost up to borrow an A&H3300 for the traking of the drums for a personal work, do you think is good enough? i really like the A&H sound... [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[pk_hat]

The thing with Behringer is that with each new ad/product, they make things look even more appealing, that digital mixer Lalaman mentions is no exception but again, I wouldn't want that thing. More lights, more features, same bad components, it just looks like an accident waiting to happen.

The way I see it is if Behringer can't even make a good analog board, then there's no way I would trust that digital piece of crap, I don't care what Future Music had to say about it (and that's one of my favorite magazines at that).

I don't like to bash that hard and I used to be a bit defensive about B when I first got my mixer, but now I know....it's all crap.

[Lalaman]

Just for interest. Would you guys think this new console from Behringer would be that bad either.
( I know, it´s hard to look into the future ...)

View Specs


Lalaman

[Bloux]

Lalaman,

Did you see this one?

8 pre's with 8 channels of A/D and D/A with ADAT

[Lalaman]

Hi Bloux,

Looks nice for sure. If you are interested in buying it check if you can find out the name of its converters. If you afterwards couldn´t find out about their range maybe I can ask someone very skilled how he considers them to be. But as I know you, you will have a chance to compare it to other converters side by side anyway.

I can imagine that Behringer could be changing things on the production quality in order to recover their name with the new products. ( Anybody remember their image a while ago? It was like "Hey it´s a Behringer [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] " )
But lets see what users will be saying in a year or two ...

Lalaman