Mackie Onyx

[Iplayinaband]

How are these pres? Are they "boutique," or is that marketing hype?

Any thought?

[flattop100]

Um...when you turn them up, things get louder. They're not Midas or Neve preamps, nor are they Peavey.

[Iplayinaband]

Originally posted by flattop100
Um...when you turn them up, things get louder. They're not Midas or Neve preamps, nor are they Peavey.

So I'm guessing you had a negative experience with the Onyx?

[michaelhoddy]

Probably not. He's just saying that they're fine. They're not crap by any stretch, but neither are people selling their Neve 1073's for Mackies.

[Ted]

As far as "clean" preamps are concerned, they sound very good...not exactly the same as the higher-end ones, but pretty close. They're at that level of quality where you start paying more and more for smaller and smaller improvements in performance, most of which are subjective anyhow.

Most of the "boutique" preamps, though, have very distinct colors to them which is why people purchase them. Technically, sure, these will spec out as well or better, but how they compare isn't really something you can "prove" with specs.

-Ted

[Iplayinaband]

Thanks guys, your wisdom has been appreciated for the last few years.

It seems like a great deal, I wish I could afford a rack of OSA's, API's, or Neves.......but I can't. And there'd probably be no reason for my little home studio anyway.

Thanks a lot again

[flattop100]

He's just saying that they're fine.

Yep. I was being a bit facetious. I've used the 16-channel rackmount in live situations, and honestly, I'd *almost* take it over the same-sized Venice.

Here's why: it does everything a board that size SHOULD do. The functionality is that of a board twice its size. Pre/post fade switches on ALL the auxes, for example. Midas has a bit of goofy routing.

But I said almost. The Venice sounds better.

[musiczebra79]

i use the mackie 800r to record my yamaha drum kit ,i was using a motu 896hd for the task,mackie pres sound great less brittle and they sound smoother on the cymbals to me.mics make a big differance as does the room you are recording in. usally bypassed.

[Frugle]

sorry for the stupid question, but how do they compare to the VLZ pres?

[musiczebra79]

i have not used the vlz pre's sorry