VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[GHull]

Happy Holidays to everyone. Has anyone in VO-BB Land had the chance to A/B/C the various "later production" Mackie mixer pres -- namely, in the order of their introduction, the XDR, the Onyx, and the XDR2 -- to determine if there is any significant sound quality improvement -- to the degree that I need to upgrade from my currently-used XDR to the Onyx or the XDR2? You have to buy a fairly large chunk of mixer real estate to get your hands on an Onyx -- but an XDR2 can be had via the tiny little 402 mixer for less than a hundred bucks.

[Tom Test]

I used to have a 1202 with (I believe) the original XRD preamps. I'm currently using the Onyx 1220 and think the preamps sound much better than on my old 1202. I have not had a chance to listen to the newer XRD2, so I can't comment on them.

Forums like Gearslutz have many posts praising the Onyx preamps. I think I can safely say that you'd have to spend over $5-600 to find a preamp that sounds audibly better. IMHO, the Onyx is a significant upgrade over the XRD.

I know first hand what you mean about the footprint, though. It's a problem for me. I just got a 2nd had Soundcraft Compact 4 mixer that is much smaller and has pretty good preamps too. Once I upgrade to something like a Speck 5.0 to compliment my ART MPA Gold with NOS Mullard tube, I'll likely sell the Mackie 1220 and use the Soundcraft for headphone monitoring, phone patch, etc.
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Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[GHull]

Hey, Tom ... and thanks for the comments. I've read that the Onyx pres are "much more musical" -- and I am fortunate enough to have not only the XDRs in my 1202 VLZ Pro ... but also access to a gray Symetrix 528, blue 528E, 601 digital -- and the pres in a Digi 001 to pick from. So I have a few "flavors" from which to pick. From what I've read, the differences between the original XDR and XDR2 in the "nuance" category -- but there is a great deal of difference between the XDR and Onyx. I just wish Mackie would consider putting a pair of Onyx's in a simple, small package -- like the 402 VLZ3.

[Tom Test]

Are you aware that you can get those Onyx premps in the Satellite for under $200 - with Firewire?! However, these preamps in teh Satellite do not have as much output for some reason. You'd be fine using them for condensor mics with phantom power, but it might not have enough juice for a dynamic that needs lots of gain. But otherwise, I think the Onyx preamps in the Satellite sound as good as the ones in my 1220. Check them out at Musician's Friend or Zzounds.
_________________
Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[Lance Blair]

Hey Tom,
Have you tried different types of tubes in each channel of the ART MPA Gold?
I really like my new production Tung-Sol for "bright and punchy" and now I'm getting a Siemens und Halske Valvo ECC83 for a more 'Mullardy' sound (only $40 and looks like it's in amazing shape and specs)!

BTW, Siemens Valvo NOS that were made in Hamburg (D marking) ARE Telefunkens and sound different from the Siemens und Halske Valvo...look out for them, Telefunken for half the price!
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Yoda117]