Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Well, I bought a Mackie 1202.  I just got it so haven't tried it out
    yet.  I have a few informal Xmas "gigs" over the next few days so I'll 
    give it a workout and post my "review" here . . .
    
    Paid $299 at "Anything Audio" in Boston, Mass.  I did my deal through a
    guy named Rob there, in case anyone calls 'em ...
    
    Jim

I also recently purchased a Mackie 1202, although I paid $350 for
mine (sigh!).  So far I'm very impressed.  I would highly recommend
it for a 4-track studio on a low budget.

Partial List of Features:

    o	4 channels with discrete mic preamps and phantom power
    o	4 stereo channels (line level only)
    o	2 band EQ per channel (80Hz and 1200Hz)
    o	2 aux sends
    o	2 stereo aux returns.
    o	Channel inserts/direct outs on channels 1-4
    o	Metal case, internal power supply (no wall bug)

My comments:

    This baby is *clean*.  I can detect no mixer-generated noise
whatsoever.  The mic preamps have gobs of headroom.  The meters
(leds) are accurate, although a little inflexible.  I'm getting
much better recordings on my junky 4-track by using the meters on
the mixer to set the levels.

    What happens if you use just one side of the 4 "stereo" channels on the
    1202?  Can you still pan the signal as you want, or is it prepanned for
    you?
    
    The 1202 looks like a lot of mixer for the money, I might be interested
    in one for my dinky home recording setup.  Does anyone have any
    negative comments about it?
    
    Thanks,
    Greg

    I like mine alot.  Yes, it seems VERY clean.  The impression I get is
    that the quality of the unit is excellent.  The area where the power
    (AC) comes in does get kinda warm (hot!) ... if everything they say in
    the owner's manual is true, they want to a lot of trouble to get very
    high quality/reliability in this mixer.  Even the headphone output is
    supposed to be the same high-quality signal so that you can use it as a
    separate OUT for driving other systems.
    
    (BTW the hi EQ is at 12,000 Hz)
    
    One thing I noticed: I'm using it for live sound (keyboards), and I
    know i'm supposed to turn of the power amp first, BUT if I don't and
    I turn of the Mackie first, I get a LOUD POP!  I believe this is much
    worse than other mixers I've used ... I'm gonna call Mackie (they have
    an 800 number for support) to ask/talk about this minor glitch . . .
    
    What I like about it is the small size!  I just added two more
    sawn-off U.S.S. support arms and mounted the 1202 right above my
    keyboards.
    			Jim

re: .3

>    What happens if you use just one side of the 4 "stereo" channels on the
>    1202?  Can you still pan the signal as you want, or is it prepanned for
>    you?
    
If you just plug into the left input jack for the stereo channels, then the
pan works like a pan.  In fact, the left inputs are labelled "left/mono".

>    The 1202 looks like a lot of mixer for the money, I might be interested
>    in one for my dinky home recording setup.  Does anyone have any
>    negative comments about it?
    
Well, the metering setup isn't all that flexible, although it's a lot
more suitable for small studio use than for live use.  There aren't any
solo buttons for using the meters to set trim levels, and there
aren't overload LEDs on the individual channels.  You have to make
sure to only have one channel playing at a time when setting the trims.
Again, this isn't bad for my setup (small studio), since it isn't
particularly a problem for me to set the levels individually (in fact,
I'm usually only recording one track at a time anyway).  For live use,
though, it would be difficult to detect overloads in a particular
channel if other channels were also in use (and if they weren't, then
you didn't need a mixer :-).

    Thanks Hal, good input.  I'd miss the "clip" LEDs, but could probably
    survive without them for now (the mixer I'm using now doesn't have
    those either).  It is kind of a pain.  Even though you can't solo the
    channels, can the meter be used to indicate clipping on an individual
    channel (if that's the only one in use).  My current mixer doesn't seem
    to show this on it's meter.
    
    Does the 1604 have the LEDs to indicate clipping on each channel?
    
    Greg

    The Mackies use what they call "unity gain" design.  Each slider has a
    "unity" setting (i.e. gain=1).  So turn off all channels except the one
    you want to "solo", set that channel's slider to "unity", set the
    submaster slider to "unity" and then the LEDs will directly reflect the
    signal level coming out of the gain trim stage.  On the 1604 this is
    easier because that board *does* have soloing.
    
    							Brian

What is the physical size of this unit ?  Is it rack-mountable ?
How many spaces ?  How deep?

Also, the specs said two aux sends and two stereo aux returns.

Are the sends stereo ?  i.e.  Would you have to use both sends to
send a stereo signal to a reverb ?  

    The unit is about 10" by 14" by 2".  It's not rack mountable as the
    1604 is (way too narrow for one thing!).
    
    The sends are mono, returns are stereo.
    
    							Brian

How do you (mackie 1202 users) use the sends in conjunction
with your reverb ?


Also, how much is the 1604 going for ?

    Re: .10
    
    If you're worried about the mono sends, most reverbs either have mono
    inputs or collapse the stereo signal to mono before generating the
    verb.  Just set up the reverb unit for 100% wet (i.e. none of the inpout
    appears at the output) then patch back into the 1202 through one of the
    aux returns.
    
    						Brian

>Also, how much is the 1604 going for ?

I paid $850 for mine at Sam Ash...New York.

Kris..