Is my Mackie Mixer fucked? Answers on a postcard.

Recently bought a mackie mixer off a reputable seller on EBAY... about 5 or 6 of the channels either have a low output, with 2 of them being dead, can't hear a thing... (this is using the jack inputs for each channel)... I emailed the seller and he replied with :

"

Hi, I had it set up a certain way that worked fine: I used 1 to 4 as

two stereo monitor channels from the computer using the jack

inputs. I used 11 to 16 as 3 stereo synth inputs using jacks.

Then I used two of the remaining XLR inputs for a mic and my

Line6 POD. The only problems I had were with the POD channel

which would sometimes stop working. But as I'd had similar

problems with the POD in various other studios I assumed it was

the POD outputs rather than the desk. Simply pulling the XLR

jack in and out would restore the connection on the Mackie

desk. If you are having similar problems it sounds like my POD

issue may have been the desk. I reckon it could just be a

question of cleaning the inputs. I did test all the XLRs before

sending and they all seemed fine, but I dont remember if I

tested all the jacks and I never used the inserts. Maybe you are

having problems with the sockets I never used. The desk was in

a smoke free room, but I guess dust can still cause problems. I

would suggest getting the input sockets cleaned with some

appropriate agent. I doubt its anything serious, the desk was

never moved once I bought it so it was never knocked. Anyway

good luck, I'm sure a good clean will do the trick, Dave "

Thanks a bunch Dave.... (Although he does seem like a decent bloke, and has a good rep on ebay)

What does everyone reckon? And how much is this going to cost me to get it cleaned? Jesus, hardware is a headache indeed.. Thanks in advance everyone...

what model?

  BCM said:

what model?

1642 VLZ pro ... I can imagine dust and whatnot being responsible for some kind of attenuation in the signal, but not to the point when there's no signal at all...

  Memorex Meridian said:

  BCM said:

what model?

 

 

1642 VLZ pro ... I can imagine dust and whatnot being responsible for some kind of attenuation in the signal, but not to the point when there's no signal at all...

hmmm, I,m prety crap when it comes to actually fiddling with gear but I would imagine the oposite, dust could cause the tip or ring of a jack from touching one of the connecters resulting in no signal but I don't think it could make the signal quieter, the electricity is either getting through or not and you'll either get full signal or not ( I think).

You don't mention how experienced you are with mixers so forgive me if this is a ridiculous question but are you sure the gains are set as well as the faders? and have you checked that you aren't sending the silent channels to alt3&4/mute? Also, if your mixer has them, I know the larger mackies do, is the mic/line switch set correctly?

sorry if these are all things you looked at straight away! Have you tried the xlr inputs? if they all work but the line's don't then thats an odd one (provided everything is set up correctly) as the mic pre's from the xlr inputs basically follow the same signal path as the line inputs just with the extra stage at the front (I think). So I guess that would be not-too-hard to fix. If the mic pre's don't work/low volume as well then it could be a number of things I guess.

That said, if this guy is legit then it would be very strange for that many channels to go bad in the post, so I would definitely give it a spray and clean up with switch cleaner first before you spend money having someone look at it for you...

Thanks again for a thoughtful answer, you're my new best friend!

So basically, and this seems a bit odd :

Trims are all set to the lowest possible level, I have no alt3+5 swittch on my mixer.. everything seems properly routed... I only have CR-output set to go to my monitors, and Sub Mix 1+2 going to my Computer... That's about as complicated as it gets..

Channels 1, 2, 3 seem fine, but although 2 and 3 are going into my computer at the same level as 1, They're coming out of my monitors with a slight reduction in volume..

4,6,7 are a lower level signal, interestingly enough the trim knob doesn't work for each of these channels too..

5,8, totally dead...

The stereo and FX channels 9 through to 16 are all fine..

So channel 1, and 9-16 are perfect, the rest of the channels all have some kind of problem..

I'm either going at it with some isopronyl alcohol, or taking it to my local electrical repair shop.. weighing it up at the moment because I'm broke as fuck and reduced my hours at work to write tunes... (bit of background story there)

The joys of hardware..

  Memorex Meridian said:

So basically, and this seems a bit odd :

 

Trims are all set to the lowest possible level, I have no alt3+5 swittch on my mixer.. everything seems properly routed... I only have CR-output set to go to my monitors, and Sub Mix 1+2 going to my Computer... That's about as complicated as it gets..

 

Channels 1, 2, 3 seem fine, but although 2 and 3 are going into my computer at the same level as 1, They're coming out of my monitors with a slight reduction in volume..

 

4,6,7 are a lower level signal, interestingly enough the trim knob doesn't work for each of these channels too..

 

5,8, totally dead...

 

The stereo and FX channels 9 through to 16 are all fine..

 

So channel 1, and 9-16 are perfect, the rest of the channels all have some kind of problem..

The Inserts all work fine except for the two channels that are dead, not been able to test the XLRS yet..

 

I'm either going at it with some isopronyl alcohol, or taking it to my local electrical repair shop.. weighing it up at the moment because I'm broke as fuck and reduced my hours at work to write tunes... (bit of background story there)

 

The joys of hardware..

I know the 1604 model is prone to issues due to some flaw with the ribbon cable.. Could be the same with the 1642? Google dat shit.

I bought a Mackie 16 channel preamp a while back with high hopes, but holy god was it ever the least straight forward needlessly complicated set-up ever. I ended up exchanging it for a Yamaha board in the same price range and it's been smooth sailing ever since. I think there's a good chance there's nothing wrong with your board, Mackie's just not particularly user friendly. I do love my Mackie speakers though.