Mackie overdrive

[yentz]

I can confirm that f5 seems to be reallly strong stuff. Cleaned the faders before as good as I could. Sprayed all faders and pots with it and you can feel a huge difference (pots having middle position etc) and there isnt any scratching anymore. The pots were fine but the faders got stiff. After adding f100 the seem to loosen up a bit.
Changing tha fader was veryeasy if you have used a soldering iron before and got one of those sucking pumps it takes abot 5 minutes max. The fader was 12 euro on ebay. Gonna visit the hardware store today for making rack ears. Didnt know that the preampsection can be shifted 90 degrees so the mixer is tki g 7 units in height. Gonna order all cablesat the weekend. Also got a ds301 and some other older gear for very little money. Really looking fwd to have all working togegher

[yentz]

I know this is a very special question but does anyone by any chance know if it is possible to grab the signal of channels 7-16 within the board? There are no surface mounted components and soldering is easy. I would love to have the postfader signals of all channels as direct out.
Also would those need some form of amplification as grabbing the signal somewhere and geeding masterbus as well as a ad converter should result in the signal being less strong or am I wrong with this?

[Críoch]

I know its discussed in the manuals about some rewiring / modifications for different functions. What exactly they are now, I couldn't tell ya!

You could probably do everything that you wanted if you spent the time at it. Would be pretty rewarding to figure it out successfully

[yentz]

If anyone is interested. It is easy to pull the other channels as direct out. A friend of mine had a look through the schematics and said that the original direct outs also are just taken that way.
This would be pulling the signal between r 935 and c912 .
I am not doing it right now, thinking of changing all faders as well and also considering using the xlr in plugs for that as I am not using them. The modification should be quite easy to do. Gonna post an update once done

[psicomagia]

I recently grabbed a really good deal on a CR 1604 but noticed that the right master fader has a much lower output volume in comparison to the left one and it won't reach maximum level when cranked, does anyone have any idea what this could be?

My guesses are probably that it's either dirt inside the faders (however it's not cracking or anything) or the fader is damaged. It's usable but I would definitely like to fix it in a near future.

Other thing I noticed is that the left top side of the mixer gets a little bit hot, is that normal? You can definitely touch it but it's way hotter than I was expecting.

The channel distortion on this mixer in unbelievable good for it's price, it's better than any circuit my analog heat unit has, lol. however I'll be using the AH with CV controls from the modular from now on.

[Ben Kohonays]

So a company called Feedback Modules make cheap little channel strip emulations for eurorack.

There's one of the Mackie CR, one of the Boss KM60 and one of the Boss BX8.

The best thing is, they are great value.

Here's a link to the CR1604 one:

https://www.feedbackmodules.com/product ... 0249754049

And here's a vid so you can hear what they sound like:

youtu.be/wYCLdKO9XkY

[Críoch]

Sounds legit!!

[yentz]

I recently grabbed a really good deal on a CR 1604 but noticed that the right master fader has a much lower output volume in comparison to the left one and it won't reach maximum level when cranked, does anyone have any idea what this could be?

My guesses are probably that it's either dirt inside the faders (however it's not cracking or anything) or the fader is damaged. It's usable but I would definitely like to fix it in a near future.

Other thing I noticed is that the left top side of the mixer gets a little bit hot, is that normal? You can definitely touch it but it's way hotter than I was expecting.

The channel distortion on this mixer in unbelievable good for it's price, it's better than any circuit my analog heat unit has, lol. however I'll be using the AH with CV controls from the modular from now on.

Replacing a fader is easy. I would consider replacing all as it is a bit work to open the desk. I am ordering a set of replacement faders and am going to get myself direct outs for the other channels as well which isn't difficult either. As I dont use the xlr inputs I am going to use them as outputs. A pitty tvey used a ribbon cable as this is very likely to introduce unwanted crosstalk but it seems more easy to connect to the cable than ope ing the back a d solder all xlrs. Will report once done.

[psicomagia]

I recently grabbed a really good deal on a CR 1604 but noticed that the right master fader has a much lower output volume in comparison to the left one and it won't reach maximum level when cranked, does anyone have any idea what this could be?

My guesses are probably that it's either dirt inside the faders (however it's not cracking or anything) or the fader is damaged. It's usable but I would definitely like to fix it in a near future.

Other thing I noticed is that the left top side of the mixer gets a little bit hot, is that normal? You can definitely touch it but it's way hotter than I was expecting.

The channel distortion on this mixer in unbelievable good for it's price, it's better than any circuit my analog heat unit has, lol. however I'll be using the AH with CV controls from the modular from now on.

Replacing a fader is easy. I would consider replacing all as it is a bit work to open the desk. I am ordering a set of replacement faders and am going to get myself direct outs for the other channels as well which isn't difficult either. As I dont use the xlr inputs I am going to use them as outputs. A pitty tvey used a ribbon cable as this is very likely to introduce unwanted crosstalk but it seems more easy to connect to the cable than ope ing the back a d solder all xlrs. Will report once done.

unfortunately in my situation replacing all faders would cost more than the price I paid for the mixer itself. the mixer started to crackle on the left master channel. I'm kinda pissed but I knew I probably would have to repair it as it is really old.

[yentz]

You can get a fader for 10 euro of ebay. There are certainly more flexible mixer and driving it hard sounds more nasty than smooth to me but it is quite flexible in terms what can be connected.

[Críoch]

Aye.. if you have tye skills, 10 is fk all.

I'd recommend using a heated desoldering pump / iron to get rid of what's keeping it into the board.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324106486749

^^^^ I've got something similar to that ^^^^

My attitude, particularly with the 1604, is that it deserves to live to fight another day. I'd fix it or sort it out if I could.

[ekwipt]

Found this one on eBay, I’ve been looking for one similar the last few years after i missed out on another, ran my Machinedrum through it, heaps of fun having an outboard mixer, nose i just have to buy a heap of cables that will probably cost more than the mixer itself!

[Plyphon]

Do you guys reckon this will overdrive the same as a 1604?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mackie-Micro ... SwpZheypT6

Looks to be from a similar era, pre VLZ.

[Críoch]

As far as I know it is. Was looking for one of these , right back at the start.. but couldn't get one.

The smaller ones, like this were not called the CR. They were MS - micro series. I do think that there were VLZ models, but if you can't see VLZ written on it anywhere, it's probably safe to say it's an early 90s non-vlz / CR era 1202.

Rotary pots FTW!

[Ben Kohonays]

Happened across this, seems a reasonable price.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/44896035-mac ... line-mixer

[Críoch]

Looks in great nick!!

Fader caps look nice & white. A good start.

[Jambourgie]

Other thing I noticed is that the left top side of the mixer gets a little bit hot, is that normal? You can definitely touch it but it's way hotter than I was expecting.

I have a 1604. and yes it's normal. It even mentions it in the manual. The case is basically used as a heatsink. I have a DJ mixer that is hot too. Nice for those cold days in the studio

Btw, the manual for the 1604 is great, full of humour and easy to follow. Is this a Mackie thing? I've never owned anything else by them so I don't know.

[Belka]

Dont know if it was mentioned in this Thread, but the Mackity Plugin by Airwindows became one of my absolute favourite Plugins. If someone stays ITB only!

youtu.be/aYWk80NvdpU

[Críoch]

The mackity is very nice! Used it a few times on Reese bass type sounds for resampling. Must use it more.

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I have a 1202VLZ on the way to use as a sub mixer for my Analog Rytm. VERY VERY interested to hear what the distortion is like. I was going to grab a MS1202.. Might still.. to compare.. but the spec of the 1202vlz seems more useful.

[orchard]

Is it wrong to say that the air windows bloke makes me feel a bit uncomfortable? I'm sure he's a very nice man