Mackie Freeplay?

[cotten]

I just saw an announcement for the Mackie Freeplay, the "ALL-NEW, ULTRA-POWERFUL, INSANELY PORTABLE PERSONAL PA." It looks like a versatile little 11 lb., 300W, battery powered, "4-channel" unit. Anybody had a chance to try one? Your thoughts? http://freeplay.mackie.com/

cotten

[Random1643]

My experiences with Mackie products over the years has them on my Life's Too Short list. But that's a cool concept. 11 lbs!

[MikeBmusic]

Silly to 'save money' by making control knobs have mulitple functions - yet leaving hte 3-band EQ only accessible by bluetooth app. At $400, is it better than the other battery-powered options?

[J Patrick]

....ugly...looks like a boom box.....deal breaker for me...

[philjs]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

Silly to 'save money' by making control knobs have mulitple functions - yet leaving the 3-band EQ only accessible by bluetooth app.

And to make the app ONLY for iPhone or iPod without including iPad (which most musicians make use of anyway). And I agree with J Pat...it's just plain ugly!

Phil

[cotten]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

Silly to 'save money' by making control knobs have mulitple functions - yet leaving hte 3-band EQ only accessible by bluetooth app. At $400, is it better than the other battery-powered options?

This was my impression, too. There are better, less expensive, more flexible alternatives available, though I confess I'd like to try one for myself, just to see. If it were one quarter the price, I might put up with the quirks.

cotten

[SimplyLuo]

Originally Posted by cotten

This was my impression, too. There are better, less expensive, more flexible alternatives available, though I confess I'd like to try one for myself, just to see. If it were one quarter the price, I might put up with the quirks.

cotten

What are these alternatives? I've been debating getting the Freeplay.

[dannyg1]

The competition that I think is being referred to would be the Roland Cube Street EX, AC-33 and KC110. From Fender is the Passport Mini. Far, far more expensive is the AER Compact Mobile.
From history, the Crate Limo and the Crate Taxi. The Fender Amp Can.

On the PA side there are a few options from Samson, A portable battery powered box from Alesis that seems to get the best reviews and a discontinued box from Klein&Hummel that was far more expensive than the Freeplay.

Last is the upcoming Carvin Stagemate 600, which will weigh around 37lbs, is much bigger and far more expensive as well. If you were to ask, I'd say that the Freeplay's only real current competition is the Roland Cube Street EX and if it sounds better than that, can get to competitive volumes or better, then it's a winning product.

[dannyg1]

By the way Jon, I've just put together a battery powered system that I'm having some success with that has it's own thread:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=393522

Total weight for this is around 36 lbs and it's not a terrible chore to carry but I'd limit it's pedestrian mobility to a Fifth of a mile or less. The Freeplay will be far easier to carry around and to set up and use quickly.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by cotten

I just saw an announcement for the Mackie Freeplay, the "ALL-NEW, ULTRA-POWERFUL, INSANELY PORTABLE PERSONAL PA." It looks like a versatile little 11 lb., 300W, battery powered, "4-channel" unit. Anybody had a chance to try one? Your thoughts? http://freeplay.mackie.com/

cotten

Hi John…

The encouraging thing to me is the 8" woofer and high frequency driver. That's the same combo in the UltraSound acoustic amps which makes them work so well with vocals and guitars over all the cabinets with 4.5-6.5" speakers (I cannot call them woofers).

It's the size of the speaker and the high frequency driver which puts it over the top as a choice when it comes to using small amps as voice and acoustic amps.

I have a two channel (which is what the Freeplay really is) single 8" plus high frequency driver model which sounds awesome as a mini-PA acoustic amp. It's not battery powered though.

I'm going to look for one of these to show up at a guitar store or gig and give it a serious listen.

[dannyg1]

There're a whole world of cheaper PA side options that are worth knowing about, at the very least:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-a...#productDetail