NAD: Mackie ShowBox: Final thoughts - keeping it!

[wweiss]

Interested in headroom after red clip light with Mackie? With my Everse 8 I have never heard any distortion even after limit light flashing! Sound stays clean at max volume! Opposite experience with Mackie Thump Go, which sounds harsh at limit. I believe I read EV tech support has stated, you safely have another 3dB headroom after limit light.

[Groberts]

After following some of the early adopter reports in this thread, I am more interested in checking out a Mackie Showbox to use in place of my Bose S1 Pro Plus. So far the Bose has acquitted itself as long as I don't have unrealistic expectations for what it can deliver. Mostly small quiet venues or I use it as a stage monitor.

I've been running an odd pairing of a Fishman Loudbox Artist with the DI out feeding the Bose S1 Pro. The Fishman Artist has been great but there are times when my attack pushes the Bose S1 Pro Plus beyond its clean headroom threshold. When it clips, its clipped sound is not pleasant and it's fairly obvious it can only push so much air. Surprising what it puts out considering its size.

All that to say it occurs to me I could potentially use just the Mackie Showbox in some of these venues.

Does it sound different on the ground, angled in its monitor configuration versus Standing vertically? In most venues I am not apt to bring a tripod stand.

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

How do you feel the volume of the ShowBox compares to the Everse 8?

Volume is Very comparable!
Slight edge to the Mackie.

The Mackie has individual adjustment for both Gain and Volume (Channel 1-4). Plus a Master volume.

This is helpful to tweak to get every bit of clear volume necessary.
Even at lower levels it is "punchy".

I have not gigged it yet.. So this is just in home studio.

I like the auto-gain function. But you can also tap the channel knob to manually adjust gain.

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by Groberts

After following some of the early adopter reports in this thread, I am more interested in checking out a Mackie Showbox to use in place of my Bose S1 Pro Plus. So far the Bose has acquitted itself as long as I don't have unrealistic expectations for what it can deliver. Mostly small quiet venues or I use it as a stage monitor.

Does it sound different on the ground, angled in its monitor configuration versus Standing vertically? In most venues I am not apt to bring a tripod stand.

So far while testing in my home studio (600 sq ft room) it sounds best when on floor in "wedge" position or on a chair (Showbox upright ).
To me it lost it's warmth and bottom end on the pole.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Incidentally, the looper works and has good mixer controls. I, on the other hand, suck at looping. I think the one button makes it a little harder for the inexperienced. I’m an old fashioned singer/songwriter.

Lol - same here! But I just started working on it again for the ... fourth time? I can't remember. I had just purchased a Pigtronix looper right before the Mackie and it works slick so IF (and it's a BIG if) I actually get to a place where I'm good enough to work it into shows, it would have been great if the ShowBox had two-button looper functionality. I actually reached out to Mackie about this to see if it's something that could be addressed in a future firmware update and got a reply that they would kick the issue upstairs to the appropriate people. Nothing since then.

Originally Posted by wweiss

Interested in headroom after red clip light with Mackie? With my Everse 8 I have never heard any distortion even after limit light flashing! Sound stays clean at max volume! Opposite experience with Mackie Thump Go, which sounds harsh at limit. I believe I read EV tech support has stated, you safely have another 3dB headroom after limit light.

This was our experience yesterday when we finally pushed the ShowBox to 'gig volume' - harsh clipping sound when the red light flashes. It caused me to need to reduce the individual gains to make sure there was NO red flashing. I was able to increase the individual volumes to get the overall volumes back up there. But I do think this is a limitation about the ShowBox and apparently the Mackie products overall based on wweiss's experience with Thump Go. So edge to the Everse 8 on that one. (Note that I have no direct experience with the Everse 8 - just going on other's experiences.) I'll be paying very close attention to today's practice for this issue.

Originally Posted by Groberts

After following some of the early adopter reports in this thread, I am more interested in checking out a Mackie Showbox to use in place of my Bose S1 Pro Plus. So far the Bose has acquitted itself as long as I don't have unrealistic expectations for what it can deliver. Mostly small quiet venues or I use it as a stage monitor.

I've been running an odd pairing of a Fishman Loudbox Artist with the DI out feeding the Bose S1 Pro. The Fishman Artist has been great but there are times when my attack pushes the Bose S1 Pro Plus beyond its clean headroom threshold. When it clips, its clipped sound is not pleasant and it's fairly obvious it can only push so much air. Surprising what it puts out considering its size.

All that to say it occurs to me I could potentially use just the Mackie Showbox in some of these venues.

Does it sound different on the ground, angled in its monitor configuration versus Standing vertically? In most venues I am not apt to bring a tripod stand.

Agree with most of the above. My experiences were the same with Bose S1 Pro although the clipping on that unit was more of the woofer 'farting' out whereas on the Mackie it's the tweeter that crackles and sounds terrible. I think to a certain degree we must remember that these are relatively small speakers and you can only get so much volume out of them. As for positional changes in sound, not much. You do lose a little low end when on the pole.

Originally Posted by JakeStone

So far while testing in my home studio (600 sq ft room) it sounds best when on floor in "wedge" position or on a chair (Showbox upright ).
To me it lost it's warmth and bottom end on the pole.

This was my initial experience as well but after getting everything dialed in to my liking I found that any position was good sounding. On the floor you get more low end which is consistent with my experience with any of these speakers. You do lose some low end on a pole but then you get the high end throws farther so there is that trade off. Tomorrow's show will likely either be on a short pole or on the floor in an upright position. It's one of our more difficult places to play due to a cramped space for us and nearby people sitting close to where I have to put the amp.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Groberts

Can you leave the mixer attached to the speaker for set-it and forget it operation? I've found once I get my sound and levels dialed in, I don't need to touch them further. So I just don't need to mount a mixer on my mic stand.

^^^ this. Once I set levels at the beginning, I rarely touch anything. The attraction here is having actual knobs for a quicker experience. I do have level adjustability on my pedal board (either the ParaEQ and/or the Diamond Comp) so I can tweak there without having to touch the amp as well. Just depends how you roll.

So far this seems to be living up to expectations (at least mine ) - decent (good?) sound, marginal (crappy? passable?) effects, good mixer functionality and it will run on battery long enough for a gig.

[JakeStone]

Originally Posted by Groberts

All that to say it occurs to me I could potentially use just the Mackie Showbox in some of these venues.

After a week demoing it ..
I am thoroughly impressed with the SBox.

I can't wait to try it live in a couple weeks at a small bar I play at regularly.

I think you will be impressed as well..
Plus worst case you test it and send it back and lose a few bucks shipping.

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

After a week demoing it ..
I am thoroughly impressed with the SBox.

I can't wait to try it live in a couple weeks at a small bar I play at regularly.

I think you will be impressed as well..
Plus worst case you test it and send it back and lose a few bucks shipping.

Thanks Jake, I’ll probably order one on Monday. I have a solo show Thursday.

[JakeStone]

Been playing around with the effects,
Thought I'd share some information.
Here are the effects available on the ShowBox.



From the manual:
The effects on FX1 are in series (i.e. inline effects).
This means that channels 1-4 can each have a different effect
without sharing... (unless you want to)!

The following helps us remember the differences, and perhaps it will help
you, as well:
FX1 = Series = Separated
FX2 = Parallel = Paired

Keep in mind that the FX level may be set differently for all four channels.
-------------

The effects on FX2 are in parallel (i.e. time-based effects).
This means that shared channels also share effects.
The shared channels in this case are
the XLR inputs (channels 1 + 3)
and the 1/4" instrument inputs (channels 2 + 4).

Unfortunately, ShowBox does not have the processing power to allow FX2
to be run in series due to the memory-hogging effects available on FX2.

Keep in mind that the FX level may be set differently for all
four channels.

[Methos1979]

As we prepare for today's gig (at a favorite assisted living/memory care facility) I played around quite a bit with the bag. Even at just 21 pounds the amp is a bit of a bear to carry, at least for this old guy. (Kinda makes me chuckle when I think of the Fender Bassman 4x10 I used to schlep around at 55 pounds!) Part of the issue is the overall size of the amp/bag being so much bigger than say the Bose S1 Pro or Everse 8 but a lot is also the bag itself. The handle positions are such that when you pick it up by the top handle the whole unit hangs at an angle because the handle is on one side and not centered like most amp cases I've encountered. The side handle is about the same although it does hang a bit better. There are two handy little dual side straps for attaching a stand of some type. Unfortunately, the straps don't stay tight and easily loosen up. There is also a second, large side pocket but in all honesty this case with amp is about as heavy as I'd want to have it with the pockets empty.

Transporting this manually (carrying without a cart) would be too much for me to cover any significant distance comfortably so I will be using the dolly cart we have for the EV30M. This begs the question that I've raised before in other, similar reviews, if I need to use the cart to transport the system then what is the benefit over just using the EV30M? The honest answer is, 'Not much'. Sure, there's the battery power when needed (rarely) and the mixer is very cool. But what am I really saving here? The Stagepas 200BRT although about 7-8 pounds heavier is also significantly smaller than the ShowBox and its case is much better designed with centering handles and an excellent, rolling case with extension handle like a suitcase. So at least that system can be moved without a cart. All that said we are still using the ShowBox for today's show and I'll comment more on that after the deed is done. In the meantime, I'll post a few photos showing more of the case and what I'm talking about with regard to that.

[Methos1979]

Photos of the case







Note how the lower strap does not stay tight:

[Methos1979]

And more photos showing how the bag 'hangs' on the body using the various carrying handles/straps (for reference, I'm 5' 8" or 172 cm in height):

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

As we prepare for today's gig (at a favorite assisted living/memory care facility) I played around quite a bit with the bag. Even at just 21 pounds the amp is a bit of a bear to carry, at least for this old guy. (Kinda makes me chuckle when I think of the Fender Bassman 4x10 I used to schlep around at 55 pounds!) Part of the issue is the overall size of the amp/bag being so much bigger than say the Bose S1 Pro or Everse 8 but a lot is also the bag itself. The handle positions are such that when you pick it up by the top handle the whole unit hangs at an angle because the handle is on one side and not centered like most amp cases I've encountered. The side handle is about the same although it does hang a bit better. There are two handy little dual side straps for attaching a stand of some type. Unfortunately, the straps don't stay tight and easily loosen up. There is also a second, large side pocket but in all honesty this case with amp is about as heavy as I'd want to have it with the pockets empty.

Transporting this manually (carrying without a cart) would be too much for me to cover any significant distance comfortably so I will be using the dolly cart we have for the EV30M. This begs the question that I've raised before in other, similar reviews, if I need to use the cart to transport the system then what is the benefit over just using the EV30M? The honest answer is, 'Not much'. Sure, there's the battery power when needed (rarely) and the mixer is very cool. But what am I really saving here? The Stagepas 200BRT although about 7-8 pounds heavier is also significantly smaller than the ShowBox and its case is much better designed with centering handles and an excellent, rolling case with extension handle like a suitcase. So at least that system can be moved without a cart. All that said we are still using the ShowBox for today's show and I'll comment more on that after the deed is done. In the meantime, I'll post a few photos showing more of the case and what I'm talking about with regard to that.

as another point of reference, the Henriksen Bud 10 comes with a gig bag - includes a zip front pocket and two top handle straps with a padded velcro handle. All of my cables and mic fit in the front pocket, my iPad slips inside along with laminated song lists. I have yet to use a cart for any solo gigs with this amp as it is under 25lb loaded and balances well. (the 30M needs a cart).

[RogerPease]

Seems like the Mackie bag is mostly designed to be used as a backpack.
The loop at the top of the backpack straps is a hoisting loop to raise the thing to your shoulder, not really a carry handle.
The one handle on the side is just silly. Why didn’t they add a second handle on the other side of the pocket?
Perhaps one could arrrange a strap on second handle to balance the load.

There are several easy things to do to stop the stand straps from slipping.
You can pull it tight and then loop the loose end back through the front hole, closest to the the other half of the strap.
You could also add a figure 8 slider behind the buckle on the slipping side.
There are other things could be done, too, like tying the loose end in a knot.

Not that any of this makes up for the deficiencies as delivered.
It would be nice if you could use the speaker while it is still in its case.

_RP

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by nostatic

as another point of reference, the Henriksen Bud 10 comes with a gig bag - includes a zip front pocket and two top handle straps with a padded velcro handle. All of my cables and mic fit in the front pocket, my iPad slips inside along with laminated song lists. I have yet to use a cart for any solo gigs with this amp as it is under 25lb loaded and balances well. (the 30M needs a cart).

Yes, these straps (pictured above) is what I'm used to seeing on almost every case I own that is designed to be picked up. This is what the side handle should have - a second one designed to join with the first to make for a better load distribution.

Originally Posted by RogerPease

Seems like the Mackie bag is mostly designed to be used as a backpack.
The loop at the top of the backpack straps is a hoisting loop to raise the thing to your shoulder, not really a carry handle.
The one handle on the side is just silly. Why didn’t they add a second handle on the other side of the pocket?
Perhaps one could arrrange a strap on second handle to balance the load.

There are several easy things to do to stop the stand straps from slipping.
You can pull it tight and then loop the loose end back through the front hole, closest to the the other half of the strap.
You could also add a figure 8 slider behind the buckle on the slipping side.
There are other things could be done, too, like tying the loose end in a knot.

Not that any of this makes up for the deficiencies as delivered.
It would be nice if you could use the speaker while it is still in its case.

_RP

Agree with this (in bold) - that top handle is designed as a hoist point for getting the bag on your shoulder for backpack carry. Good tips on ways to keep the stand straps from loosening up. This is in fact what I did today.