Powered Mixer to replace mackie 808s

[markcrawford]

I have two mackie 10" passive speakers. I have been running my Mackie 808s for years. It is probably going to die. I went with the 10s (have 15's and 12's before) because of the light weight, and also because I play solo acoustic gigs only. I have a Mackie Go Thump 8' for a powered monitor if I am not using my in-ears. That leaves all the power from the mixer going to those two mains. Believe it or not, it sounds **** good for the gigs I do. I have done outside gigs covering 200 peeps that my sound covered.

Anyway, I do like having at least 6 channels in case one goes bad or I have someone come and sit in on vocals or guitar. I read all the talk about having powered speakers with a non-powered mixer is the way to go, however, that is not the way for me.

Is there a newer powered mixer out there that sounds good with this setup and is lighter than my Mackie? I could actually use my voice harmonize to send effects like reverb, gets... But I would like the option of some onboard verb. Holler if you know. Mark

[shufflebeat]

The Dynacord Powermate series gets a lot of love from the people who like that kind of thing (including me) but the Mackie 808s is a fine box of about the same vintage, I used one for years and while there are many imitators but the M is original and best.

It was made at a time when things were fix-able so get thee to an electronics engineer and give it a good servicing. It’s a bit heavy but why pay for gym membership when you can lug a big copper toroidal transformer round for half an hour a night.

Don’t worry about the active/passive question, your audience doesn’t know or care.

[markcrawford]

Thanks. So interesting that many on internet forums complain about the Mackie breaking down. I have owned two...both lasted me over 10 years. I think the phantom power on the one I have now is out. I moved to an Audix OM3 dynamic and no worries there. I was interested in possibly looking at something a little lighter. That thing is heavy...and I am weaker by the day lol. Thanks for the information. Mark

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by markcrawford

I have two mackie 10" passive speakers. I have been running my Mackie 808s for years. It is probably going to die. I went with the 10s (have 15's and 12's before) because of the light weight, and also because I play solo acoustic gigs only. I have a Mackie Go Thump 8' for a powered monitor if I am not using my in-ears. That leaves all the power from the mixer going to those two mains. Believe it or not, it sounds **** good for the gigs I do. I have done outside gigs covering 200 peeps that my sound covered.

Anyway, I do like having at least 6 channels in case one goes bad or I have someone come and sit in on vocals or guitar. I read all the talk about having powered speakers with a non-powered mixer is the way to go, however, that is not the way for me.

Is there a newer powered mixer out there that sounds good with this setup and is lighter than my Mackie? I could actually use my voice harmonize to send effects like reverb, gets... But I would like the option of some onboard verb. Holler if you know. Mark

That depends on the weight of the Mackie. I have a friend that has a Yamaha EMX5 powered mixer, and there's also a 6 channel Peavey option, but they both clock in at 20 pounds.

Sweetwater also has the 5 channel Behringer powered mixer, weighing a mere 10 pounds and available very inexpensively.

The reason the powered speakers are so popular is because it's easy and less expensive for manufacturers to include the extremely light weight class D power amp with their speaker enclosures.

[markcrawford]

Does anyone have any experience with the others above? I have found that more power = more headroom = better sound.

[JStotes]

Have you looked into the Mackie PPM series?

[markcrawford]

Is the PPM series just a new version of what I have? I don't know much about them.

[JStotes]

i believe so. Yamaha also makes a good powered mixer.

[jseth]

You might want to consider going "all the way back", and getting a separate power amplifier - then you could use whatever mixer fits for you without the concern of finding one with a power amp as well as all the features you want.

I know that, when I sold off my older gear (which was all in great shape), I didn't get $150 for my Crown Power Base II in an Anvil flight/road case... I'm pretty sure you could buy a really nice amp for less than $200 with all the power you'd need.

[Br1ck]

Weight and complexity are not something people are looking for these days. The old power amps need a permanent home in a bar or club.

Powered mixers are few and far between these days as powered speakers dominate. Yamaha generally builds good gear.