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  #16  
Old 06-02-2018, 11:47 AM
Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon is offline
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Default FreePlay Weight

Quote:
Originally Posted by wood nacho View Post
150W at 8lbs? What sort of magic is that?

I'm happy with my Carvin S600b. Will be curious to hear some 'reviews from the field' for the new Mackie.
Q-Vo Nacho :

¿ What do they cost , can't find it on the Carvin site ? I'm checking out your S600B - looks great .

The weight of older FreePlay is 15Lbs. Not counting battery weight . This I know because I have one . Yes they sound awesome too .

I'm thinking one with a Carvin S600B is the answer for a light weight system that an cut it anywhere .

Cavin is a great audio source I have a X-60B tube amp , it's over 20 years old and still pumps great tube sound .

EZ :

HR

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It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed ,
then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding
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  #17  
Old 06-02-2018, 12:18 PM
wood nacho wood nacho is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hurricane Ramon View Post
Q-Vo Nacho :

¿ What do they cost , can't find it on the Carvin site ? I'm checking out your S600B - looks great .

The weight of older FreePlay is 15Lbs. Not counting battery weight . This I know because I have one . Yes they sound awesome too .

I'm thinking one with a Carvin S600B is the answer for a light weight system that an cut it anywhere .

Cavin is a great audio source I have a X-60B tube amp , it's over 20 years old and still pumps great tube sound .

EZ :

HR

Unfortunately, they no longer sell the Carvin s600b. I picked up one of the last ones when they were clearing them out on ebay. I believe they have sold all of the remaining units. The only option would be to find one used.
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Last edited by wood nacho; 06-03-2018 at 03:00 PM.
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  #18  
Old 06-03-2018, 01:23 PM
Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon is offline
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Cool Portable Battery Powered P.A. & Subwoofers

Quote:
Originally Posted by wood nacho View Post
Unfortunately, they no longer sell the Carvin s600b. I pickup up one of the last ones when they were clearing them out on ebay. I believe they have sold all of the remaining units. The only option would be to find one used.
Thank for the info . I probably will get a second Mackie FreePlay they are that great a sounding unit .

I want a sub woofer , Carvin makes (¿ made ? ) a battery operated portable .

EZ :

HR
__________________
It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed ,
then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding
out as I went with the flow as I go through the white waters and waterfalls of life .
Life has always been interesting to me

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  #19  
Old 06-04-2018, 06:14 PM
dcopper dcopper is offline
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OK, I am in that portable, battery powered amp craze. I have played both the Mini Charge and the BOSE S1. typical acoustic guitar and vocals solo work- classic rock with my spin. Then I see about the new Mackie FreePlay Live. The LB Charge is the easiest solution. I have a LB Performer and LB Artist already - tried and true sound.
The BOSE S1 had a nice clean (some may find somewhat sterile) Bose sound. I used to use the L1 B1 with the huge heavy home plate base mixer. The BOSE was cool but somewhat sterile to me- first generation of course. So now I am thinking about the Mackie. I did not like the boom box look of the old one. Glad that has changed. Obviously inputs are an issue since there are no gains on the line level and not much flexibility on the mic channel. So ok, I could use any number of my acoustic preamps with no problem.
I read a bunch of the forum pieces on the Mackie. Why not just use a Behringer battery powered mixer like the 1002B? Wouldn't that solve the problem? You could run multiple mics and other instruments if needed. Does anyone out there use this approach.
Ah so many choices...
David
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  #20  
Old 06-04-2018, 06:30 PM
Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon is offline
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Cool New Mackie FreePlay Difference From Old

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcopper View Post
OK, I am in that portable, battery powered amp craze.

So now I am thinking about the Mackie. I did not like the boom box look of the old one. Glad that has changed. Obviously inputs are an issue since there are no gains on the line level and not much flexibility on the mic channel.
David

The new Mackie FreePlay sports a 6" driver for the mono center channel - my older unit has an 8" .

I'm getting a second one - the older boom box looking one - I'm into performance not cosmetics ,
I am very pleased with how it amplifies my Roland GR33 guitar synth module it kicks out a really tight low
end for synth bass that is superior to the other portables i auditioned .

YMMV though and that's cool too . What it does for my acoustic electric is really good too . My vocal/guitar
MFX unit works great with it too . Great FRFR P.A. period and the price competes and the 2 year
warranty speak big time to me .

EZ :

HR
__________________
It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed ,
then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding
out as I went with the flow as I go through the white waters and waterfalls of life .
Life has always been interesting to me

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  #21  
Old 06-04-2018, 07:08 PM
dcopper dcopper is offline
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I get that HR. I never tried the original model or the new model. Have you ever tried a mixer with it to resolve any input issues?
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  #22  
Old 06-05-2018, 02:32 AM
Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon is offline
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Thumbs up MIXER Into FreePlay

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcopper View Post
I get that HR. I never tried the original model or the new model. Have you ever tried a mixer with it to resolve any input issues?
Yes -
I have a 12 channel mixer I plug into it as well . When I use it I go into the T.C. Helicon Voice Live 3 X
to get all the FX I can , but as a stand alone unit the 12 channel sounds great with the FreePlay FX engine as well .
There are several quality FX to use on the FreePlay including delays & reverbs . When I go duet I
use the 12 channel with the T.C. Helicon VL3X

My acoustic electric has an XLR out and drives the FreePlay well when I just use an acoustic and a vocal
mic set up with it for a casual light weight solo performance .

EZ :

HR
__________________
It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed ,
then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding
out as I went with the flow as I go through the white waters and waterfalls of life .
Life has always been interesting to me

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  #23  
Old 06-05-2018, 07:18 AM
dcopper dcopper is offline
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Thank you HR, that was very helpful. It might also help that the input gains are set low so a mixer would work well. I have played the S1 so I want to do an A/B and there is a GC nearby that has the older model Freeplay with the 8” driver. I thought the BOSE sounded good and the dispersion helped with the lower power output. I am excited to see how they will compare. The Charge is an easy fallback.
Thanks for your kind help,
Davidc
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  #24  
Old 06-05-2018, 07:19 AM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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The FreePlay Live looks very interesting indeed. I own an Yamaha THR5A and a Roland Cube Street EX, but I would like to replace them both with something in-between weight and size wise (and still battery operated). The plan is to use my TC-Helicon Perform-VG for both guitar and vocals.

I have thought about the Bose S1 Pro, but I still find it too heavy (around the same as the Cube Street EX) and expensive (at least with the battery pack). And as I still want to use the Perform-VG to get the wonderful delay for the guitar, it wouldn't really be a "single-unit solution" anyway.

Any thoughts on the combo of the Perform-VG and the new FreePlay Live? Mostly it will be used for outdoor and indoor jamming.

/Per

Last edited by Per Burström; 06-05-2018 at 12:18 PM.
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  #25  
Old 06-05-2018, 09:27 AM
martingitdave martingitdave is offline
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Default New Mackie Freeplay series!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Per Burström View Post
The FreePlay Live looks very interesting indeed. I own a Yamaha THR5A and a Roland Cube Street EX, but I would like to replace them both with something in-between weight and size wise (and still battery operated). The plan is to use my TC-Helicon Perform-VG for both guitar and vocals.

I have thought about the Bose S1 Pro, but I still find it too heavy (around the same as the Cube Street EX) and expensive (at least with the battery pack). And as I still want to use the Perform-VG to get the wonderful delay for the guitar, it wouldn't really a "single-unit solution".

Any thoughts on the combo of the Perform-VG and the new FreePlay Live? Mostly it will be used for outdoor and indoor jamming.

/Per

That combination could be good for certain situations. I think the Perform boxes are better suited for home and light use. The Play Acoustic is a professional product, for instance. But it works. The new Mackie will need a preamp (perform serves his purpose) for anything besides the hottest pickups, because the internal preamps are gain limited. It might be ok for home jamming use. At least, that’s the use that I anticipate they designed it for.
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Last edited by martingitdave; 06-05-2018 at 09:39 AM.
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  #26  
Old 06-05-2018, 11:35 AM
Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon is offline
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Thumbs up FRFR P.A.'s & AMPS

Quote:
Originally Posted by martingitdave View Post
That combination could be good for certain situations. I think the Perform boxes are better suited for home and light use. The Play Acoustic is a professional product, for instance. But it works. The new Mackie will need a preamp (perform serves his purpose) for anything besides the hottest pickups, because the internal preamps are gain limited. It might be ok for home jamming use. At least, that’s the use that I anticipate they designed it for.


The output of the TC-Helicon Perform-VG Vocal and Acoustic Guitar Processor will drive the Mackie FreePlay
easily to a really loud and clear sound with no issues . It has the same basic front end preamp as my
T.C. Helicon Voice Live 3 X .

It's quite a serious FRFR amp and no toy . What it does to my Roland GR33's synth bass lines looped and then my
acoustic dreadnought is truly a work of art . Then add an electric guitar loop and then a Blues Harp and
vocals and it's quite easy to hear this is no rap/hiphop boom box , it is a FRFR unit to the core and can
reproduce piano(s)violin(s) superbly off the GR33 Roland synth too . The " Orchestra Hit " from the GR33 is absolutely great too .

Some people ca't get passed the modern look of the FreePlay - Me I love it . I think it looks like Sloth from Ice Age :

Especially when it's mounted on a speaker stand high above my head .

Kids love it's looks and those young a heart too .


EZ :

HR
__________________
It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed ,
then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding
out as I went with the flow as I go through the white waters and waterfalls of life .
Life has always been interesting to me

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  #27  
Old 06-05-2018, 06:38 PM
dcopper dcopper is offline
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HR the resemblance is stunning! Have you compared the original version to the new one? I don't think they are out yet but maybe in your area. The difference I see is that the original version has the option of using the limited but functional on board controls on the back panel. The new one depends solely on the app. The original one can use either D cell batteries or the optional Li battery. The new one comes with the Lithium battery and built in mic stand mounting.
The original has the 8" driver as you pointed out. It also has the charm of the sloth like appearance.
The preamps appear to be the same and the power amps appear also to be the same.
I have an opportunity to pick up the original version but would like to do a comparison if that is possible.
Thanks again for all your help,
I am curious to see how the sound compares to my AER and Fishman Amps.
davidc
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  #28  
Old 06-07-2018, 08:00 PM
dcopper dcopper is offline
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OK went and played a BOSE S1 Pro, Mackie FreePlay Live (original version not 2018 version which will be out later this month) and Fishman LB Mini Charge.
I wanted to really like the BOSE having owned BOSE L1/B1 before. I can see where it works for some folks- I found it to be somewhat sterile, like its bigger brothers. No criticism intended at all, especially to BOSE S1 lovers.
If it works for you that is great.
I thought the Mackie FP Live sounded fuller and far better, but as said before, the preamps are insufficient. It would probably work well with a mixer or external preamps.
I found the Fishman Charge to be the most practical and the most musical for acoustic guitar and vocals. It was a no brainer, plug and play sound. They are currently offering a backpack type gig bag free.
Each of these portable battery powered amps will work well for people who want that freedom. It really depends on what will work for you and your sound. They all present interesting and good options.
davidc
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  #29  
Old 06-09-2018, 04:35 PM
Hurricane Ramon Hurricane Ramon is offline
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Thumbs up FreePlay

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcopper View Post
OK went and played a BOSE S1 Pro, Mackie FreePlay Live (original version not 2018 version which will be out later this month) and Fishman LB Mini Charge.
I wanted to really like the BOSE having owned BOSE L1/B1 before. I can see where it works for some folks- I found it to be somewhat sterile, like its bigger brothers. No criticism intended at all, especially to BOSE S1 lovers.
If it works for you that is great.
I thought the Mackie FP Live sounded fuller and far better, but as said before, the preamps are insufficient. It would probably work well with a mixer or external preamps.
I found the Fishman Charge to be the most practical and the most musical for acoustic guitar and vocals. It was a no brainer, plug and play sound. They are currently offering a backpack type gig bag free.
Each of these portable battery powered amps will work well for people who want that freedom. It really depends on what will work for you and your sound. They all present interesting and good options.
davidc


dcopper :
Congrats , I pretty much side by side compared units to the FreePlay like you did the sound was amazingly better
on the FreePlay especially the tight and loud bass sounds . I am really enjoying the FreePlay I'm about to
receive a Singular Sound BeatBuddy , next week it gets here . I am looking forward to see how tight the kick drum
sounds through it .

Nope I haven't tried the latest new incarnation of the FreePlay .

I am getting a second one like the one I have and maybe a subwoofer
for bigger venues . Should really blast .

Yeah on Sloth -
If I could find someone who could paint it to look like Sloth I'd do it

EZ :

HR

__________________
It started for me with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 54 on a Blues Harp and progressed ,
then life .....some death ....Evolving as I went like a small rock in a stream rounding
out as I went with the flow as I go through the white waters and waterfalls of life .
Life has always been interesting to me

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  #30  
Old 06-12-2018, 11:02 AM
Per Burström Per Burström is offline
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According to Mackie the FreePlay Live is shipping world wide, although Thomann in Europe say they will have it in 2-3 weeks. Anyone tried it yet?

/Per
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