PSA: Mackie Freeplay refurbs $189, free ship

[dannyg1]

Mackie, the company itself, is selling of refurbs of the Freeplay on eBay for $224 or best offer w/free shipping. Dueling through a three offer long series of offers gave me a price of 189.

I'm not a great fan of this product for a couple of reasons but at $189 there's little that could possibly compete with this. It is a useful battery powered amp that has a lot going for it.

One warning: You'll probably still want the $69 lithium battery at some point and there's some question about whether these come with the AC brick, necessary to recharge said battery. You can run the box on D cells standalone, if I remember correctly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272354313201...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[AeroUSA]

You will also need a DI for it since it barely has any input gain

[dannyg1]

Is a DI for a K&k kind of thing or a DI for any pre-amp equipt guitar as well?

[AeroUSA]

Every guitar I have tried has crazy low gain. You need to boost the input gain with a DI in order to get it above bedroom levels.

I suspect a new version is coming since they are on sale and out of stock and Sweetwater.

[dannyg1]

That's a problem that got by me when I played through it. I used a guitar that has a Fish man Ellipse VT and a PUTW Quackbuster in it. Its a pretty hot combo output. You had trouble with an Anthem? That's a hot output too.

[dannyg1]

Originally Posted by AeroUSA

Every guitar I have tried has crazy low gain. You need to boost the input gain with a DI in order to get it above bedroom levels.

I suspect a new version is coming since they are on sale and out of stock and Sweetwater.

It wouldn't surprise me if the instrument channel is actually a rebadged hi-z mic input which is 20db down from line level. If so, an impedance matcher will fix it but the connection would end up as xlr, not 1/4".


https://www.amazon.com/CP8201-Microp...ng+transformer

[AeroUSA]

Yes I tried several pickups at full volume and the most I got was -3db! I'm using a Fishman DI with it this weekend in order to boost the signal.

[martingitdave]

Thanks Danny! I've been telling the guys I wanted to get one when they went on sale. I made them an offer.


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[dannyg1]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Thanks Danny! I've been telling the guys I wanted to get one when they went on sale. I made them an offer.


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Well less than 50% of new certainly qualifies as a good sale. Tell us how it goes with the various pre's, pick ups and DI' s you're using. It'll be interesting to hear how the thing fares between the two definite users we have on the board, you and AeroUSA.

Anyone know of a Jack sized passive DI that ends up 1/4"female, sans adaptors?

[martingitdave]

This Mackie unit will not engage the fixed 20dB preamp until a balanced XLR is inserted. Balanced 1/4" won't engage it. So, I have a passive balanced DI that I would use it with. Don't know if it would be enough, but it should work. I should get 6 dB from transforming and an additional 20 dB from the preamp.


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[martingitdave]

Does the unit come with any accessories. I didn't bother to read. I just clicked! I trust you knew what you were doing. :-)


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[dannyg1]

[QUOTE=martingitdave;5369751]Does the unit come with any accessories. I didn't bother to read. I just clicked! I trust you knew what you were doing. :-)


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I see you fell for it Dave. My plan worked a charm....

[dannyg1]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

This Mackie unit will not engage the fixed 20dB preamp until a balanced XLR is inserted. Balanced 1/4" won't engage it. So, I have a passive balanced DI that I would use it with. Don't know if it would be enough, but it should work. I should get 6 dB from transforming and an additional 20 dB from the preamp.


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It's all Greek to me! <s>

[dannyg1]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

This Mackie unit will not engage the fixed 20dB preamp until a balanced XLR is inserted. Balanced 1/4" won't engage it. So, I have a passive balanced DI that I would use it with. Don't know if it would be enough, but it should work. I should get 6 dB from transforming and an additional 20 dB from the preamp.


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Btw, I doubt that Mackie built in a way to sense the difference btwn a balanced and unbalanced xlr. It probably senses an xlr and boosts to Mic level. Now using a 1/4" to xlr adaptor might possibly make it hum but it will up the input gain either way.

I get that nobody has the time to keep track of all this stuff but since you've made a point of throwing it out there.....

[martingitdave]

You may be right. I'm repeating what Mackie tech support told AeroUSA. I don't have one in front of me to test, yet. :-)


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