Karaoke Forums

Just when I thought I was done spending money, and about to have some real karaoke, I got a call from the local music store today about my rack, and mixer. I was supposed to get it last week, but I told them to be sure, and hook everything up to a pa system to check the mixer and rack componets. I had been getting a week/distorted signal coming out of the board on one channel before, with an I pod for the music source. I just assumed again that I was doing something wrong, and the guitar store would have everything purring like a kitten. Long story short, they told me today that my mixer is in need of repair, as one channel is very weak, and noisy. "It needs to be sent out for repair".
Since I have spent a small fortune in such a short period of time on all this stuff, my question is, any chance of me taking the cover off my mixer, and trying to clean the slides, or switches with some type of electronic cleaner? If thats not a good idea, any suggestions on where to send it, or how much it could cost. Maybe I would be better off buying a new one after I recoup a little ?
The mixer had been stored in a metal building before I got it, and probably been exposed to some very hot, and maybe damp weather. The thing is, its a Macke-1604-VLZPro, which is still pricey (I hear)
Just in case the recomendation is a new mixer, my componets are:
Lexicon-MX200 Vocal
BBE 462 Maximizer
DOD-SR-231 Equalizer
DBX 266XL Compressor
Matrix B-52, 2000 PA

Thanks in advance for any advice, Ron

You can usually find dirty pots or sliders by wiggling/or putting stress on the handles and they are intermittent I have never had that model apart but they did have trouble with ribbon cable plugs.

mackie thread]

This is support link and 8o0 number. Have the ser #... This is why I use Mackie...

_________________
Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

That board is worth repairing. $1000 new - although the newer VLZ3 model has recently replaced it. It shouldn't cost more than $100 to get fixed.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Yeah Ollie, I see on the site you posted that there was a problem with the ribbon cables on some of those models. I will contact them, and see what they say.
Thank you Karyoker and Lonnie.... Ron

The Macke is currently in the shop, and I am waiting on an estimate any day now.

I just got a call from the same friend I bought the Matrix from, he has a new (still in the box) Yamaha EMX 5016 CF mixer that he wants to sell me for 500.00. He is also throwing in a new Audio Tech 200 wireless mike system (ATW-252) as part of the deal. I just looked up the mixer in MF, and that is 999.00 alone. So my question is, with the componets that I have already like the compressor, and lexicon effects that I just bought, will this mixer be compatible? The biggest thing I guess, is that since my Matrix is self powered, what can I do with the amp in the mixer? Can I just bypass it, and maybe use it for a larger outside venue perhaps, along with the Matrix? The Macke mixer belongs to a friend, and even though he will probably never want it back, I thought this might be a good opportunity to have my own.
Thanks,Ron

The Yamaha is a good board as well. The compressor & effects you have you could sell them off or utilize them along with the internals. The Lexicon no doubtidly will have better sounding effects overall, you can use them in conjunction with the built in, although one of them would most likely need to be bypassed in order to use it.
As far as the compressor, you could always drop on the main inserts & have a little compression on the overall mix - if the unit has a limiter in it, that's even better for a little added speaker protection.
Built in amp you could bypass since your speakers are powered, there should be a main out or power amp out that you would use to connect to the powered speakers, you do not want to use the speaker jacks.
The internal amps should be configurable to be used as monitors if needed, or maybe a back of house fill, or get a smaller set of speakers for smaller areas that wouldn't require the Matrix system.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I guess the first thing that poped in my head was, "Do you need all 16 chanels?" as i see it you could have let the bad channel go. Ive got an old mixer with 2 dead channels but I dont use that many so i don't care.

_________________
the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

For $500, it wouldn't matter if I needed all 16 (although I do use all 16 channels at my shows). That's a hell of a deal for that board.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I just went and picked it up Lonnie. Sure is pretty, with more stuff to confuse me even further. Actually, I did leave the rack at the guitar shop for them to hook everything up for me when I got the Macke board back, so I will take this one to them tomorrow to hook up, and test everything. Too bad I did'nt come across this board before I bought the rack mounted compressor, and effects unit, but thats the way it goes.
I really like the idea of being able to use this to power monitors, or extra speakers. Also, if I did'nt want to tote the matrix sub around every time, could I power the 12 inch matrix speakers with the yamaha board, and use the compression, and effects from the yamaha only? The matrix is 1200 watts, with 600 going to the sub, so I guess the matrix speakers would normally get 300 watts per speaker, but the yamaha board will be putting out 500 watts per speaker? Will that work? That could drasticially reduce the hardware for certain little events, or make a much bigger system for big events? If so, I'm liking that too.
Any recomendations for them to hook all this up? You say use the lexicon effects, and bypass the yamahas? Use the compression from both? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Almost there Thanks, Ron

Actually the Yamaha is only pushing around 300+ watts @ 8 ohms. The Matrix tops aren't really designed to be used without the sub, but you could try it. They are designed for midrange/high end so pushing a full range signal through them could damage them, otherwise yes you could just use that mixer as a standalone unit with a pair of passive speakers.

Give the internal effects a try first, you may not need to bypass them at all, I just think the Lexi would be a better unit - but try the built ins first.
As far as the external compressor, it could be added to the main out inserts (I though I saw that board had them). You aren't going to compress heavily on the overall just to kind of even up the volume a little. The compressor (for some reason I thought you had the 166XL) doesn't have a limiter built in so you can't really use it for speaker protection.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Thanks for the advice Lonnie, and to KS. I should be ready to rock for halloween, and pretend to be a KJ.........Ron

Hey Lonnie, Not that it makes any difference now, but they called me today about the cost for the Macke repair, they want 330.00 to fix it. It's a good thing I bought the Yamaha.

Ollie, you were right about the ribbon being the culprit according to the repair facility.

It is still worth fixing, then you can sell it for $500. Still a VERY popular board among bands & home & pro recording studios.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!