Karaoke Forums

Ok, I currently own a Mackie Profx12 USB w/ onboard effects. I love it. Looking to have a (back-up) set-up. Saw a Yamaha MW12USB (used in Mint cond.) no effects, and also a (used Mint cond.) Digitech VX400 vocal effects. Looking for opinions of what YOU would get for the back-up. Would you buy another Mackie Profx12 (NEW), or combine the Yamaha and Digitech (used), for the same amount of money? If you have an opinion, I would like some feedback as to why you made the choice, not just because you like Yamaha, or you like Mackie. I have never used external effects, so I was wondering if they're better, or what. I do know that the Digitech has more effects than the Mackie board. Soooo.... What do ya think?

Rosario
Serenity Now Karaoke

Let me tell you i'm a big Mackie fan.

Not a big fan of on board effects, though. I like to run my FX from a separate processor.

But regardless of my personal feelings twards both Mackie and outboard FX, my advice would be to stick with what you know, you like, and works in your current production environment.

You love what you already have, you know how to use it, you're (presumably) familiar with all your current setups nuances.. why change the recipe?

No slight against the Yamaha, every piece of Yamaha gear i've ever used has been fine to excellent.. but a backup should be exactly that.. a spare tire.. that go to piece of gear when your primary fails that you can drop into your production rig with little to no down time and keep on going with the show.

Now, my advice would be slightly different if you were shopping for a backup, and you were using some crappy board (I won't name names). Then my advice would be to buy a high quality board, and keep your current, crappy board, as the backup.

But since you're already using a good quality board, then the only really logical choice is to buy the same board for a backup. That way it's a drop in replacement, with no learning curve.

I'm with Cheese on this. Not only would your backup be what you're already familiar wtih, it's also one less thing you have to carry if you don't have an outboard effects unit. For backup, trying to be as compact as possible is usually a good thing.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I like Mackie and haven't used much Yamaha gear, but regardless the equipment I'd think having an exact replica of your current configuration would be ideal for a backup and minimizing downtime. In this case you'd alleviate the extra piece of gear you'd need for fx.

Board craps out? Power down, pull power cable, swap over connections from down board to backup and you're right back up and you're ready to get back up and running.