New Board Day: My First Mixer - Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro

[MrShake]

After years of needing one, I finally bought me a mixing board.

I've been repurposing my Tascam 424mkIII as my home setup for making primitive acid house-type stuff. But also needing a decent way to set up recording my band for a "let's do our whole catalog, down n dirty demos" snapshot.

Just needed a number of inputs, faders, multiple effects sends, and (most importantly since it's a 'performing mixer') the mute buttons my Tascam doesn't.

So, I went with a Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro mfg in late '00. Not glamorous, but I need a simple workhorse for punk rock demo recordings and thumpy, squelchy acid house, which I've enjoyed doing live, too. Unobtrusive, low-character preamps and decent routing options for the money. Seems like a rep for bomb-proof construction. $159 shipped, Made in the USA.

Talk to me. I know what snobs on other forums say about Mackies, but any tips and tricks for the older Pro series model and it's ilk?

[marqueemoon]

I have a 1202 VLZ. These little Mackie mixers are great little audio Swiss Army Knives, especially now that watts are so cheap. Great basis for a simple PA.

Here are my favorite tips.

If you plug a 1/4” guitar cable into the inserts to the first click you get the direct output of the mic pre.

Guitar pedals work great in the effects send/returns.

[MrShake]

Holy hell, really?

So this could ALSO let me mix in the board and just send mic pre to, say, my interface line in?

And I had no idea about the pedals, either. I have plenty of line level rack gear, but the 2 sends and pedals are a whole other option...

[marqueemoon]

Holy hell, really?

So this could ALSO let me mix in the board and just send mic pre to, say, my interface line in?

And I had no idea about the pedals, either. I have plenty of line level rack gear, but the 2 sends and pedals are a whole other option...

Yeah, you can do some pretty fun routing stuff.

I’m considering dusting off the ol’ 4 track. Not sure how old school I want to get with mixing, but it sure is fun smearing everything together with some analog delay.

[MrShake]

Before the deck in my Tascam died (circa late 2020?), I made a demo of some stuff for a friend of mine who was gonna be playing bass with us. Straight to 4-track in my living room, then live mixed to stereo on my laptop as a clean recorder.

It was a blast. The hiss was much lower than I remembered, and it actually came out really well.

[Shadoweclipse13]

I didn't realize those little tricks either. Thanks for posting that Mark! I've got a 1204 VLZ4 (might have the wrong model number off the top of my head) and I love it. They really are great little mixers. I'm tempted to get a second one just for drums (as they've only got 4 XLR jacks).