Equipment Review
Product Reviewed:
1202-VLZ Pro Mixer
Made by: Mackie Designs
Cost: $379.00 USD
Submitted by Todd Wilcox
Rating: 
Features:
The Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro is their smallest mixer. It has 4 mono and 4 stereo channels (4x2=12, hence the 1202). It also has RCA ins an outs for a tape deck, two mono aux sends and two stereo aux returns, three-band EQ on all channels, and mute and solo buttons for all channels. Also, the first four channels can provide phantom power, and have XLR inputs right into Mackie's XDR Mic preamps, which actually sound very good for the price. The first four channels also have trim controls for proper levelling and 75 Hz low-cut filter switches to reduce room rumble.
Technical Specifications:
What I liked:
The best part about this mixer is that it has EXTREMELY low self-noise for its price. This thing is really quiet. If you put all the channel pots at unity, and the main pot at unity, you can just barely detect noise if you have fairly loud monitors. Note that those pot settings would be REALLY LOUD if there were actually signal going through the mixer. The second best thing is the four XDR mic pres with phantom power. They also produce very little noise, are very transparent, and are the same pres that Mackie puts on boards costing $25,000! Third-best is the fact that the mixer is actually a four-buss. The "mute" switch for each channel actually routes the signal from that channel to another stereo buss with separate output. They call it the 3-4 buss. Unlike the main buss, there is no level control for the 3-4 buss, but that makes it perfect for recording. You can also "listen in" on the 3-4 buss using a control that sends a copy of the 3-4 buss to the main output, which you can control the volume of. I could go on for days with all the great features this mixer has. It just doesn't stop. There's endless routing possibilities, and I don't even use half the things they threw on here. Plus, the instruction manual is very easy to understand and actually quite funny. This is definitely the best mixer in its price range, by far.
What I didn't:
There's two things that get to me on this mixer: First, if you have a really hot signal and you turn down the main level, there's a certain point where the left and right channels start to decrease in volume at different rates. Honestly, it would probably cost a lot of money to replace the main mix pot, and put the mixer in a different price class, but it's still annoying. The other thing is you have to be very careful when changing your routing options, because you can accidentally send really loud sounds out of the main mix if you're not careful. The mixer is so flexible that it can be confusing sometimes, but so far it's been totally worth it.
User Tips:
If you're trying to build a home studio with a small budget, this should be the first thing you save up for. It allows you to use any condenser mic (with phantom power), it has noise specs rivalling those of much more expensive mixers, and it will help you convert and route signals to all the different stuff you'll end up accumulating. You can actually use this quite well for recording with a Sound Blaster and regular PC speakers. Get two 1/8" TRS (stereo) to RCA cables, a 1/4" male to 1/8" femal TRS adapter, (from Radio Shack) and you're all set. First connect the speaker out to the Tape Input on the Mackie. Then connect Tape Output back to the Sound Blaster Line In. Finally, use the 1/4" to 1/8" adapter to connect your speakers to the headphone jack. Viola! You just made the best connection you can get between your mic and your Sound Blaster. Also, as your studio grows, the Mackie will have all the ins and outs you need for much more gear to come.
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