Mackie 808S PPM Professional Powered Mixer Review
(Mackie | Posted 2001-07-24)
A few weeks ago, our 20-year-old Acoustic powered mixer died on us. This was especially unfortunate because it existed as the core of our test-bed and was used in one way or another to test about everything that comes through the doors at Music Gear Review. We used it to mix signals into the PC for direct digital recording with Cakewalk and other software products, and we used it as a live powered mixer when the boyz would come over for a massive product review session. I even used it as an amp for a bass guitar or acoustic & electric when we didn't have anything in from the manufacturers. It was quite old, though, and had served us well. We sure won't miss the poor bastard…
What? You sure WON'T miss the poor bastard? How can we be so insensitive? Well, for starters, it's a piece of gear! You sissies out there wiping your eyes with a tissue need to get a life. In addition, a few weeks ago a brand spanking new 808S PPM professional powered mixer from Mackie arrived. It's like getting a new puppy when your old dog dies. This time around, though, we've gone from a mutt to an AKC Rottweiler. This box has balls.
1200 Watts worth of balls. That's right folks, the Mackie Designs 808S Professional Powered Mixer can pump 1200 Watts into 2 ohms without breaking a sweat - and this box can do it all night! What does this mean to the average Joe? In layman's terms, 2 ohms is the measure of resistance that the speaker assembly puts on the amp. Since, most PA speakers and cabs are built to an 8-ohm resistance, many PA heads are only built to put out this type of power. The 808S will put out 300 Watts per channel into 8 ohms, also, but it can also crank things up a notch. BAM! ( Sorry Emeril, had to do it.. ) What the 808S can do that brings the competition to its knees is power four 8-ohm speakers sending 300 watts into each channel ( hence the 2-ohm load and 1200W per side ). Most other manufacturers have to cut power to supply juice to all of those hungry woofers and tweeters. Not Mackie! The 808S shifts the amp into overdrive and steps on the pedal to supply the juice for the 2-ohm load in this case. Plus, Mackie claims "the PPM power supply is so robust that it can run on as little as 80 volts at the end of a long, skinny extension cord during a brown-out." Hmph..
But balls aren't everything if you don't have a clean signal. We're using this 808S exclusively as our mixing console into our desktop digital recording studio. We currently use everything from Cakewalk products to Steinberg's CuBase and Sonic Foundry's SoundForge. Normally, with our old mixer, I'd have to do a lot of noise reduction and signal tweaking. With the Mackie 808S PPM, I still run the digital noise reduction ( out of habit ), but the threshold or noise floor necessitates a much lower setting. What does all of that garbely-gook mean? A virtually noiseless signal. Granted, if you want to get into a real serious home studio setup, you're going to want to look at some of Mackie's other mixing console related products. Here at Music Gear Review, though, we needed something to be flexible enough to use anywhere and for just about anything. We found that capability in the 808S from Mackie Designs.
The clean, dynamic power output isn't the only thing impressive about the 808S, though. An extremely tough injection-molded shell protects the guts of the 808S. This thing could probably fall off the top of your van when you're loading up at the end of the show and not get hurt. I wouldn't recommend putting it up there, though. After playing through one of these PPM series powered mixers from Mackie, you'll be giving it a kiss and putting it in the front passenger seat - with a seat belt on.
Do you have problems getting a professional sound for your vocals? Problem solved. This box includes a real Mackie Designs mic / line mixer section. Based on the ever-popular 1202-VLZ series and new mic preamps, your vocals will sound much more professional. Plus, add in a tinge of effects like hall verb and now you sound like a professional! I've never sounded better - on the notes that I can hit.
For the tweakers out there, Mackie has included top shelf, studio-grade 9-band EQs for mains and monitors that use the latest industry technology to provide a most excellent signal, devoid of any phase-shift or distortion and noise related problems. In addition, there's a level setting control and LED on every channel on the 808S which takes the pain out of setting input levels. The 808S also includes a mute button for channels 1-6 so during set breaks so you can play music (via the tape input and stereo channels 7 or 8). The guts of this box reside on a military spec fiberglass circuit board for those drop scenarios like I mentioned earlier. There are also amp routing switches to configure your mains and monitors and huge storage capacitors inside so that the 808S can crank when dynamic power is needed. To cool things off, Mackie has included a huge die-cast heat sink, instead of a fan, on the whole length of the back of the unit. Just be sure to keep a safe distance from anything ( probably at least 6 - 12 inches ) that could interfere with the convection currents that lift the heat away from unit through these fins. The unit needs ample room to move air and cool itself when serving up the juice to make your band crank.
Did I forget to mention the effects? This unit has a surprising array of built in effects also! In addition to your standard reverbs, the 808S has it's own chorus, delay, flange, spring reverb, and more! In addition to being ultra-realistic, the effects section also has a super control elements via dual parameter controls and the EFX WIDE button. It psycho-acoustically adds width and/or depth to reverbs, chorus, and flange... perfect for set-ups where your speakers have to be placed close together. Also, 75Hz low-cut filters in both built-in 9-band equalizer sections remove microphone thumps, P-pops and stage rumble. Sharp 18dB/octave circuitry works without cutting audible bass.
Last but not least, don't let me overlook mentioning the aesthetically pleasing exterior of the Mackie 808S PPM. Not only does it have the goods in every category, it looks sweet too! The injection-molded case and overall design are very well done and a nice refreshing change from the rat-fur carpeted boxes that other manufacturers try to push. The exterior design of this unit is indicative of Mackie's progressive philosophy and nature. I'm sure the shell was designed the way it was because Mackie wanted it to be different and set apart from the rest. Hell, the quality and features are - why not the box they go into as well?
Here are some more technical specs for you tech-heads out there:
- 1200 real watts/2 ohms from twin 600-watt FR Series High-Current power amps
- Power amps switchable as stereo mains or main plus monitor
- 8 mic/line channels with master phantom power
- Stereo line inputs on channels 7 and 8
Inserts on channels 1-6
- Active 3-band EQ and stereo pan control on each channel
- True stereo 9-band graphic EQ on mains
9-band graphic EQ on monitor
Bottom Line:
So what has our experience been like with the Mackie Designs 808S PPM? One word - incredible. We use this box for everything. We've gigged with it ( and you ought to hear these mic preamps combined with Shure SM58s ), we've mixed down tracks into digital recording software with it, we've jammed with it, played the bass and acoustic / electric with it. You name it. You can do anything with it! Powered mixers are extremely versatile by nature. We reviewed a Yamaha EMX660 a few months ago and found it to be quite useful as well. However, nothing can beat the quality and features of a Mackie, and the power output of this box puts many other manufacturers to shame. This is a 5 out of 5 pick product, folks. Mackie gear exhibits unequalled quality and value. Mackie Designs has truly redefined the standards in the powered mixer arena and gets a gold medal for this product. We liked it so much; we're switching our live sound and recording gear over to Mackie. It simply doesn't get any better than this. Period.
