Mackie 1202-VLZ Mixing Console Renovation

[@mymodularjourney]

Great tear down and explanation.

[@MeeBilt]

Thanks a lot!

[@OllieProphet]

Nice video. I wish you would have shown how and where to clean the pots, though. Is there access to the internal wiper and carbon track, so that you can inject fader cleaner/lube? Or did you have to disassemble the pot? Small wish on otherwise excellent video.

[@MeeBilt]

If i remember this correctly; I flooded the pots with tuner spray until they started to loosen up and then I let is soak for an hour I think. After that I cleaned up the excess fluid with a cotton bud. I didn't disasseble them.

[@tobbebergman7583]

I have an old 1202-VLZ PRO with a really strange issue ! Really great little mixer though ! Sometimes the AUX1 send wont work ! I use the two AUX sends to send signals to my looper in stereo ! AUX1 for left and AUX 2 for right ! After a while it works so I guess there is probably a capacitor malfunctioning or something !

[@MeeBilt]

Yeah, it sound like some kind of component failure - possibly temperature dependant. It could the component itself or a solder-joint that is bad.

[@dtharmo]

Nice ! Great explainations about the VUmeter, maybe some ideas to keep to make an eurorack version of this schematics ? 😁

[@MeeBilt]

Thanks HarmO! Yes, there are a couple of circuits that are interesting and can be useful in the Eurorack context.

[@mymodularjourney]

Eurorack needs more VU meters for sure.

[@mikecamps7226]

Those were board mounted control pots....were they sealed parts ? I couldn't see in the video. I was about to hunt down the schematic for the unit as I have the same one and want to do a modification thats off menu for my application for a rack system management situation. I like using this board and the next one up with the sliders as they are compact and perform well when you understand how to apply them & treat signal. I took the cover off my mixer last night to get a visual but I didn't take it down the whole way. I hate PCB boards and then surface mount garbage. I come from a background in TV and electronics. It's fun when a seal precision control pots go scratchy and then being board mounted and not divorced from the board with wires. I recently watched a presentation with Bob Heil talking about when he built the first mixing consoles for PA with Vector Boards being the guts within and THE WHO demanding his equipment for an American tour as they came not prepared for..... with their UK equipment.

[@MeeBilt]

I'm not 100% sure but I think that the pots are not sealed; I mananged to get some contact spray into them, but if I remember correctly I had to soak them from the top to make it work. I agree that SMT placed on the same board side as the TH components is not fun... It's really hard to reach down between the pots and solder without melting the plastic parts.

[@jayway4066]

I found a 16 channel today, same brand has the cover and all, lights up real cool

[@MeeBilt]

Awesome! It's a great sounding mixer

[@Macdelaney]

Hey I'm thinking abut giving my mackie a clean too. Did you do anything to the pcb at all besides glueing the caps? What did you use to clean the pots? Thanks!

[@MeeBilt]

I didn't need to do anything. I used Kontakt Chemie Tuner 600 spray and a small amount of PRF 7-78 for lubrication.

[@hddn_slf]

I have 1202-VLZ PRO and channels 1, 2, 3 has noise when turning a gain knob. Would a knob replacement fix the issue?

[@MeeBilt]

Yeah, that would probably fix it more reliably than using oxide spray like I did.

[@kayzach4108]

I got one of these for free at the TV studio I work at, Overall it seems intact but all the lines seem super dirty. Extreme amounts of static in lines 1 and 2, a little less in the rest but all of them punch out enough noise that its difficult for me to find any uses for it right now.

[@MeeBilt]

It looks like it needs some throrough clean. The static could be some op-amp that needs to be replaced, if it's heard all the time. These mixers are nor valuable but they are still used in a lot of home setups, churches and other places. For some reason they are also used in a lot of "no input mixer" setups . So, don't throw it away for landfill 😊

[@backinthecrystal]

Sir, what is the hex screw size for that board? What size hex screw did you use?

[@MeeBilt]

Hello, I don't know what the correct size is, but I successfully used a 1.5mm Allen key.

[@BogoEN]

Thanks for posting this. I have the 14-channel version of this same line and it has ground hum, almost consistently. Any ideas where to start looking for a root cause?

[@MeeBilt]

Start by checking the power supply rails for hum. Also check the flex-cables that interconnect the boards so you don't have a bad connection. If they look good I would have started by trying to figure out if the hum changes if I turn any knobs and faders to see if I can isolate it to a specific block in the signal chain. It's good to have the block-diagram at hand and also the schematic diagram - both are part of the service manual I believe. Good luck - hope you can get it to work!

[@8bitghostnuts]

I also have the 14-channel version of this desk that I picked up for free. This video has really given me the confidence to disassemble and try cleaning it

[@geofffreyantonio7796]

I have also this same mixer but when I connect the laptop for music with the charger of laptop plug in ,the humming sound comes in specially on the Hi frequency you can hear even have music play the hum is still you can hear but without laptop charger plug in hum sound gone. Hoping for advice

[@MeeBilt]

What you describe sounds to me like a classic ground-loop problem. In an audio system there should only be one ground path and when you connect audio equipment like instruments, mics or battery powered stuff all is well - because it's still only one ground path. Unfortunately computers are not designed to be audio equipment, they have headphone and microphone jacks, but they are not intended to be hooked up to audio equipment. I can't give you any specific advice that would guarantee to solve your problem, but try to reduce the ground loop if possible or used the balanced inputs instead of the normal ones. A passive DI box may also be a solution.

[@mvwoon]

You could split the laptop stereo out into balanced Line 1 and balanced Line 2 inputs, correct?

[@maartendierks4631]

I cannot figur out what screwdriver you are using (type and size)

[@MeeBilt]

Neither can I. Luckily I have a whole set of them so I use the one that fits.

[@maartendierks4631]

I found out luckyly by trial and error😃

[@MeeBilt]

@@maartendierks4631 The same method that I used too 😅

[@babyngalu05]

How many powered speaker can you hook up to?

[@MeeBilt]

That depends on what your are trying to do, but you have two main outputs and two alternative outputs that you can use. There is also two control room outputs. I recommend downloading the user's manual and check out the block diagram.

[@ChristyAnastasia]

909 Kulas Unions

[@vjreimedia]

This clown skipped the only part I was looking for... how to disconnect the power outlet from the rear.

[@MeeBilt]

Life is hard.... 🙄