Praise for Mackie Onyx Preamps and Mixing Consoles

"I have a couple of very high-end preamps I use in the studio, and one of them went down during a session. We plugged straight into the Onyx and were blown away with how good it sounded."

Steve Berlin

Los Lobos

"When I first set up [the Onyx 800R], I recorded bass and compared it to some 70’s vintage API mic preamps, and was shocked with the fatness of the Onyx. It was so rich and wide, like it was 3D! It blew my mind!"

"I’ve been working pretty intensely with the Onyx and it’s elevated my stuff to a new level. I love this product! I can’t see myself without it now. It is truly filling a gap in my set up."

Justin Meldal-Johnsen

Bass Player/Music Director for Beck, Air & Imarobot

"Holy crap! ... I have to admit that (the Onyx mixers) sounded phenomenal. One of them is already working in Britney's dressing room. The other one we are passing around within the audio department at the moment doing everything from recording the band to routing talkback microphones."

Monty Lee Wilkes

Britney Spears' Front of House Engineer

"We do a lot of writing and recording on the tour bus, so the rig is really important. You need gear that sounds great in the space you’re in, can travel around the country, and is compact enough to fit in a limited space. The preamps on the Onyx have a really good sound, and the EQ feels just right to me. I run most of my keyboard modules through it."

"It’s also built really solid - I can take it from the studio to the bus, and it’s tough enough to get knocked around and still sound great."

Mike Shinoda

MC & Vocals, Linkin Park

"I’d have no worries about using (the Onyx preamps) for recording… To get something of this quality in a relatively inexpensive mixer is very good news indeed… With the Firewire card installed, the Onyx would make a seriously decent front-end for a computer-based recording system."

Paul White, Editor

Sound on Sound Magazine, October 2004

"The (Onyx) mic preamps are based on Mackie’s XDR (eXtended Dynamic Range) and sound clean and quite transparent."

"There’s nothing like the instant access and visual feedback of an analogue console. With the Firewire option installed, the Mackie Onyx [console] provides the best of both worlds."

Bod Damon, Contributing Editor

Music Tech Magazine, August 04

"[Onyx] provides a full, open preamp with plenty of headroom, especially noticeable when using a quality condenser."

"The EQ sounds smoother too, the Q on the mid range giving a more musical sound on boosting frequencies."

"The mic amp and EQ circuits are really pretty impressive at this price and make the Onyx a good buy."

"For recording a small band setup, orchestral and writing studios, I think [Onyx] and a laptop is going to be a hard setup to beat."

Future Music Magazine, September 2004

"We were immediately impressed by the quality of the mic preamps—the Onyx design was audibly better than our MOTU 828, which illustrated how many other FireWire interfaces compromise on such a vital area.."

"Both the D/A and A/D converters offer a solid and sonic reliable service."

"The inserts and quality of the preamps raise the Onyx far above the mass of FireWire interfaces already available."

Mark Cousins, Contributing Editor

Music Tech Magazine

"I'm always looking for mics and preamps that have dimension and accuracy. When I first heard the Onyx pres, I was amazed at their transparency and depth."

Bill Gibson

Northwest Music & Recording