Both of these units retail for the same price, approx 900 dollars. However the VLZ generally goes for less used on ebay and at other auction houses. I hear the Allen and Heath is better, but in what ways? And is it enough to warrant the excess used pricings? How exactly do these two mixers compare? I'm fairly sold on the mixwizard but I hate to think I'm spending the extra money for onboard effects that I'll never use. Ok lets discuss this! Thank you.

i've got a vlz pro that i found for 650 on ebay and i'm generally happy with it to this point, although i haven't really done much with it to this point. you're right that many people will say "no" to mackie products for a variety of reasons (i heard they were cheap and tech support wasn't reliable among other arguments). so i don't know, i'm sure someone else could give you a much more educated response.

but that's my $0.02

The pre amps in allen & heath boards are much better than mackie traditionally. Also the Allen and Heath boards are alot easy to fix individual channels. And stuff does break. If you know electronics, you can buy the mackie and switchout all the opamps and that will improve your sound a great deal. Honestly, the board isnt always the biggest deal. If you know how to use the gear, you can make good records with a mackie.

Chris

Chris Hardings wrote:The pre amps in allen & heath boards are much better than mackie traditionally. Also the Allen and Heath boards are alot easy to fix individual channels. And stuff does break. If you know electronics, you can buy the mackie and switchout all the opamps and that will improve your sound a great deal. Honestly, the board isnt always the biggest deal. If you know how to use the gear, you can make good records with a mackie.

Chris

It really depends on how your using the Mackie on the swapping opamps issue. The VLZ-PRO mackie preamps don't use opamps in the pre section. If your running a tape/outboard rig The Allen and Heath boards ship with a better sounding EQ section. The pre's sound different, its depends on your application, and what type of sound you want out of a mic pre.
-Rob

Check out the Midas Venice series. Better than both A&H and mackie. It has decent headroom and EQ.