Hello fellow Stickist,

Has anyone tried, currently use, or own the Mackie FreePlay?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FreePlay

Pro's and Con's regarding use with a Stick specifically

Would use it primarily for practice at home and would like to grow into possible use as a soloist in smaller settings like a coffee shop or small venue once I can work up a repertoire(that may be a while )

1.) I/O seems to be okay for this purpose - two channels for the Stick and I could add a stereo input for tracks - also looks like I could plug in headphones at the house when my life is threatened for playing that same riff over and over and.....

2.) Can run on a rechargeable battery - that sounds good - no outlet, no problem

3.) On board effects - also sounds good for a little sprinkle of reverb and delay

4.) 8" woofer.... A little worried about that aspect - will it reproduce the lower frequency range that the Stick produces..?

Would anyone recommend a comparable unit out there that would be better suited for the Stick over the FreePlay and why?

Thanks,

One issue is the input impedance. It doesn't have instrument inputs so you will need a preamp/buffer of some sort. An 8" will not give you much on the low end. I have 8" drivers for my SG12 and they work fine for that. Paired with a powered subwoofer it would probably do fine in a small solo venue. As a practice amp it will probably be fine.

-Eric

Ah thanks Eric!

So I need to look for something that has instrument inputs for the impedance like a dedicated guitar or bass amp or run into a preamp or small mixer?

Although not battery powered maybe the below would be good? Or overkill?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QX1002USB
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B108D
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B1200DPRO

Trying to keep it simple any economical suggestions?

Would like something battery powered for busking but that's putting the cart before the horse for now

Thanks for your time

I would want to hear it. The 8" might do the job. There's gotta be some bigbox music store in your area that has one, Keith. It sure is sexy looking...

Not all small mixers have instrument inputs. I don't think that Behringer has. There are several threads here on stickist on small busking rigs that work well for Stick. I don't have one so I'd have to look them up too. If you are handy with a soldering iron there are some cheap ways to make a preamp/buffer for Stick. It is important to try anything out you might be considering. I hope that's possible.

-Eric

So the key here is I need to make sure I have instrument line level input to go into correct?

Not real keen about the soldering iron so I'll do some more searching on the site as suggested.

My used Stick with a Stickup should arrive sometime mid to late next week so maybe I'll head out to local store and look for some options and try them out although I dread going into GC.

The Stickup cannot be run mono-no switch. But it's a great p.u. So when trying stuff out it's either gonna need 2 seperate inputs or some kind of summing device (stomp box w/ 2 inputs, multi-effects unit, mixer). Just try stuff out at GC but don't buy they suck

Good to know about the Stickup

Sounds like my best option is to find a multi channel amp or mixer that has instrument line level inputs - thanks

You'll want something that says Hi-Z or instrument input. For best results, read in the manual what the input impedance is because they aren't all the same. Some say they are instrument level but are only ~500 kOhm, while others are 1MOhm, and others are 5 or even 10 MOhm.

I've heard 2 MOhm is ideal for stickup, bot other people say anything over 1 MOhm is fine.

I made a very wise investment. (and it's great!)
http://static.bhphotovideo.com/lit_files/104928.pdf