Mackie 1202-VLZ3 41. RETURN TO AUX 1, JACK NORMALLING

Owner’s Manual

Typically, these knobs can just live at the center

detent, and the effects device’s output control should

be set at whatever they call unity gain (check their

manual). If that turns out to be too loud or too quiet,

adjust the effects device’s outputs, not the mixer. That

way, the mixer’s knobs are easy to relocate at the center

detent.

Signals passing through these controls will proceed

directly to main mix, with one exception (see paragraph

below). The STEREO RETURNs do not have MUTE/ALT

3-4 switches, so if you want these signals to get to the

ALT 3-4 mix, you’ll have to patch the effects device’s

outputs into one of the stereo channels, and MUTE/ALT

those channels.

41. RETURN TO AUX 1

If you want to add reverb or delay to the stage monitor

mixes of AUX 1, this is the switch for you.

With the switch up, STEREO RETURN 1 and 2 behave

normally — they deliver their signals into the main mix.

With the switch down, STEREO RETURN 1 still behaves

normally, but STEREO RETURN 2 will feed AUX SEND 1

instead of the main mix.

Still with us? Good. So far, with the switch down, we

have STEREO RETURN 1 feeding the main mix and

STEREO RETURN 2 feeding AUX SEND 1. Now, sup-

pose you only have one effects device, and you want it to

feed both the MAIN MIX and AUX SEND 1. That’s where

“jack normalling” comes in:

JACK NORMALLING

Jack normalling (not to be confused with Jack

Normalling, Chicago Cubs utility inﬁ elder, 1952-61, .267

LBA) is a feature found on almost every mixer, keyboard

and effects device. These jacks have special spring-

loaded pins that connect to the signal pins, but when

something is plugged into the jack, that connection is

broken.

These normalling pins can be used in all sorts of ways.

The ubiquitous phrase “LEFT (MONO)” means that if

you plug a signal into the LEFT side and have nothing in

the RIGHT side, that signal is also fed to the right input,

courtesy of jack normalling. As soon as you plug some-

thing in the RIGHT side, that normalled connection is

broken.

How does all this relate to the

RETURN TO AUX 1 [41] switch?

STEREO RETURN 1’s inputs are

normalled to STEREO RETURN 2.

If you have one effects device, plug

it into STEREO RETURN 1. Plug

nothing into STEREO RETURN 2.

Now the signals feeding the STEREO RETURN 1 inputs

will also be sent to the STEREO RETURN 2 inputs.

Engage the RETURN TO AUX 1 switch, and now the

STEREO RETURN 2 knob will become an additional

AUX SEND 1 knob for the signal at AUX RETURN 1. Say

that ten times! Once again, AUX RETURN 1 will behave

normally, as always.

Congratulations! You’ve just read about all the fea-

tures of your 1202-VLZ3. You’re probably ready for a cold

one. Go ahead. The rest of the manual can wait.

CAUTION

AUX SEND

L /MONO ALL BAL/UNBAL

OO OO

ASSIGN

TO MAIN MIX