GEAR REVIEW: Mackie Thump TH-12A Speakers

by | Sep 27, 2011 | Best Portable PA Systems, Best Powered Speakers, Live Sound

Pros: Simple design. Can be used as a traditional PA speaker or stage monitor. Plenty of power.

Cons: None.

The Mackie Thump 12-A speakers are a great addition to the Mackie sound reinforcement family. Speakers with a built-in power amp section makes it part of a PA system that’s compact, versatile and very efficient.

The casing seems to be a high impact plastic, with molded handles built into the design. They’re not super heavy, but they still have some heft to them. With the wedge design, setting them up as monitors is as easy as using them in the traditional upright PA system configuration. Handles and sound ports are molded right into the design. The bottom is fitted with a mount so they can be stationed on a PA stand as well.

With a 12″ speaker and 1″ high frequency horn, the 400-watt package has a very full sound, and can deliver enough useable volume in a live situation without straining itself or clipping. A 24db/Octave crossover makes sure the highs and lows go the appropriate drivers. The power amplifier is built into the speaker cabinet with an input level control, 3-band EQ and a sweepable midrange control. The EQ can be bypassed via a button as well.

Connecting them to a mixer yielded great results, and the ability to EQ each speaker individually was a great feature. Using them as a monitor is just as easy to do. Connections are via XLR cables, which means using speaker cables are a thing of the past. There is also an XLR thru connection, meaning multiple Thump 12-A’s can be daisy chained together.

Ideally, if there is a gig where there would normally be only one instrument or vocal plugged into a PA system, just bringing one of these for vocals, keyboards, bass, or any instrument would do extremely well sound wise, and be quite easy to use. Consider it a combo amp for a vocalist!

It’s a simple system that is quite powerful and versatile. If there are any bands out there in the market for new speakers or stage monitors, here’s a pair to be investigated!

FEATURES:

400W of ultra-efficient Fast Recovery amplification

12″ high-precision woofer

1” compression driver

Precision 2-way crossover

User-adjustable 3-band contour EQ with sweepable mid-frequency

Mic/Line input for direct connection of single microphone

Pole-mountable and floor wedge-able

Weight: 25.5 lbs