| Author | Message | ||
| hammer
Junior Username: hammer Post Number: 49 Registered: 9-2009 |
I'm looking to upgrade my rig and just purchased a FX-1 to use with my Distilllate. Next step is a power amp to replace my old Sunn Coliseum head. I typically use a 4 x 10 speaker cab but want sufficient power to be able to add a 1 x 15 in the future if the need arises. Ive been looking at Crown and Qsc amps and wonder what those using them think. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 1900 Registered: 5-2009 |
Currently I like My Crest amps for Bass rigs with my Alembic preamps and SF-2. I have an FA-901 and VS-900. If you can find a Crest CA-9 that would be swell! AWESOME SOUNDING ! My other power amps are the Yamaha P-2200 ,( 4 of them!) they are great old amps that are also convection cooled but they take up 4 rack spaces per amp . They are long discontinued from the 1970's . A Crown K2 (discontinued) is nice because of the convection cooling and HIGH damping factor. These are not that old. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 1901 Registered: 5-2009 |
http://alembic.com/cgi-bin/alembic-club/show.cgi?393/74059 Check out the link above . This has been a recurring topic here. Sonic Regards! | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1714 Registered: 9-2002 |
Yamaha P-series power amps from the late 70' / early 80's are wonderfully neutral sounding amps, I still kick myself for selling one of the big ones that had VU meters. I shudder to think how many bands went down the road with those and Peavey CS800's, the Ford pickup truck of power amps. J o e y | ||
| hammer
Junior Username: hammer Post Number: 50 Registered: 9-2009 |
Thanks for the input. Heading over to Minneapolis Today to check out four FA-901s that are being sold for a Very reasonable price. Does any one know much about the amps? All I've be able to find is that they push 225 into 8 ohms and 300 into 4 ohms. Given the price, I'm tempted to get more than one if they check out. | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 995 Registered: 10-2006 |
I've said it before and I'll probably say it again; Not only are Yamahas the most neutral amp I've come across, they're the only ones that never broke on me mid-gig. If you want color, the others all have some - try them & find the shade you like. If you want to hear exactly what comes out your pre-amp - or if you want to start every night knowing you'll end it using the same amp - get a Yamaha. I have more limited experience with the new ones, but they seem just as good, and they're all 2 rack spaces. Peter (who has no connection to Yamaha other than the warm, relaxed feeling a rackfull of them gives a soundman) | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 968 Registered: 5-2002 |
These are all great amps. However, you might want to take into consideration the weight factor. The Crest CA9 is indeed a great bass power amp, but it weighs more than 60 lbs. I went from one of those to a Crown XTi4000 (maybe overkill, but I don't want to run out of headroom) and it made life a lot better. It doesn't seem to lack in tone compared to the Crest and weighs 18.5lbs. I always have been tempted by the Yamaha amps. I played through a couple in the 90s and was pretty blown away. They can be had pretty cheap these days. Not as much power as the modern amps, but great sound. My favorite tone comes from my McIntosh 2105. However, it's not practical to lug around and only puts out about 135 watts per channel. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 1902 Registered: 5-2009 |
Hammer , I have a Crest FA-901 . I took it along with my Alembic F-2B , SF-2,& DS5-R to the Northern California Alembic Gathering. The FA-901 is a decent amp. In order for you to get full output with a non-balanced input you must tie the ground and inverted signal screw terminals together or you will get a 6dB gain loss, you can tie pin 2 to pin 1 inside the XLR connector as well. This input is pin 3 hot. | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 969 Registered: 5-2002 |
Wow, pin 3 hot! I am surprised by this a little. I had thought Crest was a pin 2 company from way back. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 1904 Registered: 5-2009 |
Edwin , YES , it's crazy PIN3 HOT, PIN2 HOT. PIN3 HOT.PIN2 HOT. BACK AND FORTH !!!!!!!!! POLARITY CHECK PLEASE !!!!!! Thanks to the AES for pushing making a standard PIN 2 Hot in 1990 ? But the FA-901 is from the early 1990's . I just looked it up in the pdf user manual and yes PIN 3 HOT,I wired it accordingly and it seemed right as well . | ||
| jacko
Senior Member Username: jacko Post Number: 2947 Registered: 10-2002 |
Brian. I've been using a QSC PLX2402 for several years and it's never once let me down. It's a bit lighter than the equivalent crown power amp. You don't say what impedance your cab is. My cabs are 4ohms so I get 700watts per channel from the qsc - more than enough for just about any gig I'll ever play. It's a very neutral sounding amp - i currently run a fender pre but have also used eden and ampeg pre amps and you can easily tell the difference between them - no power amp colouration there. Graeme | ||
| hammer
Member Username: hammer Post Number: 51 Registered: 9-2009 |
Thanks for info Graeme. The Crest amps I checked out over the weekend were beaten to a pulp so they are a no go. It looks like its going to come down to a QSC or a Yamaha as Peter suggested. They appear to provide a lot of power for the money and everyone seems to have positive thngs to say about them. Since I've never played through a QSC I'm heading out tonight to play through a RMX1850 that a friend has through a 4 x 10 (4 ohm) set-up similar to mine. I'm a bit bummed that I missed a used 2502 that recently went for $400 on Ebay but will keep looking. | ||
| pierreyves
Senior Member Username: pierreyves Post Number: 874 Registered: 11-2006 |
I have QSC and Yamaha P500S, I prefer the Yamaha because no noise of ventilator and best connectic. ;o) http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/products/power_amps/p7000s/index.html I use yamaha from a lot of years without any trouble. | ||
| jbabies
New Username: jbabies Post Number: 10 Registered: 12-2010 |
Ive got a Crown XTi 4000 as well, and its rocking. It's really clean sounding, powerful, light and has a massive amount of control options available though the internal DSP. It's also the only amp I have ever used that can do 4 set of balls to the wall rock and at the end of the night be cool to the touch. My pre amp gets hotter...Highly recommended... | ||
| 5sicks
Junior Username: 5sicks Post Number: 21 Registered: 8-2010 |
Behringer epx 3000 handles 2ohm loads all day/night with 900 w/ch @4ohms for $399. Clean, clear, uncolored and more power than I'll ever need driving 2 x15" Ciare 800 w in a Geoffrey cab. I never get my preamp past 2. Oh yeah, the amp weighs 22 lbs. | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 979 Registered: 5-2002 |
OK, this is a little odd. My Navigator preamp went into the shop to fix a low output problem. So, I went back to my Alembic pres. That got the output to where I wanted it, but I missed the Eden magic knob. So, I plugged my Eden WXT500 into the Crown XTi4000 thinking I'd get the benefit of the Eden pre with all the Crown monstrous power. It didn't seem all that great, so as a lark, I bypassed the Crown and used the 500 watt into 4 ohm power section of the WXT500. What a huge sound! I went from 650 watts per cabinet to 250 and for some reason it was bigger, punchier and just better. I'm not sure what to think. More experimentation is definitely called for. | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 10246 Registered: 5-2002 |
Edwin; I didn't really follow what you wrote there. Can you type it again? Brian; in case you're keeping score, like Graeme I too use a QSC PLX 2402. | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 982 Registered: 5-2002 |
All I was trying to say is that my little 9lb Eden WXT500, which has 500 watts into 4 ohms, was a lot bigger sounding than using the Crown XTi4000 power amp that has 650 watts into 8 ohms. | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 10253 Registered: 5-2002 |
Ahh! | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 1006 Registered: 10-2006 |
I can verify that Edwin's little Eden sounds amazing through his 2 EarFull (sp?) cabs. Peter | ||
| peoplechipper
Advanced Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 246 Registered: 2-2009 |
If you're gonna orphan that old Sunn Coliseum, send it to me (old Entwistle amps,yum!) seriously though, that doesn't have enough power?! those things kill people! I dunno, my Acoustic 370 has done gigs with 15 bands running through it for 10 hours without flinching...I've only been playing bass for about 5 years and maybe I'm missing something; why do you need SO much power? soundmen ask me to turn down at TWO...educate me people,please... Tony | ||
| mike1762
Senior Member Username: mike1762 Post Number: 936 Registered: 1-2008 |
Back in the day I used a Sunn Coliseum with an Acoustic 408 (4x15). UNBELIEVABLE tone and volume (I think I could have played ANY size venue and have been fine). I fried the Sunn while we were on the road and had to trade the 408 for another Amp/Cab just so we could keep going. I've never really been able to reproduce that sound since. I now have a QSC 3402/El Whappo Jr that I can use if/when I need a stage amp. I've used it with a F1X/ART ProChannel on the front end but really wasn't happy with the tone (the inability to boost mids on the F1X doesn't work for me). On a whim, I decided to try going without an amp and just running direct via a SansAmp Bass Driver/Boss ME-50B. As long as you have adequate monitors, it works!!! The tone may not exactly be the tone "in my head", but it's close enough. AND I know that it's the tone that the audience is hearing. You can spend as much money as you want on a stage amp, but as soon as your signal gets reprocessed by the FOH... all bets are off. | ||
| benson_murrensun
Senior Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 470 Registered: 5-2007 |
I put together a higher-powered rig in case I ever need it. But I hope I don't! It's a QSC RMX2450 amp paired with an old Yamaha PB-1 preamp. All solid state, for reliability. It sounds real good. But those two items along with the rack case weigh enough to anchor a cruise ship in rough seas. | ||
| peoplechipper
Advanced Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 249 Registered: 2-2009 |
I remember the Acoustic 408! my old bass player had one...HUGE bloody thing, like an Ampeg 8x10 but wider and way deeper! made those Sunn folded horn cabs look almost small...made him sell it when the bandleader got a new(smaller) van...hated helping him move it but it was an impressive monolith...Tony |
