Help With a Crown XLS-1000
 

I have an Ampeg PR-410HLF 4x10 cab. I bought a Crown XLS-1000 to drive it. When I set the amp to bridge bypass mode it does not increase in volume at all. When I set it back to stereo nothing changes as far as volume goes.

I have my guitar going to my sansamp BDDI xlr -> chanel 1 xlr in through the amp -> speakon to the cab.

Again, I don't hear any difference between bridged and stereo mode. I have to turn the volume all the way to max to get any loudness and that is not all that great.

Any advice?

Are you using the correct, weird speakon cable? For bridge mode you need a 4 wire to 2 wire cable.

Also, is it set to input Y on the screen?

The speakon looks normal, not weird. jk

I actually do not know about the speakon, I doubt it is a specialty cable. I see in the manual it says

"If using a Speakon® connector, connect the positive terminal of the speaker to 1+ and the negative terminal to 2+."

I can just open up the one end and do that, right? Is there more to it? Good Lord, didn't know it would be complicated. lol

And I saw the input Y, I have no idea what that is. My amp and cab are at the office so I will have to give this a go in the morning.

Thanks for the reply!

It is that easy, open the shell and move the wire from the 1- to the 2+. They are pinch screw inside the shell. Do NOT use the cable when rewired for normal dual mono unless you wire it back first.

That's all's you do.

Thanks so much. This is the most helpful forum I have ever been a part of.

Btw, just to be sure, the modified end goes in the amp, right?

Yes. Be sure to mark it some way so you know it is the amp only end. :)

Update: That did it. The only question now is whether it is enough amp for the cab.

Thanks for the help.

If the question is 'volume', I had a Crown XS that I tried to use with various preamps and the sensitivity of the amp did not match the output of the pre's. It is a matter of matching the input voltage the amp requires, in order to reach the
volume you are expecting. Now, the XS and XLS may differ, but you might want to look into this. I ended up with QSC
power amps.

use the banana's

The input sensitivity of the XLS is a bit high, so you'll have to drive your preamp a bit harder than usual to get a good level. Most rackmount pres have plenty of headroom for this but some of the battery powered floor pedal pres can struggle a bit

Is that the issue? I took it back and got the XLS1500 and it is not terribly better. I might go with a rackmount preamp. Thanks.

It needs a fairly high signal level because it's not very sensitive. In other words it has LOW input sensitivity.

Can you point me in the direction of what to look for in a preamp?

I run through a sansamp BDDI to the amp right now, bridged into my cab. Since I have the sansamp with the 3 programmable settings I really don't see the point of running into a Sansamp RBI.

Any help?

*Rewire the amp-end to +1, +2...but you know that already.

*Re-configure to "Bridge / Bypass". The manual is pretty straight forward.

*Some BDDI's will push an amp, some won't...depends on the age or whether or not the mod was performed. In the meantime, ditch the XLR cable and run a conventional 1/4" > 1/4" from the BDDI's "affected" out to the 1000's channel one 1/4" input (just below and to the right of the XLR in). XLR's are for running balanced signals to a desk / mixer, 1/4" makes more sense (and actually works!) when making pre > power amp connections.

Riis

I have the XLS 1500 in a small, shallow rack with the Ampeg SVP Pro preamp. I was using it with a 4-ohm GB Neox 212T for a small portable rig. The XLS 1500 is rated at 525 watts per side at 4-ohms. With this set-up using just one side of the amp, it could be very loud, never turned up past 1 o'clock.

I was using a Zoom B-3 effects pedal with it, mostly for the tuner and slight compression. I tried to use just the B-3 as the preamp with the amp together and could not get enough volume with the amp and the B-3 turned all the way up (but not in bridge mode.) So, while I don't know how much input you need, it does appear these amps require a higher input. I found the following specs online:

Ampeg SVP Pro: TOTAL SYSTEM GAIN 76dB, @1kHz w/levels up, tones flat; -3dB @30Hz, 15kHz

Zoom B3: Maximum output level: +5dBm

Sansamp RBI: Maximum output level +10dB or better.

Programmable BDDI: +10dB with boost switch.

Edit: For an affordable alternative, you may be able to use a Vamp Pro, Max output shows 20db online. Unbeatable for the price, IMO effects are worthless, but the amp simulators and built-in compressor are good. Search the large thread here on TB. I use mine with headphones for practice, paid under $100 used.

Guess I can just use the boost through the 1/4" then and I should get all the gain I would get anywhere else.

Update: Good Lord.

1/4" 10db boost with a little more level makes this beast a little scary. Not gonna lie. If I had known this I probably would not have gone with the 1500.

You can probably take it out of bridge mode and run another cabinet from the other channel if you ever need to.

Whew! I knew that there is always a justification for buying too big an amp.