Micro amp or lightweight power amp

trjazzluva05 · #1 08-20-2010, 09:25 AM

hey everybody....i have an Aguilar Tone Hammer that im using as the preamp section on a GK MB2-500 at my church. the GK preamp is good, but the Aguilar TH preamp sounds 100 times better!!! i was going to buy one of the new Crown XLS Power Amps or Peaveys, but im reluctant now having used the old model Crown XLS 402 power amp with my TH and Aguilar GS112 and almost blowing my speaker. i have to turn the amp's gain to like 1 and my speaker was still farting. i used to have a Eden WT-550 but traded it for a Marcus Miller Jazz Bass...(which i love BTW) So my question is: would i risk blowing my speakers using a lightweight power amp??? should i just get a used MB2-500 or another micro head? i also have an Aguilar GS212 too and i dont want to damage my cabinets. I also dont want another heavy amp. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MIJ-VI · #2 09-19-2010, 01:17 AM

If the MB2-500 is working fine for you now as a power amp then why not keep it?

Besides, one day you may end up playing a rock gig outside of church and the G-K pre's grind could come in handy.

jnewmark · #3 09-19-2010, 07:49 AM

This does'nt really answer your question, but I do both. I have a rack which has a Crown XLS 1000 Drivecore poweramp, ( 10 lbs ), a BBE 383 preamp ( 7 lbs ) and a MarkBass F1 head ( 4.5 lbs ). Sometimes I use the BBE and the Crown; sometimes I just use the F1, and sometimes I use the F1 as a preamp into the Crown. Best of all worlds, imho, in a very light, shallow rack for schleping. So far, I have no issues with overpowering my cab ( a 215 ) ; it seems to be just right for it. enough volume for my needs. I also use an LDS 112/tweet cab for a grab and go rig with the rack. No problems there either.

craig.p · #4 09-19-2010, 10:53 AM

I assume you've tried different settings on the Tone Hammer to lower the output without losing the tone you like, correct?

If you already have, and the Tone Hammer output's still too high, my first thought would be to send its output to a 50 Kohm (give or take) pot so you can knock down the Tone Hammer's output to whatever you want: zero to max. Put the pot into a cheap Bud Box. Pot + 2 phone jacks + box + a foot total of stranded wire should come to no more than twenty bucks, I would think. (Though I haven't gone and priced them.)

Or you could even wire a small 50K trimpot into a guitar cable, but that method might be more susceptible to noise. You could do that temporarily, though, to find what setting of the trim pot gave you the level you wanted, then replace it with a resistor divider, heat-shrink the divider, foil-shield it to the cable shield, and then finally heat-shrink the divider onto the cable. This would be a trivial, while-u-wait job for even a beginner tech, probably no more than $50-$75, including 5 minutes to find the "correct" level for your setup.

Not claiming this is the best way, just saying this is what I'd try first.

EDIT: Gah... I just saw how old the original post was. Sorry.

trjazzluva05 · #5 09-19-2010, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

If the MB2-500 is working fine for you now as a power amp then why not keep it?

Besides, one day you may end up playing a rock gig outside of church and the G-K pre's grind could come in handy.

Yeah man you're absolutely right. That's why I've bought another MB2-500, after foolishly selling my first to my church. Should be coming in this week I'm actually in service using my original one right now with the Tone Hammer as my preamp and its great!!! I tried the new Crown XLS 1000 and it was cool, but the MB2-500 is a lot smaller, has a headphone output for practice, and I don't have to put it in a rack case like I did the Crown. Plus its still plenty powerful. Now instead of one preamp with my TH, I have both the GK and TH preamp!!! I can separate them or blend them as well.