So I needed a power amp for home practice because a buddy repo'd his mixer, and I wanted to run my Fostex VF16 as a mixer/recorder for practice anyway...so I budgeted 100 dollars.
I tried to find an old used one, but they all weigh a ton and are hard to find in good shape for 100 bucks. So I started looking on ebay and found a new amp in the 15lb range that purports itself to be something like a super cheap Carvin DCM1540L (750w/channel @ 4 ohms, bridgeable at 8 ohms only).
http://www.amazon.com/Pyramid-ZPA150.../dp/B0018FQ2UI
I'd read reviews and looked at the specs; I'm not sure the watts are accurate, and couldn't find any THD specs or anything. But, decided to gamble on one since the Deep Discount had a 30 day guarantee where all I have to do is eat return shipping.
The amp is extremely basic; banana and speakon out, 1/4 and XLR in, zero features other than volume knobs and a bridge switch. It does have a separate speakon for bridging which is nice. There is no limiter.
The build quality feels extremely cheap. The lid is loose like a Yamaha P*S, but does not seem to resonate. The jacks feel a little flimsily connected. The whole thing is quite light, somewhere around the weight of a 700 RBII.
I don't think I'd gig it, but bottom line, it has enough juice to drive people out of the house with one channel into my pair of Jack 112s (4 ohms), without being clipped. My mixer does not have a particularly hot output, so it has to be turned way up, but I could not clip it and it was horrifyingly painfully loud.
My wife came in from across the house and said "Wow, that's really loud and clear!" -- The recorded music I was playing through the Jacks sounded really good!
I would recommend this highly for home use, or practice room PA, but it feels pretty cheap so I'd be worried about either gigging or dj'ing live, and it'd absolutely require a DSP tool or a really good mixer. Thankfully the Fostex has a lot of features and the Jacks are CRAZY sensitive.
I don't know if you can beat it for 100 bucks.
