Question on Bass Rig Set up
 

I am looking into getting a power amp for my bass rig...
Right now I am running an Ampeg br-1 which does not have enough power for me. In my rack I have an Alesis Compressor, Tech 21-Sansamp RBI-1, behringer sonic maximizer, and krog tuner. I am using an Ampeg 4 x 10 cabinet with tweeter and a fender 4 X10 with a tweeter.

I need to replace my Ampeg head and replace with a good(but cheap power amp)

I have been looking at QSC GX3 and Crown XL1000.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on the two I am looking at or can recommend a good power amp?

Thanks.

Always go Crown. Tough as nails and the gold standard. IF you do have a problem they'll help even after the warranty runs out.

I use the PLX 1802 for my 4x10 rig and have never been happier. It's my third QSC amp since going the power amp/preamp route (I traded up in power from the first, then to the PLX for light weight) and I've never had a minute of trouble from QSC amps
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Have a samson that sounds great and never had an issue. 1200w class a/b. you shouldnt need another pre with your rig though, you already have choices with the sansamps if im not mistaken .

There are a lot of good choices out there. It depends more on your budget, required features and weight requirements. I don't think you could go wrong with either one of those amps. I lean towards QSC products because they have great QC and an excellent warranty. We also have a TB member who is a QSC engineer and you get t his support for free on the TB forum.

There is a big difference in weight between those two amps. The Crown XLS is much lighter then the QSC GX3. The Crown is a Class-D amp. The GX3 weighs about 24 lbs. The Crown weighs about 10 lbs. That may have a big effect on your decision. The QSC is a little old school but it's built like a tank and if I had to bet money on which would last longer and take abuse better my money would be the GX.

I have been using a GX5 for the last 4 years and it has been a reliable work horse of an amp. No problems at all.

I use a Peavey IPR 1600. Its a no frills amp, but almost impossible to beat the 1600 watts in a 7 pound package for the price. If you want more options to play with they do offer a DSP version. The Crest Pro-Lite series is pretty much the same amp with a few additional options.

Both are great power amps. You won't go wrong with either one. I like the lighter weight of the Crown but honestly I think it would depend more on price given that they would both do the job well.

The downside of the GX3 is that it can't run bridged so is a little less flexible.

This is true.

I get around this by using a 1/4" jumper that plugs into both of the 1/4" inputs on channels 1 & 2. This produces a stereo output at the speakon outputs with a single input on the front end into channel 1 XLR. I then run my two speakon cables from the outputs directly to each cabinet instead of running them from cabinet to cabinet in series. On my GX5 this puts 500 watts into each 8 ohm Avatar 2X10 cabinets. The GX3 will work the same way with lower wattage output. The QSC owners manual explains explains how to do this. This also works on the lighter weight ( and much more expensive) 1104 & 1804 PLX series amps which don't run bridge mono either.

I have the XLS1000 and I love it. Light, powerful and versatile. Built in x-over, high and low pass filters, and bridgeable. I've used it as a two channel amp and I'm now using it bridged with the high pass filter set at 50hz. Sounds amazing.

crown yes, QSC yes, even featherweight peavey yes; samson, no.

Agreed - If *I* were looking for a power amp for a bass rack rig, I'd go Peavey IPR - they're pretty impressive, and Peavey is still a great company...

Edited to add that I've had nothing but good experiences with both Crown and QSC, also...


- georgestrings

Does the XLS1000 have enough power for (2) 4x10 cabinets?

Do you think the GX3 has enough power for (2) 4x10 cabinets?

What is "enough power"?

Enough to push them to their limits? Should be about 1000 watts. Anything more is just head room. The real sticking point with some power amps in input sensitivity. They are not equal, so knob position on a pre amp has to re examined. With proper gains staging all these amps should tear a pair of 410's to bits.

1100w into 4ohms bridged... What kind of cabs?

If the oP is in the Americas he could look at the Carvin DCM---L series amps. Good products at an excellent price point. I'm using the DCM1000L in my main rig.

One person's experience doesn't count for much, but I used a Samson power amp for 2 years without any problems whatsoever.

When I first got two Fender Pro 410 cabs and put a rack system together for them, I didn’t have the amp I wanted yet, so I stuck an old GemSound amp (that I used to run a couple speakers/mid-field monitors) in the rack giving each 410 about 100 watts, and I was amazed how loud it would go. I don’t think I ever cranked it to see what it would do, but I know it had enough to be giggable.

I think a GX3 would be ideal for that. I ended up with a GX5, which was a bit overkill, but I was using a GX5 to run the band PA, so I figured it would make an ideal backup. Of course neither GX5 ever gave me a hint of a problem, and I love those amps, but yeah, there are lighter amps available.