I was looking at my Ampeg B2RE today and noticed on the back there is a 1/4" plug labeled "Power Amp In" and it got me thinking... Would it be possible to buy a generic power amp (about 1,000w) for a P.A. system, plug it in there and add power to my amp? Or would it be possible to take my amp's output, plug it into a power amp, and simply use my amp for EQ-ing? How do people usually incorporate a separate power amp into their system? Thanks
Hi there I always liked the sound of my B2, but found it underpowered, so I did just what you're thinking of - I got a massive, cheap, power amp, and connected the " balanced out" output to said power amp - result, same tone, just masses more volume and headroom. Give it a go - for £200 I've now got a rig that will get me heard over anything. By the way, the "poweramp in" socket is for routing an external preamp through the power amp in the B2, and the "preamp out" and "balanced out" sockets are for routing the B2's preamp to an external amp.
You could only use another power amp if you have more than one speaker cab really, and use the preamp out or the balanced out of the ampeg into the input of the power amp, and then use the poweramp to run another speaker cabinet.
I used to run the B2r's preamp out into a QSC power amp and it worked great but it made for a seriously heavy rack so I eventually replaced the B2r with a dedicated preamp. You'll dig it if you don't mind the weight.
Do that and you'll end up with two smoking pieces of junk. 'Power Amp In' is where you plug in an effects return or external pre-amp, not power amp. Read the owners manual.
So why would anyone blow a bunch of money on a 1,200 watt Bass Head if they can just buy a preamp for $200 and a 1,400 watt P.A. Poweramp for $430? Is a P.A. amp like QSC able to handle bass frequencies and levels fine?
Because some people dont like the extra hassle Also, i dont think a $430 1,400 watt amp will be very good. Also, some of us like tubes (yeah, tube power amps are about, but usually about the same price as just an all tube amp head)
OK... so if I was running a 4x10 and a 1x15 out of my amp, I'd run a speaker cable from my amp to the 4x10 and then a cable from the 4x10 to the 1x15? Or I'd just run a cable from the amp to each cabinet? Also how would I incorporate a crossover to maybe keep the mids/highs in the 4x10 and the lows in 1x15? Thanks dudes
Correct! Or you could (if your amp will run parallel) run each cabinet from a side of your amp. Or as Bill suggested you could get a pre-amp with a high and low output. Or you could run your own crossover between the preamp and amp.
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