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Best power amp/amp with effects loop for a preamp pedal

#23
poochiecheeks said:
Side question but why are all of those power amps stereo? do they make any mono crown power amps to take a single preamp out?
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I think all of the Crown amps can be run in Mono-bridged mode to get all the power from both sides from a single input/output. Their main application is for PA sound reinforcement, so offering separate right and left channels is important. The only downside to the mono-bridge mode being that sometimes each side can go down to 2ohm output while the bridged amps can only go down to 4ohm (part of the trade-off to the bridging capabilities unless it is designed otherwise).
 
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#24
sunbeast said:
I think all of the Crown amps can be run in Mono-bridged mode to get all the power from both sides from a single input/output. Their main application is for PA sound reinforcement, so offering separate right and left channels is important. The only downside to the mono-bridge mode being that sometimes each side can go down to 2ohm output while the bridged amps can only go down to 4ohm (part of the trade-off to the bridging capabilities unless it is ).
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Thank you
 
#25
Personally I'd grab a Class D amp with FX Loop that I liked the tone of, that way you have an alternative tone that can be used alongside the option to run the Rusty Box into the power amp input. The new Mesa 800D is under $1000 and has a similar tonestack as the Rusty Box but with tube tone. I haven't played one yet, but am a big fan of the Mesa 400+ that inspired it as well as a longtime Rusty Box fan.

You can get alot more power for the money from a rackmount power amp like a Crown, QSC, etc than from a full-on bass amplifier, but they tend to be significantly larger than modern bass heads due to the rack mount-ability.
 
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#26
Also many rack mount power amps will require a pretty hot output to drive to full output as they are usually made to be used with line-level preamps and many pedal preamps aren't adequate- definitely check the Input Sensitivity before buying any of these options. Not sure how the Rusty Box stacks up as far as output- I only ever tried mine through a bass amp FX loop (which worked well with all the amps I tried it with, though I actually prefer mine through the front of many amps).
 
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#27
sunbeast said:
I think all of the Crown amps can be run in Mono-bridged mode to get all the power from both sides from a single input/output. Their main application is for PA sound reinforcement, so offering separate right and left channels is important. The only downside to the mono-bridge mode being that sometimes each side can go down to 2ohm output while the bridged amps can only go down to 4ohm (part of the trade-off to the bridging capabilities unless it is designed otherwise).
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Beware that most models have enough power in bridge mode to destroy bass cabinets in the event of an accident or poor judgement. Also, these all require full line level to drive to rated output.
 
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#36
poochiecheeks said:
Side question but why are all of those power amps stereo? do they make any mono crown power amps to take a single preamp out?
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Good question - probably bc the amps are multi-purpose, and many of those purposes are for PA type use, where you would have a left and right dedicated channel. Also just makes the amps more versatile.

And yes, many of these amps have a bridge function where both sides of the amp can be used for one mono signal to one combined speaker output, at about twice the wattage.
 
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#37
ashtray said:
Good question - probably bc the amps are multi-purpose, and many of those purposes are for PA type use, where you would have a left and right dedicated channel. Also just makes the amps more versatile.

And yes, many of these amps have a bridge function where both sides of the amp can be used for one mono signal to one combined speaker output, at about twice the wattage.
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There are amps with 2, 4, 6, 8 and even 12 and 16 channels. It depends CB on the specific applications. There are or were a few stand alone mono power amps but they have more or less faded away.

Many bass amps are essentially preamps with a mono power amp though.
 

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