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class d digital amplifiers

N

Nerk

Aug 26, 2010
16
0
#1
hey... looking for some advice... right now I have a bbe pre amp and a yorkville ap 4040 for my power amp... I'm simply using one channel and pushing an ampeg neo 4x10 cab... looking to lighten up the load and trim my rack down weight wise... but I need something to push 850watts at 8ohms... trying to find something that simply takes up 1u and half the weight...

any ideas... I found a kam digital amp for the UK... but thats not a standard 110v power outlet we have here... so that's no help...

anyhow... that's all for now... let me know if you have any questions or comments on my rig

thanks
 
#6
haha, thanks for the clarification...

but yeah, looking to shave some weight from my rack :)

I found this online...

KAM.CO.UK - THE OFFICIAL KAM WEBSITE - KXD7200

but thats UK stuff... need something that will just use 110v... didn't see anything from Crown or Yorkville that fits my needs...

The last band we gig'ed with had an ampeg head and it was tiny, I was wondering were all that power came from and of course it was a class D amp, I recently upgrade my car amplifier to class D, so I got curious to find something that can fit in a 1U slot in my rack

Does it even exist? can it exist...
 
#7
bongomania said:
PSA for everyone: when seeing the terms "class D" or "digital amp" used by anyone who isn't an amp designer, just mentally substitute the words "ultra light" in their place. Everyone will end up happier.
Click to expand...

That would stop me from being the 2nd or 3rd poster in EVERY thread where someone has 'Class D Digital' in the title. ;)

But fer real, letting it go only propagates the myth.
 
#10
I don't think there are that many 1U power amps, so that would shorten your list considerably. The only one I can think of is a Stewart World 1.2. There are ton of options for 2U though, and they're cheaper/lighter/more powerful.

Why do you need it to push 850w @ 8 ohms?
 
#11
Nerk said:
awesome... just checked out the powersoft stuff... thats what I'm looking for!

Any other "competitors" out there? surely they're not on their own in this market...
Click to expand...

Make sure you look at the rack depth and the price on those amps before you get too excited. Then Google "1 RU power amps" to see some other alternatives. ;)
 
#15
Nerk said:
oh 850@8ohms is just what the cab is rated at... I was always told that the pa > cab wattage wise
Click to expand...
Yep, some guitarist was feeding you an old wives' tale. The wattage rating on a cab is a rough estimation of how much wattage the speakers can take before burning up. In many cases the speakers will start to "fart out" at a much lower amount of power, some say as low as half the rating of the cab. So in some cases for example an "850 w" cab might only be useful up to 425 W. So the idea that the amp should put out MORE wattage than the cab is rated for is sheer baloney, a recipe for blown speakers. I should say though that an experienced player can get away with using a more powerful amp--they just have to really know what they're doing... or be very very lucky.
 
#17
Nerk said:
I thought the difference for that was peak/max vs rms
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Nah, "peak" is a totally BS number that should be ignored. It only exists so cab brands can inflate the specs, make people think they're getting something more than they are. RMS implies peaks, it is sort of an average value--meaning if your signal is up around that point on average, you are definitely sending in much higher peaks, and testing the limits of the cab.
 
#18
bongomania said:
the idea that the amp should put out MORE wattage than the cab is rated for is sheer baloney, a recipe for blown speakers.
Click to expand...

If the choice is between putting out significantly more power than the cab is designed for or significantly less power than the cab is designed for, I would always advocate getting significantly more.

But ideally you want to get rid of that "significant" difference regardless of whether it's + or - ...which is probably why the OP was asking about matching the cabinet's specified rating.
 
#20
Roscoe East said:
If the choice is between putting out significantly more power than the cab is designed for or significantly less power than the cab is designed for, I would always advocate getting significantly more.
Click to expand...

You would only do that if you haven't learned that "underpowering" is a myth, an old wives' tale. Search on it, and check out the FAQ, to learn.
 

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