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Crown Drivecore XLS1000
- Thread starter Brad Johnson
- Start date
The only time the PB-1 doesn't stay clean is if you boost the volume control really high, then it can get nasty (in a bad way).
My band does the Korn version of "Word Up" and I boost the bass control up a bit on both the preamp and my SR5 to get that Dub kind of big low end and yeah, it stays clean for sure.
Yes, it's a great time if you are into the pre/power amp type of rig. Lots of options for lightweight, powerful poweramps in the 1000 to 2500 watt category. I remember carrying around a BGW power amp that must have weighed 40 lbs, and gave me 500 watts back in the day ! I'm really digging the XLS 1000 and so is my back.
I gigged with my Drivecore XLS1500 for the first time last night. It was
great. It's the same size and weight as the XLS1000; just more power.
I used the DI out of my Bassman 250 head to drive it.
I picked up a Speakon jumper cable on ebay to use it in bridge mode.
It's a one foot cable that I can connect in series with a regular Speakon
cable to tap into both channels. I brought the cable adapter along to the
gig but what I didn't realize was that there was a female-to-female
Speakon adapter that is used with it to connect the jumper cable in
series with the regular cable. I inadvertently left the adapter at home
connected to my practice cab. So, I had to put the amp back in
stereo mode and only use one channel. So, while I didn't have access to
full power, I still had plenty of power (525W).
The amp performed flawlessly. The best part of the whole thing: the
amp runs cool as a cucumber.
great. It's the same size and weight as the XLS1000; just more power.
I used the DI out of my Bassman 250 head to drive it.
I picked up a Speakon jumper cable on ebay to use it in bridge mode.
It's a one foot cable that I can connect in series with a regular Speakon
cable to tap into both channels. I brought the cable adapter along to the
gig but what I didn't realize was that there was a female-to-female
Speakon adapter that is used with it to connect the jumper cable in
series with the regular cable. I inadvertently left the adapter at home
connected to my practice cab. So, I had to put the amp back in
stereo mode and only use one channel. So, while I didn't have access to
full power, I still had plenty of power (525W).
The amp performed flawlessly. The best part of the whole thing: the
amp runs cool as a cucumber.
Thought it might be fun to summarize things this way:
It is now very easy to put together a highly configurable lightweight rig like mine...
Crown Drivecore XLS1000 - under $300.
Yamaha PB-1 preamp - ~$150 used. Since I picked my PB-1 up years ago and got the $50 discount on the Crown, my rig came in well under $400. That's nuts. Less than most rackmount pres alone.
Less than $500 for a lightweight 1100w @4ohms rig. Fully parametric EQ, dual crossovers in the preamp, crossovers in the power amp. Stereo, biamp or full range. 2ohm in stereo mode.
Of course none of that would matter if the tone weren't there. IMO it is. Big time.
That's pretty ridiculous... it's the kind of deal only people like me usually find
It is now very easy to put together a highly configurable lightweight rig like mine...
Crown Drivecore XLS1000 - under $300.
Yamaha PB-1 preamp - ~$150 used. Since I picked my PB-1 up years ago and got the $50 discount on the Crown, my rig came in well under $400. That's nuts. Less than most rackmount pres alone.
Less than $500 for a lightweight 1100w @4ohms rig. Fully parametric EQ, dual crossovers in the preamp, crossovers in the power amp. Stereo, biamp or full range. 2ohm in stereo mode.
Of course none of that would matter if the tone weren't there. IMO it is. Big time.
That's pretty ridiculous... it's the kind of deal only people like me usually find
Thought it might be fun to summarize things this way:
It is now very easy to put together a highly configurable lightweight rig like mine...
Crown Drivecore XLS1000 - under $300.
Yamaha PB-1 preamp - ~$150 used. Since I picked my PB-1 up years ago and got the $50 discount on the Crown, my rig came in well under $400. That's nuts. Less than most rackmount pres alone.
Less than $500 for a lightweight 1100w @4ohms rig. Fully parametric EQ, dual crossovers in the preamp, crossovers in the power amp. Stereo, biamp or full range. 2ohm in stereo mode.
Of course none of that would matter if the tone weren't there. IMO it is. Big time.
That's pretty ridiculous... it's the kind of deal only people like me usually find
The PB-1 I bought was in really excellent condition.
The owner asked me to make an offer (I knew the price ranges for how they usually sell), so I offered him $175 and we were both very happy with the deal.
I would be surprised if even used, you could touch the combination of sound quality and functionality of these in another brand for twice the price.
I'm using a Sansamp RPM with a Crown XLS 1500 in crossover mode into a DIY Fearful 15/6. 8 ohms and 300 watts per channel. Channel 1 goes to the 15 and channel 2 goes to the 6.5.
It gets super loud and is more than plenty for practice and jamming with friends which is all I'll be doing in the foreseeable future but the 15" speaker can handle 500 watts. The XLS 2500 would be a better choice with this particular rig for larger gigs. If I had an internal crossover in the cabinet and ran the XLS 1500 in bridge mode it would kill at 1000 watts.
I love running it biamped though because the channel 2 volume control on the midrange speaker is like having a supercharged treble knob. Maximum control over clank.
"insights, experiences, and recommendations?"
I just got back into playing last year after not touching my bass for more than 20 years. I'm not experienced enough to give insightful recommendations
I can say that I was playing through an Acoustic B200 15" combo and my new rig completely blows the Acoustic out of the water. Just figured out the mid and the mid shift on the RPM and I've been messing around with that.
Seems like I remember reading about some mod to the PB-1 that prevents the bad nasties, where I read it is the question. Anyone recall that mod?
sabre79, very sweet setup! Well done!
=wr=
I'm just gettting into the power amp-pre amp set up. I borrowed my friend's QSC GX5 and used my VT bass pedal to drive it. I used a Markbass 121H (400 watts 8 ohm) cab and wow, the tone is just beautiful!The VT pedal is hot enough that I don't need to turn the volume up more than 12 o'clock. With an 8 ohm 700 watt Peavey 410TX, it sounded not as good but that cab has a kind of scooped tone compared to the Markbass cab. Now, I have to get my own power amp and the Crown XLS looks to be a good choice 'cause of the price plus the $30 off from GC!!
This is my first attempt ever at a pre/power amp rig. The lighter power amp sure made the difference. I planned to use the XLS1500 w/ Markbass F1 as the pre to drive about 1000 watts, bridged @ 8 ohms, into my 8 ohm, UL410-II cab.
Of course after much research here on TB, I got all G.A.S.ed up for an actual preamp, darn y'all.
So I traded with a TBer for his Alembic F-1X then I won a BBE BMax that nite on the 'Bay. Til the preez arrived I was running the amp with the F1, worked just fine. I had a very nice n loud F1 now. Also, I called Zzounds and asked them to beat that GC $50 coupon, they did, offered another 10% off and let me pay it in 4 payments, nice.
Then the two preez arrived and I started hooking up other cabs to the 410. A 212, a 210 a 112. During this time I had many questions and fired off many PM's to TBer, Fuzz Bass and jnewark, thanks so much guys for your help and your patience. I settled on using the Neox 112 on top of the UL410 for my gig last nite. I ran em Y-input, Xover, HPF @ 50hz. I was kinda scared I'd blow something with all those watts, so I wanted to play it safe first time outta the gate.
I used the BBE pre since I felt its' tone went better than the F-1X where I use my 55-02D in the disco/funk/latin band with 9pcs, w/3 horns, keys, loud guitard, spec percs just a mess of folks up there and NO PA support for me. REALLY??? C'mon now.
Well I liked that I could turn the Neox 112T cab up just where I needed for my ears on CH #2. Had CH #1 cranked more thru the 410. Now, even with all the help TBers offered me, I'm real green about how all the options on the Crown work, so those final settings above were what I felt OK with as I only got to practice, alone in my livingroom before the gig.
Well I def had to crank the amp levels up more at the gig than I had at home, think I was only getting the 575 watts total or maybe about 300 watts per cab, have to go re-check the manual to confirm with that setup. But I also told Fuzz Bass if I had time, I'd switch to Mono-Bridge for about 1050 watts @ 8 ohms into UL410.
So third set break I shut it all down, I happen to own a Speakon to Banana speaker cord that I use with my Eden cabs, so just placed that into the Bridge banana hookups and speakon end to cab. I turned amp back on and pushed the settings buttons to get to Bridge Mode>HPF 50hz in a few seconds. Hey if a old-fart-dufus like me can do this on the fly, it aint hard to do.
AND AWW MAN! Does this setup sound awesome bridged into the that UL410. Thats originally why I bought the Crown was to run more watts into this single cab with F1. Well we can all see how that went and I'm already eyeing other preez to tryout, Jeez.
But I had fun, I was poppin n slappin way more than needed, HAHA just cuz it made the 55-02 sound so cool thru this bridged setup. Hey it was last set and I had to know what she could do, que no?
Well, I know now I can prolly almost always run the single cab bridged and have great, huge lows n plenty volume. But its cool to know I can do that sorta bi-amp thing with a smaller cab ontop if need be and still get very good n loud while controlling the top cab that's in my ear.
Gonna try the F-1X next week with my TX blues/rock band, def a single 410 this time and Am St P5. Smaller band, less loud, tho still no PA for me. OH, and at home I did try my VT pedal, LMII, F1, Neopak heads into the Crown amp. I feel, you still get the tone from those amps with just awhole bunch more balls behind em. I only used the HPF @ 50Hz as so many TBers seem to use that with pre/power amps they use, I just thought it'd be safer.
And I only play 5 string basses so don't know if I'm hurting or helping myself with this. The Crown limiters were on, tho one can turn them off as well, per Clip #1 & Clip #2 in panel menu. Everything you need on the front LCD readout, really cool.
Finally, if anyone else can suggest more (better) settings on how I might use the Crown, or if I'm doing something wrong here, pls let me know. From what little I know and have tried so far, these DriveCore XLS series amps are very nice, very light, powerful and so easy to use. Why I bet even a caveman could do it.
Peace y'all.
Of course after much research here on TB, I got all G.A.S.ed up for an actual preamp, darn y'all.
So I traded with a TBer for his Alembic F-1X then I won a BBE BMax that nite on the 'Bay. Til the preez arrived I was running the amp with the F1, worked just fine. I had a very nice n loud F1 now. Also, I called Zzounds and asked them to beat that GC $50 coupon, they did, offered another 10% off and let me pay it in 4 payments, nice. Then the two preez arrived and I started hooking up other cabs to the 410. A 212, a 210 a 112. During this time I had many questions and fired off many PM's to TBer, Fuzz Bass and jnewark, thanks so much guys for your help and your patience. I settled on using the Neox 112 on top of the UL410 for my gig last nite. I ran em Y-input, Xover, HPF @ 50hz. I was kinda scared I'd blow something with all those watts, so I wanted to play it safe first time outta the gate.
I used the BBE pre since I felt its' tone went better than the F-1X where I use my 55-02D in the disco/funk/latin band with 9pcs, w/3 horns, keys, loud guitard, spec percs just a mess of folks up there and NO PA support for me. REALLY??? C'mon now.
Well I liked that I could turn the Neox 112T cab up just where I needed for my ears on CH #2. Had CH #1 cranked more thru the 410. Now, even with all the help TBers offered me, I'm real green about how all the options on the Crown work, so those final settings above were what I felt OK with as I only got to practice, alone in my livingroom before the gig.
Well I def had to crank the amp levels up more at the gig than I had at home, think I was only getting the 575 watts total or maybe about 300 watts per cab, have to go re-check the manual to confirm with that setup. But I also told Fuzz Bass if I had time, I'd switch to Mono-Bridge for about 1050 watts @ 8 ohms into UL410.
So third set break I shut it all down, I happen to own a Speakon to Banana speaker cord that I use with my Eden cabs, so just placed that into the Bridge banana hookups and speakon end to cab. I turned amp back on and pushed the settings buttons to get to Bridge Mode>HPF 50hz in a few seconds. Hey if a old-fart-dufus like me can do this on the fly, it aint hard to do.
AND AWW MAN! Does this setup sound awesome bridged into the that UL410. Thats originally why I bought the Crown was to run more watts into this single cab with F1. Well we can all see how that went and I'm already eyeing other preez to tryout, Jeez.
But I had fun, I was poppin n slappin way more than needed, HAHA just cuz it made the 55-02 sound so cool thru this bridged setup. Hey it was last set and I had to know what she could do, que no?
Well, I know now I can prolly almost always run the single cab bridged and have great, huge lows n plenty volume. But its cool to know I can do that sorta bi-amp thing with a smaller cab ontop if need be and still get very good n loud while controlling the top cab that's in my ear.
Gonna try the F-1X next week with my TX blues/rock band, def a single 410 this time and Am St P5. Smaller band, less loud, tho still no PA for me. OH, and at home I did try my VT pedal, LMII, F1, Neopak heads into the Crown amp. I feel, you still get the tone from those amps with just awhole bunch more balls behind em. I only used the HPF @ 50Hz as so many TBers seem to use that with pre/power amps they use, I just thought it'd be safer.
And I only play 5 string basses so don't know if I'm hurting or helping myself with this. The Crown limiters were on, tho one can turn them off as well, per Clip #1 & Clip #2 in panel menu. Everything you need on the front LCD readout, really cool.
Finally, if anyone else can suggest more (better) settings on how I might use the Crown, or if I'm doing something wrong here, pls let me know. From what little I know and have tried so far, these DriveCore XLS series amps are very nice, very light, powerful and so easy to use. Why I bet even a caveman could do it.
Peace y'all.
I'm using a Sansamp RPM with a Crown XLS 1500 in crossover mode into a DIY Fearful 15/6. 8 ohms and 300 watts per channel. Channel 1 goes to the 15 and channel 2 goes to the 6.5.
It gets super loud and is more than plenty for practice and jamming with friends which is all I'll be doing in the foreseeable future but the 15" speaker can handle 500 watts. The XLS 2500 would be a better choice with this particular rig for larger gigs. If I had an internal crossover in the cabinet and ran the XLS 1500 in bridge mode it would kill at 1000 watts.
I love running it biamped though because the channel 2 volume control on the midrange speaker is like having a supercharged treble knob. Maximum control over clank.
"insights, experiences, and recommendations?"
I just got back into playing last year after not touching my bass for more than 20 years. I'm not experienced enough to give insightful recommendations
Where did you get those shorty AC cables ?
I picked one up about a month ago when my six year old Mackie finally crapped out. I got the XLS 1000 for 279.00 at GC. I run an old Peavy Bassist preamp with it and run them into an Eden EN210XST cab and an old KMD 115 cab.
I was skeptical about the amp at first, but I had a show and needed something quick that I could afford for a show the next night. When you think 'Amps" you think Heavy. That was the reason for my skepticism. I was just waiting for it to go out or something lol.
So far it seems like a really good amp. Hopefully in six months or a year I can still say the same thing lol.
I was skeptical about the amp at first, but I had a show and needed something quick that I could afford for a show the next night. When you think 'Amps" you think Heavy. That was the reason for my skepticism. I was just waiting for it to go out or something lol.
So far it seems like a really good amp. Hopefully in six months or a year I can still say the same thing lol.
if your talking about the Crown amps reliability, you got that 3 yr no hassle warranty. So even if it does "go out" in 6 months your covered. I dont forsee that happening but its good to know your covered for a good while.
I did something stupid and I stepped up to the rig with it all on, knobs open, my bass strapped and still plugged in. Then, major brain-phart here, I pulled a 1/4" cable from back of preamp effects send causing this huge, squealing feedback. Didn't help that I was right against my rig. I ran around front to shut off amp and both channels were clipped to the max, hadn't seen those red lights by even playing real loud yet.
Well after all the noise and stupidity, Ooh, Ooh that smell.
Thought, great I just fried my one day old, new amp or pre. Well seems I only fried the tweeter or Xover in my GB Neox112T cab. I could pinpoint the smell to the upper righthand corner of that little cab. DUH! As usual GB CS is just great. Roger told me its prolly the xover, call the company on Monday tell em Roger sent you. Plus he said I'd be OK to use the 112 cab still. Heck I used it at my gig that nite, with a second cab of course. But worked out fine.
So I think I mighta given the Crown amp its' first hard test by my stupid move, it came out alright. And of course, the GB cab made it thru as well, but that was no surprise, tho slightly scathed. Crown and Genz Benz, good stuff man.
I did something stupid and I stepped up to the rig with it all on, knobs open, my bass strapped and still plugged in. Then, major brain-phart here, I pulled a 1/4" cable from back of preamp effects send causing this huge, squealing feedback. Didn't help that I was right against my rig. I ran around front to shut off amp and both channels were clipped to the max, hadn't seen those red lights by even playing real loud yet.
Well after all the noise and stupidity, Ooh, Ooh that smell.
Thought, great I just fried my one day old, new amp or pre. Well seems I only fried the tweeter or Xover in my GB Neox112T cab. I could pinpoint the smell to the upper righthand corner of that little cab. DUH! As usual GB CS is just great. Roger told me its prolly the xover, call the company on Monday tell em Roger sent you. Plus he said I'd be OK to use the 112 cab still. Heck I used it at my gig that nite, with a second cab of course. But worked out fine.
So I think I mighta given the Crown amp its' first hard test by my stupid move, it came out alright. And of course, the GB cab made it thru as well, but that was no surprise, tho slightly scathed. Crown and Genz Benz, good stuff man.
Taking the rig out tonight with Bag End coax cabs (S15 and S10) and tomorrow with the Nahas stack (1-15 and 1-12 with tweeter). Should be fun.
