Crown vs QSC Power Amp question

[jacolyte]

i run a GX7 as my bass power (behind a sansamp front end). simple and reliable - very happy.

 

[Humbled]

The sound company I worked for for seventeen years is a QSC shop. They are bulletproof as far as reliability, but honestly I never liked the sound as much as Macrotechs. Might be pshcho-acoustics. But That's ancient history now... Crown, sadly, is nothing like the organization they used to be pre-Harman. QSC, however, has not changed, they're still as strong as ever on making top-tier products.

Ashly KLR amps are basically Korean-made Camco amplifiers (due to a complicated re-branding scheme) and may be the best $/oomph value to be had right now, IMHO...

 

[AlexanderB]

The sound company I worked for for seventeen years is a QSC shop. They are bulletproof as far as reliability, but honestly I never liked the sound as much as Macrotechs. Might be pshcho-acoustics. But That's ancient history now... Crown, sadly, is nothing like the organization they used to be pre-Harman. QSC, however, has not changed, they're still as strong as ever on making top-tier products.

Ashly KLR amps are basically Korean-made Camco amplifiers (due to a complicated re-branding scheme) and may be the best $/oomph value to be had right now, IMHO...

Interesting. My QSC amps (PLX 1804 + 3602 for highs/mids and monitors, RMX 5050 for subs) have been bullet proof, too, just like the Labgruppen amps I had before. However, the QSC amps sound better, regardless volume, but especially at high SPL and for deep bass.

Regarding Macrotechs... They sound "nice" for bass (especially), but I couldn's say if they are truly more accurate, or if they color the tone in a pleasing way. The 5000 model seems to have some built in compressor, IIRC. Anyway - is anyone using Macrotechs for touring/mobile PA any longer? They are immensly heavy.

 

[Humbled]

...Anyway - is anyone using Macrotechs for touring/mobile PA any longer? They are immensly heavy.

I seriously doubt it... They are immensely heavy, suck tons of juice, and the cooling-fans roar like hurricanes. ...And yes, they are self-limiting (i.e. you can't drive them to clipping, they go into self-limit/protect mode before that). I still think for PA amps, they were stronger than goats-breath, and probably best-sounding (fairly) high-power amps ever made.

 

[Liam Wald]

No difference. All amps are exactly the same.

 

[wmhill]

Can't tell you much about the GX5- but the GX3 was about the worst amp I ever tried for bass. The first one nuked itself after about a half hour (with no load- everything was turned down and it started to smoke). That one was replaced under warranty. The replacement was ok as a low power monitor amp, but I had to use it for bass for a few gigs... no headroom, any low notes made it clip, sounded gritty. Given those experiences I'd try the crown.

 

[s0c9]

I have Crown, QSC and Yamaha amps.. and none have ever gone in for repair or failed.
Either one would be fine from a vendor perspective IME.
My GX3 runs my HF drivers in my 3-way PA.
The Xti4000 has done sub and monitor duty.

However, you should take a serious look at what you are trying to power with either amp.
They will not be adequate for two 1000w FOH speakers... never mind running monitors as well.

 

[BluesOnBass]

Thanks to all for your replies. Interestingly, we had to sub in a 250 watt crown for a gig when the old power amp died, and it ran the 1000 watts pretty well for a small venue - 200 people at a club. I was surprised. Nobody said we were too loud, but nobody said we weren't loud enough, and recordings from the audience turned out well quality and volume wise. I'd like to have more power, but the great deal on these two amps is hard to resist and they may get the job done ok for now.

 

[Geri O]

No difference. All amps are exactly the same.

Good one.

 

[BluesOnBass]

Okay - thanks again for all your responses . I went with the Crown. Seems to have more options and can do 1600 watts in 4 ohm bridge mode. Can also do 2 ohms at 750 watts. The guy turns out to live about 2 miles from me and was a good guy to talk to. So any problems, I know where he lives.... Now I get the fun of fooling around with it to see what it can do

 

[walterw]

i really like the older QSCs for bass guitar duty because they have that nice little DIP switch bank in the back; i can engage the 30/50Hz HPF as a headroom-saver (i like the 30Hz setting, deep lows without over-taxing the speakers and amp or washing the room in useless sub-lows) and disengage the clip limiter (for more "grunt" on the low end, where a touch of clip is OK and results in more apparent amp power).

 

[Frankjohnson]

Not that you'll want to hear it but... IMO you need 2 amps. 1 for mains, 1 for monitors. Running amps at 2 ohms is not a good long term solution with budget amps... Running amps near their limits doesn't gwnerally sound good and it often causes damage.

Have you thought about EQ for the aystem ?

I was thinking that I as I was reading.......having JUST jumped through those hoops going from small rig, to bigger small rig, to mixwiz to xr18 setup. (still small compared to your setups 4Mal)

Being able to control monitors and have EQ is definitely a must if you dont' want feedback issues. it was a quick learning curve, and honestly, the payoff has been great.

 

[BluesOnBass]

Guitarist just got back two smaller crown amps that were with another band he had played in, so we now have those to run monitors. We already have Eq in the rack. Now we can put it all together and see what it sounds like . Thanks for the helpful responses everyone!

 

[Nephilymbass]

Hello Talkbass, I'm looking for some help deciding on a budget power amp, and hoping that some of you can lead me in the right direction.

Have a good deal possible with both a Crown XS500 and a QSC GX5. I think either will work for our performance needs, but am wondering about quality/reliability factors of both. We are a five piece with guitar, bass, keys, drums, and vocals (3 people sing). We play Blues, Blues-Rock, and some Classic Rock. Venues no more than probably 300 people.

Any input, thoughts etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I have a crown xls1500. It's a good inexpensive amp. Has never let me down and while I do believe the specs are exaggerated it's still a good amp for the money and it's super light (less than 10lbs) and you can overcompensate for the exaggeration of specs by getting a higher model. For example if you think all you need is the 1000 go ahead a spend a little more for the 1500.