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Good Car Audio Amp For P/A Sub Amp?

Matty4Strings

Matty4Strings

Jan 10, 2021
76
52
#1
Hello!

My brother used to be into high end car audio. He had one of the best sounding car systems that I have ever heard to this day. He got married around 20 years ago and soon after moved on to doing other things with his spare time...

Consequently, some of his PPI amps and a few Lanzar LP12" subwoofers have since been all but forgotten about and just been taking up space in the storage room. I told him I was looking for a project to do and asked if I could use one of the drivers to build a sub box with and he didn't mind, was actually glad to see it get some use again..

So, I made a nice box according to the driver's specs and it sounds quite good on one of my QSC amps crossed over at 100Hz running with a pair of Mackie C200's as a small P/A! It also sounds pretty dam good playing bass guitar through it with a Fender Bassman!

Now, curiosity is getting the best of me and has me thinking about using a 12V power supply to run one of those competition Precision Power car amps with it using AC power from the outlet.

So, I come here to ask if anybody has done this before and what were your results? Especially curious to hear if anyone has played bass guitar through a Car Amp and what was your impression of it?

Thanks,
Matt
 
#3
You’ll need to find a suitable power supply. Lacking the high voltage of building electrical service, car amps made their power via high amperage. Check the fuses for the amps and you’ll probably see dual 30-amp fuses or some such.

In order to get the full power output of the amp, you’d have to find a 12v power supply with amperage capability about equal to the amplifier fuse rating. If you’re only using one side of a stereo amp, then it should be fine with a power supply of half the total fuse amperage.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
 
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#5
Thank you for the replies.

*4Mal - Yes, I remember reading something about that around back in 2012 when I bought these. The
EAW engineer was a big reason for buying them I checked my email receipt just to see what I paid, bcs I know it wasn't the $349 a piece that I see them for today! Turns out I got the pair for $349.. one was hardly blemished for 149 the other brand new for $200. They have seen light use and are still in excellent condition and they do sound surprisingly good..

*WayneP - Thanks Wayne.. I did check amp ratings on a few of the amplifiers back there and ones I saw did not have onboard fuses. So, an inline fuse will need to be wired in. The 100W-rms X2 amp calls for a 30A fuse and the 50Wrms X4 amp calls for a 35A fuse. The third am I checked out was a 50W X2, 15A. At the moment, I'm considering bridging the 100W x2 for the sub box. I also would like to use one of the active variable frequency cross over units that he has back there. I shouldn't draw much current in its operation.. I found a few 30 to 50A power supplies that aren't very expensive that received hundreds of good reviews and made sure to find some people using them to power a car amp with a subwoofer and the reviewers all said they provide plenty of power for that and had no issues with inadequate power to operate the amps.

crazyBass - The PSU's that I read up on ranged in price from around $40 to $70. There are ones for $300 to $500. But, thats not practical and doesn't seem necessary based on reviews from ppl using them the same way that I would be.
 
#6
Matty4Strings said:
*WayneP - I found a few 30 to 50A power supplies that aren't very expensive that received hundreds of good reviews and made sure to find some people using them to power a car amp with a subwoofer and the reviewers all said they provide plenty of power for that and had no issues with inadequate power to operate the amps.
Click to expand...

Another potential issue I forgot about is that a power supply may not be all that quiet, especially the cheaper ones. Generally, power supplies like this aren’t designed for audio use. That wouldn’t be a problem with a subwoofer as the LPF would pretty much eliminate it. However, it could be an issue (hiss) in a full-range bass cabinet. Granted, a lot of bass head aren’t all that quiet to begin with, but it’ll be something to look out for. Might be a good idea to make sure the power supply you decide on comes with a generous return policy.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
 
#7
Thanks Wayne. The PSUs I've been looking at seem to be popular with the HAM/CB Radio crowd and they find them to be quiet. The few "noise" complaints that were mentioned were in regards to the fan being louder than they would have liked. But, some had even posted that they tightened the fan's mounting screws and a lot of the noise went away after that. And a handful of people that were using it to power their car's subwoofer in their home theater system said it was doing a good job of it and had no complaints.

I actually had misquoted some of the amplifier specs earlier.. What I thought was a 100W X2ch amp with a 30A fuse is actually 75W X2ch with a 20A fuse, which bridges to 300W Mono. That seems like it would be a good fit for the sub application and more power than I will need for playing bass through it. The available 10Amps can accommodate the electronic crossover, which will enable finding the best sounding low pass frequency according to how Im using the box. It should be interesting!
 
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#9
Matty4Strings said:
I found a few 30 to 50A power supplies that aren't very expensive that received hundreds of good reviews and made sure to find some people using them to power a car amp with a subwoofer and the reviewers all said they provide plenty of power for that and had no issues with inadequate power to operate the amps.
Click to expand...

A bigger concern with cheap power supplies is that they won't last very long. How good the ones you are looking at are I have no idea.
 

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