• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Guitar player has n00b bass amp setup questions

B

brain21

Oct 29, 2007
4
0
#1
OK, coming from the guitar world, a guitar amp generally has both the pre & power amps all in 1 unit together. The only time you really ever buy a head that is simply a pre-amp is if it is a rack thing. Those were popular in the 80's & early 90's (Mesa-Boogies & Groove Tubes being the most popular), and you had to match it w/ a power amp and out to cabs.

OK, so I have this bass head. It's a Trace-Elliot AH1200SM. Apparently it's a pre-amp only (?). I don't have the manual for it, but it is very similar to the AH1000SM and the AH600SM. Those manuals state to run the head into a power amp, and then into a cab. While perusing various forums & sites, including looking at a few bass rigs on guitargeek.com, it certainly *seems* like people are runing these types of heads directly into a bass cab, w/ no power amp inbetween. Is this correct, or are the Trace cabs actually active cabs that have built-in power amps or what?

Also, (w/o looking at the back of it as I am not at home right now) the amp seems to be 1200watts at 2ohms. I assume that that is 600 watts per side/channel (?).

The thing here is that I really have no need for this thing anymore and eventually want to sell it. However, I have no cab to hook it up to (nor a power amp should I need one), and the last time it was used was in a recording studio around 7 years ago (in fact, it has always been used in a recording studio and not on gigs). IOW, I have no way of knowing if the thing works or not. SO my next question is...

If I can hook it into speakers w/o the need for a seperate power amp, I am wondering if I can hook it into one of my PA speakers, just enough so that I can hear if it is producing sound or not. I am guessing no, but here goes anyway...

The amp is 1200w @ 2ohms. So it would be 300w @ 8ohms I assume. But that would be per side, correct? Or would that really be only 150w per side, for a total of 300w? The PA speaker is 250 (500 peak) @ 8ohm.

I have a power amp, but I don't have the proper connectors for it (it won't take a regular 1/4" speaker cable - only speakon or banana, so I would need to get an adapter for it to run out to the speakers). The amp will do 350 watts into 8ohms, so ti will work for the PA speakers OK. The input of the amp will take balanced speaker cables (of which I have none) or XLR (I have regular mic cables - don't know if those are too thin or if they really need to be heavy duty)... or should I run a DI out of the T-E head (if it has one - this is from around '91) into the power amp?

Thanks for any help!

Brain21
 
#5
OK, cool. I wonder why the documentation for the AH1000 and AH600 say that it's a pre-amp?

Anyway, does anyone know if it will work with the speakers listed? It doesn't have to be loud. I just want to verify that the amp actually works properly before I try to sell it.

Thanks,

Brain21
 
#6
brain21 said:
OK, cool. I wonder why the documentation for the AH1000 and AH600 say that it's a pre-amp?

Anyway, does anyone know if it will work with the speakers listed? It doesn't have to be loud. I just want to verify that the amp actually works properly before I try to sell it.

Thanks,

Brain21
Click to expand...

It'll work with the speakers as long as you use the right connectors. Turn the volume right off before you turn it on to test it and bring it up gradually. You've got a lot of power available and might blow your speakers if you get careless.
 
#7
Thanks. To be honest, I'm more worried about the amp than the PA speakers. :-)

Yeah, obviously I'll make sure it is set to stereo mode and not bridged (assuming that the amp even does bridged mode - I think some of those earlier ones did not) and I'll turn down the volumes first, and then gradually turn them up. I just need to verify that I get signal out of the amp and it works. No need to get loud with it. :-)

I guess what I was concerned with was that the amp is 1200@2ohms, or ~300@8ohms, but I think that that is per side, so that would be a 150@8ohms on a single side going out to a 250watt @8ohm speaker. Is the speaker gonna try to pull too much power from the amp and cause problems?

Thanks again,

Brain21
 
#8
brain21 said:
I guess what I was concerned with was that the amp is 1200@2ohms, or ~300@8ohms, but I think that that is per side, so that would be a 150@8ohms on a single side going out to a 250watt @8ohm speaker. Is the speaker gonna try to pull too much power from the amp and cause problems?

Thanks again,

Brain21
Click to expand...


No, assuming it's a bass cab or a PA cab without a lot of low end boost on the amp. Don't try it with a guitar cab. Speakers don't "pull" power from the amp, they are "fed" it by the amp. Anyway, you can hook it up to a pa speaker to see if it works. Shouldn't hurt anything.
 
#10
gdthomas said:
thought you were gonna check that thing out this weekend. btw where were you today came by your cube a couple of times...:bassist:
Click to expand...

I'll thank you to keep your "cube" business to yourself! :D
I was there, but had a late lunch. Also, I didn't want to plug that thing in unless I was sure that it was OK. Last thing I need is to blow up the amp!

Anyway, it's a PA speaker, not a guitar cab, so I guess I should be OK to try it out this weekend...

Brain21
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back