iAmp600 vs. iAmp800

Hi,

I'm guessing you have found an NOS iAMP600 since they are not manufactured anymore. iAMP600 was before my time with EA so I can't compare the two having only used the iAMP800 and 500. Hopefully someone will chime in and help you out.

Steve

 

I've owned both and the 350. Overall the tone on all three was extremely similar. The iAmp 800 gives you some more headroom and it's lighter. I think that the 600 is around 27 lbs and an 800 is 19 lbs.

It might be worth it to get the 2 Ohm capability and more power. Do you have a 2 ohm setup of cabs? 800 W won't have a very noticeable volume increase over 600 W.

 

At 2 ohms the iAmp 800 puts out 1000 watts with (I believe) 2000 peak watts.

 

At 4 Ohms the 800 puts out 800 W and the 600 puts out 600 W. That's the comparison I was making. If ElephantTalk is using a 4 Ohm setup now, then that's what he'd be using on the 800 and then he'd have another 200 W of power. I guess it might have been unclear.

That said, 400 W will make little difference to actual volume as well, though it also depends on how the speaker setup is changed. You'll get some more headroom, which could make a big difference if you're running the 600 near clipping already.

 

My only point was that the iAmp 800 is capable of putting out 1000 watts.

 

I've owned both so here is my take.

Iamp800-No Fan noise,Great Clarity,"Tube-Like Fat but tight" Low End. Dual FX Loop but No Tuner (Newer) or Single FX loop with Tuner (Older). 2 ohm capable.

Iamp600-Some fan noise (Not Objectionable), Great clarity,Tight but not Fat Low End, Dual FX Loop AND Tuner.
4 ohm minimum load.

Both great amps and the 600 is still supported by EA.

I say if the flexibility of handling loads below 4 ohms is important to you, you'll be very happy with the 800.

 

the iAMP-800 is cheese / beef cake in a box.

 

There you go. It's scary how easy it is to justify more gear! The beauty is that you are justifying this gear purchase with... yet another gear purchase! Excellent! I commend you.

Tom.

 

ROTFLMAO!! This could be in small type somewhere on the inside of the front cover of the manual.
Tom, someone is using this quote as their signature right now as I type. If not, can I use it?
JEM

 

Feel free!

 

Great! One note, though. I would recommend sending the amp in to Gary at EA for a checkup. My iAMP 800 was originally a red knob version ( which has been changed to a "black knob" version!), and Gary did some minor upgrades for me (I think they mount the tuner chip a little differently, maybe a capacitor change or two, and possibly some different jacks; all minor stuff, but still cool to have done). Customer service at EA is really exceptional, even on used gear!

Enjoy, Tom.

 

At one point they received a shipment of 'bad' switched jacks. Specifically the passive input and the effects send jacks. If the switch on either of those jacks stops functioning it will result in no signal to the speaker outputs. They're easily swapped out if you have the correct replacement jacks.

 

You just need one more.

Kasim Sulton's rig originally posted by TBer rhythm

 

Did you ever do this shootout? If so, I may have missed it. But I have an iAMP 350 and an iAMP 500 on their way to me, so I may be able to do a 350/500/800 shootout sometime in the near future!