If you had a choice:

Well, the Demeter vtbp- 201s is a preamp, so if you go for that one, you'd need a power amp as well.

I've never played any of the others you mention, so I'll defer to the experience of other TB'ers.

BTW, with the way your post is worded, I don't think you're going to get any useful feedback IMHO.

 

You've listed two power amps and two preamps, then thrown in a vague reference to cabs. What was the question again?

 

Something to factor in with the the Stewart 1.2: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/peavey-dpc-1400x-vs-stewart-1-2-or-2-1.128784/#post-1466715
IIRC it doesn't do 4 ohms in bridged mode either, if that matters to you.

Out of your choices and for your purposes I would probably pick the Aguilar preamp and something a little more upscale than the XLS series, unless the price is irresistible. The 201 is nice too.

 

I have owned a couple of Stewart World 1.2s and a World 600 in the past. They sound great but keep in mind they get REALLY hot. Adequate ventilation and, ideally, a rack fan required for them IME.

 

Maybe Jeff can comment on whether it actually works robustly enough run that way though. Lots of bad press in the pro sound community on those in any case, all related to cooling issues. Do you need to bridge into 4?

 

Which generation XLS1000 are you looking at?

 

Is it one with the DSP stuff?

 

The W1.2s never shut down on me but I was always concerned it would melt anything sitting above it. I used it both in bridge mode and parallel mono with a cable I made to run my F-1X into both channels to run each one at 8Ω.

 

It was reliable for me, but I felt that the heat it generated was not doing it any favors. Modern Class D amps are amazing in how much power they produce with little to virtually no heat to speak of (not to mention how great they sound) I would never think of getting another Stewart amp, really. And, it this day and age the World 1.2 is heavy and large for the power it makes.

As to your second question, that should be fine but why waste so much usable space given what I just mentioned about modern Class D amps?

 

I have played the Aguilar db659 many times. That's one sweet sounding pre-amp.

 

As far as power amps, I say neither! Get a Crest ProLite for not much more than you'd pay for a used Stewart.

 

Crest has been a very respected pro audio player for many years. Northern Sound and Light has 'em, and usually for the lowest prices, but you have to call for the best price unless you're on their "super secret preferred buyer list." Modern lightweight power amps bought new with great warranties are the way to go IMHO.