My Crown XLS 1000 is in!!

[pgbassman]

I got my hands on one of the first Crown XLS 1000 power amps from Broadcast supply warehouse for a price of $299 and will try it on a gig tonight. It appears to be well made and I'm excited to give it a run through. I'll be using it with my Alembic F2B pre-amp and an LDS 15/10 cab rated at 700 watts which matches up perfectly with the XLS bridged 8ohm load...I'll post a review over the weekend.

 

[5StringPocket]

Sounds like something to look forward to!

 

[Fuzzbass]

Sounds like something to look forward to!

Ditto. Subscribed!

 

[jmarcus2]

subscribed.

 

[rbonner]

Ya Know, that's a great price for a power amp. Light weight too. I wouldn't even sell my pair of 20 year old Peavey CS800S 1200W @ 4 ohms bridged with switching PS for $300 ea... So that really opens another price value leader for Crown. Just make sure you bring a backup amp for the first gig.

BOB

 

[rovito]

Been using one on and off for A few years now. Great amp.

 

[pgbassman]

For the last year I’ve been using a Mark Bass Jeff Berlin with a 15 ext speaker for the 4ohm 500watt load and play mostly classic rock and blues covers. I love the fat round sound of 15’s and can usually fill a room off the stage with that set-up. My gear info for this review is listed in my original post. The good news is the amp sounds fat and full (700 watts bridged) with little to no fan noise. The bad news is that the amp hit the clip limiter about six times through out the night and shut down momentarily. I wasn’t really pushing the amp that hard and was kind of taken aback by the ease in which this amp shut down. The default is to have the clip limiters on so after the first set I shut the clip limiter off thinking it would tolerate a little more push but it had no effect at all. This clip/ shut off seemed to happen whenever I dug into my bass and believe me I’ve been playing for 40 years I know when I’m loud and walking on thin ice with amps and speakers but this wasn’t the case, the venue was small and the vibe was mellow. So bottom line, I would be reluctant to recommend this amp to any of my Talkbass brothers or sisters. This amp unfortunately is going back

 

[rovito]

Are you 100% sure you were in bridge mode with all of the connections in the right spots? My amp only hits the limiters under extreme volume situations.

 

[pgbassman]

Absolutely sure…it’s very easy to get the amp into and out of the bridged and stereo modes and there is only one way to hook a banana plug to the bridge mode terminals. I think you and I are talking about different crown amps because the XLS series is Crown’s latest line and it just shipped. What model are you using?

 

[B-string]

Looked hard at the Crown's also. The Peavey light wieght (IPR 1600) had a little more power and was already shipping so they got the nod. Be interested in the review!

 

[silky smoove]

To clarify, Crown has it's original XLS amps that have been out for a few years and the new Drivecore XLS amps that just came out.

 

[pgbassman]

thanks...then I bought the new Drivecore XLS!

 

[johnk_10]

if you were running it that cose to its limit, you probably should have chose the XLS1500 or the XLS2000.

 

[RBASS930]

How did you have the crown and alembic set?

 

[rovito]

Absolutely sure…it’s very easy to get the amp into and out of the bridged and stereo modes and there is only one way to hook a banana plug to the bridge mode terminals. I think you and I are talking about different crown amps because the XLS series is Crown’s latest line and it just shipped. What model are you using?

My bad, I have the XTI1000. It's been rock solid. That new XLS does look good.

 

[pgbassman]

if you were running it that cose to its limit, you probably should have chose the XLS1500 or the XLS2000.

I'm thinking the more head room the better as well.

 

[pgbassman]

My bad, I have the XTI1000. It's been rock solid. That new XLS does look good.

do you run it bridged?

 

[johnk_10]

My bad, I have the XTI1000. It's been rock solid. That new XLS does look good.

i have two xti1000's and three xti2000's and use them for my PA's monitors & subs, and another for my bass rig (bridged mono at 4 ohms @ 2Kwatts) and all of them have performed flawlessly. i wouldn't mind having a couple of drivecore XLS1500's to replace two of the xti1000's, as it would save 20lbs in one of my racks, but RMC audio hasn't got their's in yet, and since the xti's are already doing such a great job, its almost not worth it for me to replace them.

 

[rovito]

do you run it bridged?

Yes I bridge it into a GK SBX410+ cab.

 

[rbonner]

That's a shame she's folding up on you with just a 410 cab.

Here's the deal. You have 700 watts bridged. What that really is is a peak situation. A solid state amplifier needs to be able to pass the full waveform or it will clip and distort really poorly. Where a tube amplifier will compress and pass the signal with a "nice" type of distortion.

So when you compare POWER between a SS and a tube amp you have to include a 3 to 4 times the power overhead for a SS amplifier with the modern rating system.

Meaning your 700 watter will perform the same as a 180-230 W tube amp. More like the 180 watter. JohnK has the bigger amps and also tube amps and I totally agree its time to upgrade.

I have the AMPEG 1600's and 4PRO's here and they actually perform just slightly better than the tube SVT amps... (300-400 watts equivellent)

SO if she's tripping out. Send it right back and get the 1500, or you will have to turn it down. There's nothing wrong with the amp.

BOB