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Pre + Power Amp Combo?

#21
I bought a brand new CROWN XTi 2000 digital power amp about six months ago. It runs up to 1000w stereo - 2000w total and it weighs 17 lbs !!!

As I said, I bought it brand new, and it was $900 US, and now six months later they sell for half that new.

The nice thing about the pre/power thing is that you can own two- three different pre's and slap 'em into the rack whenever you want to change your tone.

So, how's the Crown, you ask ? As mentioned before, you get what you pay for. It's CRYSTAL clear.

As for pre's, I've used a Sansamp RBI, Ampeg SVP-PRO, I just bought a Yamaha PB-1, and I found this thread becasue I was looking at ASHLEY, too. I like a hard rock sound. I've noticed over time, it's more the bass guitar (wood, pups, your fingers) that give the tone. The amp just translates these things. Hope this made some sense...
 
#23
genstormbringer said:
I have the same power amp as you Michael and I love it the best stuff was always made by Crown anyway. Big 18" Cerwin Vegas Sunn Cabs too oh holy crap back in the day all that stuff was gr8. I paid $500 for mine here in Philly at 8th Street Music
Click to expand...

Hi Lanis ! What are you doing up so late/early ? Great minds think alike ! The Peavey Cirrus through a pre, then the Crown XTi 2000 is really nice. The Crown XTi 2000 (or any XTi . The number just refers to the power rating. There is a 1000, 2000, and 4000 ) is super light weight, and even hooks up to your laptop to program it if you want. That's WAY beyond my understanding !

It's an AWESOME power amp. Yes Lanis, all Crown stuff is great. Well worth spending just a little bit more...

It's 2am here in San Francisco and I'm online talking with friends about bass gear - We are a dedicated lot, we bass players are ! Good night Lanis !

Ampeg-CrownXTi200rig013.gif
 
#24
UncleFluffy said:
I'm starting to consider this kind of setup - not because I need to, but because I like playing with stuff - and am thinking about using a Bass POD XT Pro into the power amp instead of a straight preamp.

Can anyone see any issues with doing it this way? Is it worth the OP considering it as an option?
Click to expand...

I'm doing this, although I don't have a Bass POD. I'm using the POD XT with the bass expansion pack.

I did a little bit of testing against real hardware, and it stacks up reasonably well. For example, I have a Fender Deluxe Reverb tube amp that I use for my electric guitar, and while I can't say that the POD sounds as good as that amp side by side, it is close.

I ran the same test with the POD Eden modeling against an Eden bass amp with a 2x10 Eden cab. Once again, it was comparable.

Side by side, the real amps sounded somewhat better to me, but if they weren't side by side tests, I don't think I could tell the difference.

It's good enough that right now I'm planning to get a 12 inch powered speaker to run the POD through for my bass. I don't know if that's a good plan, so if anyone has tried that, I'd like to hear from you.

My thought is that I can figure out what I really like with the POD and then go spend some serious money on the perfect rig. That is, when I have serious money. :crying:

The only problem I do have is that there's so much you can do with the POD that I don't know what to do. I'm having trouble finding the sound I want because there are too many options.
 
#25
Over the years I have found that, in most cases, if a piece of equipment has "Pro" in its name professional is the last thing it is! That's a cheap power amp that may or more likely may not last you for very long.

You say that you don't intend to rack your new equipment. The reason for the rack it to both keep the equipment stable and to protect your investment during transport. Not to do that is foolish IMO, you're just asking for trouble.

Paul

Paul
 
#26
smoothdave said:
I'm doing this, although I don't have a Bass POD. I'm using the POD XT with the bass expansion pack.

I did a little bit of testing against real hardware, and it stacks up reasonably well. For example, I have a Fender Deluxe Reverb tube amp that I use for my electric guitar, and while I can't say that the POD sounds as good as that amp side by side, it is close.

I ran the same test with the POD Eden modeling against an Eden bass amp with a 2x10 Eden cab. Once again, it was comparable.

Side by side, the real amps sounded somewhat better to me, but if they weren't side by side tests, I don't think I could tell the difference.

It's good enough that right now I'm planning to get a 12 inch powered speaker to run the POD through for my bass. I don't know if that's a good plan, so if anyone has tried that, I'd like to hear from you.

My thought is that I can figure out what I really like with the POD and then go spend some serious money on the perfect rig. That is, when I have serious money. :crying:

The only problem I do have is that there's so much you can do with the POD that I don't know what to do. I'm having trouble finding the sound I want because there are too many options.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I actually pulled the trigger on this a couple of weeks back. Now have a rack with a Bass Pod Pro, Guitar Pod Pro, misc active x-over + Carvin DCM2000L. Sounds good, but haven't yet taken it somewhere where I can really crank it yet. I think it's going to sound fairly awesome when I do.
 
#27
BassmanPaul said:
Over the years I have found that, in most cases, if a piece of equipment has "Pro" in its name professional is the last thing it is! That's a cheap power amp that may or more likely may not last you for very long.
Click to expand...

Just like two other important life rules:

(a) people who refer to you as "Friend" probably aren't

(b) food/kitchen equipment with "gourmet" on the box definitely isn't.
 
#28
There is a big advantage to running separate pre and power amps. If you don't like your sound or a component, replace it.
I've used this rig for nearly 10 years after replacing the Kern preamp twice (went to Aguilar DB680) and the power amp
once (from K1 to K2 Crown). The draw back is the weight of the total rack. I went to using a WTX260 with wireless etc. in
a box that weighs less than the preamp alone in this shot.]

Link Removed
 

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