Preamp / amp suggestions

[milwbassman]

Hey all,
Well, I pulled the trigger yesterday and purchased two new Dr. Bass cabinets, a 212, and a 115 both 8 ohm. Next I want to get a seperate preamp and amplifier, and want to know what everyone else is using. I am leaning towards a Dememter preamp, and Mark from Dr. Bass recommended that the power amp have twice the power that the speakers can handle. I would then need a power amp that in bridged mode (4Ohm), will be around 2,000 watts. QSC, Crown, other? Other high quality preamps?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[bongomania]

Hi, welcome to TB. You'll find that this forum is absolutely jam-packed with recommendations for preamps and power amps, all you have to do is read. If you want personalized suggestions, then you'll need to tell us:
-your real, realistic budget
-the tones/styles you like (maybe name some artists)
-other amps or preamps you've used already, and what you did or didn't like about each.

Also FWIW that "twice the power" advice is kind of bunk. I'd be surprised if he doesn't spend all day handling emails and calls about blown speaker cones in his cabs. It's only good advice if you have a rock solid control over your dynamics across the frequency range, and never plan to actually use more than like 1/3 of the available power most of the time. Most speakers fart out before they actually reach their rated power handling ability, and cannot handle more than their rated ability for anything more than very short transient spikes without blowing or burning out.

If you do have rock-solid control over your dynamic peaks across all frequencies, and you also have a keen ear for speaker distortion, then the "twice the power" thing can work for you because you can use those extra watts for transients that give a lot of "heft" to the sound.

 

[brisonic]

Most here would vote for crest, qsc, or crown. There are some unique features, like the QSC PLX2 amps have a crossover integrated so you can sub with one channel and run above 10hz to the other. I like the QSC RMX tone and feature wise, but they are heavy. The RMX doesn't have the crossover, and they are heavier, but they have the ability to trim off freq below 30hz or 50hz, bridge the inputs so you don't need a y cable to run in stereo. They're the least expensive of the QSC amps, I have the 1450 with an avatar 2x12 on one channel and the SWR triad on the other. Do some feature research as to what you want.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Take a look at the Carvin DCM series of power amps. Good amps at a good price and made in the US.

Paul