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suggest a poweramp

#2
as far as lightweight yet powerful poweramps go the undisputed favorites around here are the qsc plx series and the stewart 2.1 and 1.6. all of these amps are 2 rack spaces, fairly deep, can handle 2 ohm loads per side/4 ohms bridge mono, and are 20 pounds or less. (I own a stewart 2.1. My vote would be for this or a plx 2402 or higher due to the power and light weight)

other favorites (but heavier) include the crown amps, crest amps like the ca-9 and ca-6, and the qsc rmx amps. from what i understand, amps from carvin and mackie aren't all that bad either.
 
#5
So exacly how much power would i need to power the mesa 4x10 powerhouse and the 1x15 add on? Im new to this
and i looked at the qsc plx specs and if im running both channel's i get less power per channel coming out? So i'd
need to have a power amp that can deliver 600 watts to
both sides if i wanna use a 4x10 and a 1x15? sorry bout all
the questions but you guys dont realise how big a favor this
is to me.

-lucas
 
#6
Lucas,

Check the back of your cabs for the RMS and the ohm values.
Then check the amp spec.
Try to get a bit less power on the amp than the cab, that way you are sure your cabs are not overpowered (duh).

The PLX are able to load each channel individually. So no worries about mixing 8ohm and 4ohm on 2 different channels... the amp does its job. One channel could have a 8ohm speaker and the other channel could use a 4ohm speaker without any problems.
You may need new cables though. I realized after purchasing my PLX that it needed speakon cables... do your home work on that as well.

For explanation of ohm load do a search in the amp forum
 
#10
I have had great luck with my PLX 3002, and would heartily recommend it any bass player. That said, a number of players have had good results switching form PLX series amps to a Crest CA9. Out of curiosity (and seeing a good deal on one used), I picked up a CA9. It also impressed me, and has mucho cajones, but to be honest, I didn't hear enough of a difference to justify buying one over the other. They both sound very good to my ears. I am going to try and get them both out to a gig with some demanding sound challenges (meaning, I get to turn up - a lot!), and I may know more after this gig.

But, in short, PLX series from QSC and CA series from Crest both get my vote.
 
#11
bassfroggy said:
Lucas,

Check the back of your cabs for the RMS and the ohm values.
Then check the amp spec.
Try to get a bit less power on the amp than the cab, that way you are sure your cabs are not overpowered (duh).
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to disagree on getting an amp that is slightly less powerful than the rating of the cabs. IME, this is exactly what is going to lead to damaging the speakers. If you start trying to drive the amp very hard, you will start sending a clipped signal to the speakers which could contain considerably more power than what the speaker is rated to recieve.

I would go with an amp that is putting out more power than what the speaker can handle. You use common sense and don't crank this amp and you can be driving the speakers near their max RMS value with nice clean power (since you still have headroom left in the amp).

Since the two cabs you are looking are rated for 600W and 400W respectively, I'd look for an amp that can either put out 600W or more per channel at 8 ohms or one that can put out 1000W or more in 4 ohms bridged. It depends how you want to run the amp. I personally run mine in bridged mode.
 
#13
tombowlus said:
I have had great luck with my PLX 3002, and would heartily recommend it any bass player. That said, a number of players have had good results switching form PLX series amps to a Crest CA9. Out of curiosity (and seeing a good deal on one used), I picked up a CA9. It also impressed me, and has mucho cajones, but to be honest, I didn't hear enough of a difference to justify buying one over the other.
Click to expand...

Thank you Tom! I needed to hear this! ;)

Im another happy PLX user. I use the 2402 and its a very powerful amp. It does take a hot preamp signal to drive it though.
 
#14
I used to run four Peavey CS800 power amps bridged into my stack. They are a bit heavy, but you can't blow them up. Best of all, you can pick them up really cheap on Ebay lately. I think they are not too popular because everybody wants those new lightweight power switching sissy amps.
 
#16
okay so i'm looking at crown and the ce1000 is rated at 275
per channel at 8ohm, but at 1100 at 4 ohm bridge? does this mean itll power a 4x10 and a 1x15, since itll give me more than 1000 bridged and 4 ohm. More importantly if i use both
amps bridged it gives me more power than running them in
2 seperate channels? This concept just won't click and i know
it will i just dont fully understand how bridge mode works
relative to what amps your using. Once i do i can stop asking
these stupid questions, yes i feel stupid for asking.
 
#18
lucai said:
okay so i'm looking at crown and the ce1000 is rated at 275
per channel at 8ohm, but at 1100 at 4 ohm bridge? does this mean itll power a 4x10 and a 1x15, since itll give me more than 1000 bridged and 4 ohm. More importantly if i use both
amps bridged it gives me more power than running them in
2 seperate channels? This concept just won't click and i know
it will i just dont fully understand how bridge mode works
relative to what amps your using. Once i do i can stop asking
these stupid questions, yes i feel stupid for asking.
Click to expand...

Hey Lucai ... In the case of the Xs900 (since you asked about it in the other thread), it runs stereo at 600 watts per channel @8ohm, so considering that the cabs you're looking at are 8ohm, you'd have enough power to run the cabs independently. Doing so would make 600 watts availble to each cabinet. However, if you want to run them together, you could run the amp stereo and just go off one side, or you could run the amp bridged mono. Powering both cabs together'd change the cab impedence to 4 ohm, and if in stereo mode, give you 900 watts from one side of the amp, leaving the other channel available as a backup ... probably more than enough power depending on how loud you're trying to get. Otherwise, you could bridge the amp, which with both cabs together would give you 2500 watts into the 4 ohm load - more than enough power to blow every speaker in both cabs if you got crazy ... you could also run the 410 by itself in bridge mono, but since you'd still be an 8ohm load, the amp would put out "only" 2100 watts ... again, crazy sick power ...

... I run mine bridged into a pair of 8 ohm 410's and it's crazy big ... not so much loud, although it's plenty loud, but it just moves so much air. I have no problems being both heard and felt with 2 guitarists tuned down, both playing through 2 head/2 412 rigs ...

Good luck, and I hope the info helps ...

Tony
 

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