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Suggested power amp to drive 2 old TE cabs?

L

leftyjay

Mar 3, 2012
28
1
Folkestone, Kent, UK
#1
Hey folks,
I'm hoping some people will be able to help me out with the following rig question.
Here's the deal... currently i run into an old Trace Elliot AH200 Series 6 GP12 amp, running a single 1048 (4x10" the red one, no horn).
All being well i should be picking up a Trace 1518 (1x15") in the next few weeks. Once i am running both i understand that i will get an increase in power from about 150 to 200W as i will be at 4ohms.
Eventually i am considering using the AH200 as just a pre-amp, and then getting a bigger power amp to run the cabs, so i get more headroom, but i am curious as to what you guys would suggest to drive these 2 trace cabs. I'm pretty sure both cabs are rated to handle 300W continuous, but then again i know that Trace watts are a bit louder than regular watts (or they just underquoted the power).
Also i'm trying to keep in mind the discrepancies between quoted power output in power amps (some manufacturers seem a little optimistic!), so i have a couple of ideas - please give your thoughts:
Behringer Europower EP4000 - 550W @ 8ohms
Peavey IPR1600 - about 400W @ 8ohms

Also any alternatives you may like to suggest would be welcome! I'm just looking to keep my tone as clean as possible whilst also having plenty of headroom. I'm thinking that these trace cabs rated at 300W could happily sit with an amp putting out 300-500 watts, its not like i'm cranked all day long :)

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Cheers, J
 
#4
leftyjay said:
cool, thanks! obviously i know the peavey is lighter if less powerful, but how about the general notion that a power amp putting out 300-500Watts would be OK for speakers quoted as handling 300W?
Click to expand...

I bet you a penny that the IPR puts out more power if you got both amps on a test bench.

Use your ears and what is between them, and you can run any amp with any cab safely.
 
#9
My 250 puts out about 180w RMS into 8 ohms, give it two cabs and it really boogies. 500 peak watts.

400 peak from yours is near enough same. Try it, you'll probably be able to get the 1518 farting out. A more powerful amp doesn't make headroom unless the speakers can make use of it.
 
#10
to be honest i've never struggled for power out of my AH200! i think i just have extended GAS and was imagining a mega-rig based around the pre out of my AH200!

those Trace Heads are ridiculous in power - i played for years with an incredibly loud drummer (Olly Smith - used to play for Lauren 'daughter of Steve' Harris/Six Hour Sundown, youtube him!) and never struggled. I played a festival last weekend and the old Trace easily held her own against another dude's brand new TC Electronic RH750 and someone else's brand new Ampeg SVT3!

i'll just get the 1x15 and live with it before i think about needing any MORE power lol!
 
#12
BassmanPaul said:
Please do a search on the "benefits" of running a 1x15 with a 4x10. :)
Click to expand...

haha! i did this and found the whole argument!!!

in the end i picked up a cab that i saw on ebay - a Trace with a missing badge for £30!!! It turned out to be a 1x18!

Anyhow, for what it's worth - the combination of 1x18 on the bottom with the 4x10 up top sounds amazing to my ears!!! Didn't even need a power amp - tons of power from the Trace and it's only 200Watt!!!

Good times :)
 

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