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Which power amp goes with my Tech 21 RBI?

#21
nottswarwick said:
ok, Tech21 support have been emailed.

TO clarify, I would be using the XLR output to feed the front of house PA desk, so knock this out of the discussion. It is the 1/4 inch jack output of the sansamp tone that will be feeding my QSC RMX2450. On the BDDI you can set this to either "instrument" or "line" level. I obviously have it at line level and it sounds fine into the QSC.

However, there is no such adjustment on the RBI, and I need the 1/4 sansamp effected output to be line level and not instrument.

Does anyone run theirs this way, and knows the answer?

Thanks

Chris
Click to expand...

I use the effected 1/4 TS output to drive my Crown Com-Tech410. At unity, I can easily drive my amplifier to clip. I'm afraid I cannot remember C-T410 input sensitivity right now, but if I recall correctly it isn't very high, fairly cold inputs.

Cheers,
Mick
 
#22
Maybe this is a gross over-simplification but has anybody had difficulty driving any amp with an RBI or RPM? Betweenst the drive and volume controls, both pre's will light up my power amps without problem. FTR, I use the 1/4" SansAmp out to the amp and the DI to the board (dedicated XLR out level...nice!).

Riis
 
#23
I used my RBI with three different power amps, two Crowns and a Carvin, and had no trouble driving any of them. I don't think it's an issue for you. Tech 21 will give you the right answer though. I agree on the DI of the RBI too, it works great. Being able to adjust the signal output from the front of the pre is very handy.
 
#24
I run my sansamp RBI from the 1/4" effected output into the input on my Carvin DCM1000 poweramp. I don't know what level the signal is at, but it sounds pretty darn good to me.

I also use the XLR to feed the PA.

EDIT: Before I got the Carvin, I was using my Ampeg SVT-3PRO as a poweramp with the same setup (effected out of RBI into the Preamp In on the Ampeg), and that sounded great too!
 
#27
nottswarwick said:
Here's my answer from Tech 21

Dear Chris,

The 1/4" out of the RBI can drive line level.

Regards,
John Bednar, Technical Supervisor

Good.
Click to expand...

Thing is, "line level" means a pretty wide range of signal, including levels that may not drive some power amps well. For example, the somewhat weak .7V output I was talking about is called "-10dBu line level". Going up to 1V output it's "0dBu line level". And then the hotter 1.25V output is "+4dBu line level". IOW he wasn't actually helping you at all by saying it puts out line level.

Here's the thing: several people here are saying they drive all kinds of power amps satisfactorily with the RBI. So you can take comfort that you'll get some kind of good results. On the flip side, it may be that these some of these users would get even better results if the power amp sensitivity was "properly" matched to the output of the RBI. There are too many variables to say for sure at long distance--I'm not in any way saying anyone else here is "wrong"--just trying to clarify the technical side, so you can have that end well covered.
 
#28
I continue to be amazed some of these companies can't supply a nominal level in volts, and maxium output level in volts. It's almost like no actual engineers at these companies were ever involved in product design - or they don't actually let the marketing people ask the engineers what the deal is.
 
#30
And then there's Accugroove: the company that makes a head that somehow supposedly produces more than twice as much wattage at 4 ohms than it does at 8 ohms. Must be the Grays they have working for them after the Roswell Work Release Program was initiated.

Odd too that the Synergy has NO ACTUAL PRICE!!! ; }
 
#33
nottswarwick said:
cool, and thanks for the preamps explained but.

I drive a QSC RMX2450 with a BDDI Pedal via the 1/4 inch output, set to line level and it is fine. I am thinking of getting the RBI version, but cannot find any reference to the level of the output from the 1/4 inch output (XLR will feed the PA).

So I am a little confused as to whether this will work out ok - there seems to be no switch on the RBI to set the 1/4 inch ssansamp output to line level, unlike on the pedal version.

Input sens of the RMX2450 is 1.23v.

So, will it work ok?

Thanks

Chris
Click to expand...
Hey im not sure where it is on Tb now but we talked with someone from Tech21 on here the other day about this subject of no output specs for the 1/4` well they did the test & came back saying the RBI will put out at max 3.6vrms via the 1/4` output.The eq was all set to 12 o`clock or flat.It will drive anything !!
 

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