Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

[ben ifin]

Hey all

Posted these questions over at TGP, but looking for the "official" / "correct" answers

Background

I run [alternatingly ] a Kemper or a Helix ..... increasingly in to a real 2 x 12 Celestion 150w Closed back Cab .... it has 2 x G12T-75's in it.

I have a rack Matrix GT800 which I use with it ...... however .... (i) its rack based and (ii) more power than needed and (iii) I would like something physically smaller / lighter which I can integrate with my or in to my real 2x12 cab.

Questions

All that is a long way of asking, when used with a modeller like my Kemper or Helix and assuming the Bass / Mid / Treb are all set to 12.00 "off" ....

a) is the P/Stage 170 is Class D and not Class A/B ?

b) does the P/Stage 170 have any pre-amp and/or power amp "coloration" or "voicing" or "tube emulation" or "speaker emulation" baked in to it ?

if not

c) is it totally flat / neutral / linear across the full freq range ?

if it is

d) does it stay flat / neutral / linear all the way up to full / max. volume ?

lastly

e) is there a manual or spec sheet somewhere that hows the freq response of the amp ?

Thanks in advance
Ben

[IMENATOR]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

I just looked for the manual and could not found it, I suggest you call Seymour Duncan tech support and ask about it over the phone. What you really want to look for is values for THD (Total harmonic Distortion), the lower the better but don't know which value perceived or not. Look at this demo, the guy is cranking the knobs, I could not notice the thing to do any bad tone but the sound is already high gain so it is hard for me to tell, anyways I think it is great demo. IMHO 170 watt solid state power amp is loud enough for most people, but just keep in mind that for solid state power amps the total power output depends on the impedance of the cab, a 16 Ohm cab will receive less power, a 8 Ohm cab more and a 4 Ohm cab more, you need to get a copy of the manual to know Ohms vs power.

Plus, he demonstrates the PS170 with a modeler I am GASing for,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_3LTfL_3Is

[ben ifin]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

Kind of strange / weired that SD dont [seem to] publish the specs / freq charts for these ?!?!?!?

My 150w 2x12 Cab is mono and is wired for either 4 ohm mono or 16 ohm mono so I could feed it

=> a max. of 170w from the PS 170 @ 4 ohm

or

=> a max. of 175w from the PS 700 @ 16 ohm [non bridged] assuming the PS 700 can "handle" 16 ohm ... which I suspect would not be an issue

So .... in terms of total power / oomph ..... for me and my 2x12 150w cab, there is no differnece there in terms of total power I would send to my cab.

But would be great to see the specs re: flatness / linearity ...... THD, input sensitivity etc...... so as to confirm if this is as clean / flat / distortion free etc... as my Matrix GT 800 ???

I would have thought this kind of basic / generic power amp info would be easily avaialble

Ben

[Mincer]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

From what I understand, there really isn't a proper manual for these. I do know that it is class D. It is sold as a 'flat' amp. Any coloration has to come from a preamp or modeler (or the onboard EQ). I never got it up to full volume (that would be too loud for any of my uses) to hear if it stays flat all the way up to the top.

EDIT: new info..

PowerStage 700 Audio Specifications
• Speaker Outputs
o THD+N @ 1kHz, full rated power - ≤0.03%
o THD+N @100 Hz, 1 W out – ≤0.005%
o Output referenced idle noise
• A-weighted ≤130µV
• Unweighted ≤160µV
o Dynamic Range, A-weighted @ 700W – 117 dB
o Bandwidth – 10 Hz to 70 kHz ± 3 dB

• XLR Outputs
o THD+N @ 0dBu - <0.02%
o Max. output Voltage before clipping – 8V RMS
o Noise referred to output – 31.6µV
o Noise referred to input – 109dBV
o Dynamic range, referred to max. output – 108dB

• EQ Parameters
o Bass +/- 13 dB @ 87 Hz
o Midrange +/- 13 dB @ 712 Hz
o Treble +/- 13 dB @ 6.61 kHz

[ben ifin]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

Awesome ..... thanks ..... any chance of also seeing the P/Stage 170 specs ??

[Mincer]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

As soon s I get them, I will pass them along.

[ben ifin]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

As soon s I get them, I will pass them along.

Thanks

[ben ifin]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

I just realized something very important ..... according to the website

=> P/S 170 will deliver 170w @ 4 ohm

and

=> P/S 700 will deliver 175w @ 16 ohm [non bridged - assuming of course the PS 700 can "handle" 16 ohm ... which I suspect would not be an issue]

So .... and this is critical ...... are these figures "Peak" -or- "RMS" ... (?)

If they are "Peak' ...... which I would assume they are (?) ..... what then are the "RMS" wattages... (?)

Ben

[ben ifin]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

I just realized something very important ..... according to the website

=> P/S 170 will deliver 170w @ 4 ohm

and

=> P/S 700 will deliver 175w @ 16 ohm [non bridged - assuming of course the PS 700 can "handle" 16 ohm ... which I suspect would not be an issue]

So .... and this is critical ...... are these figures "Peak" -or- "RMS" ... (?)

If they are "Peak' ...... which I would assume they are (?) ..... what then are the "RMS" wattages... (?)

Ben

.... bump .... no-one from SD can advise what these figures actually are ????

Ben

[ben ifin]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

Just posted this over at TGP ....
_______

From the S/D website:- the P/Stage 170 Level officially goes from 0 dB to a max of 47 dB.

A [max.] Level of +47 db from a 0db base ..... converts to a wattage of ~ 50w <-> ~55w ...... therefore .... with [almost certainly] short-term peaks / transients up to as high as 170w @ 4 ohm.

Presumably it will do a bit more than ~50w <-> ~55w depending on how "hot" the m/volt / pre-amp signal hitting its input is, but thats going to be a relatively marginal increase.

Starting to think we have the answer ..... 170w peak @ 4 ohm but ~60w [RMS] continuous ..... its going to be loud enough for many [but far from all] situations .......

I see now why S/Duncan are advertising it at 170w / 4 ohm [peak] ..... instead of ~60 RMS !!

S/Duncan ...... please feel free to correct me ???? .... but +47db from a 0db base is what it is ...... which is at best 1/3rd of the "advertised" 170w ..... which clearly must be the peak/transient figure.

Ben

[Mincer]

Re: Power Stage 170 .... a few quick questions please .... ?

.... bump .... no-one from SD can advise what these figures actually are ????

Ben

These are questions the end user probably can't answer, and the only ones who can are the people who designed it, or those that work alongside them. They will usually check in there, but if you've seen the news lately, you might get an idea why they aren't responding that quickly.

If you sent them an email, be patient. They are dealing with a giant fire outside.