alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

[some_dude]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

I just want to touch on this one point. While thats true of home audio equipment, its not quite true of guitar amps, which are a special circumstance.

The thing is, both tube and SS amps are rated the same way - the maximum power before clipping. But you use a tube guitar amp well beyond clipping, and as the amp "clips", the output power rises exponentially. A 30 watt tube amp, (assuming an adequate power supply), can put out well above its rated power.

An SS amp, on the other hand, you'ld never want to clip. So, you need an adequate margin of safety. I don't think 10:1 is unreasonable. So a 100 watt SS amp might only be used, realistically, at 10 - 20 watts continuously.

Thats my 2-cents worth for this thread. :laugh2:

Finally...someone who understands.

btw - In my little 8 x 10 home studio, I use a Crown D150A SS amp. Thats 150 watts, (75 per side), and I wouldn't want any less.

In my pickup truck I use a Rockford Fosgate Punch 600a5.....That's 600w (4x100 bridged into 2x200, & 1x200w sub channel).

You guys are saying 200-300w is way to loud to fill a small club, and I'm using 600w to fill a 3ft x 5ft truck cab. :laugh2: Of course, I never turn it all the way up......but I also never have turn the volume up until it distorts either......'cause, you know....that's kinda the point with SOLID STATE.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

well, the cabs are gonna be 2 16 ohm 2x12's daisy chained for an 8 ohm load, all in all 4 eminence legend 125's, each rated at 75 watts, so 300 watts total. I've ran my bassman through just ONE of them, and right before it starts distorting the speaker still sounds really good. I ran the 5150 through that one turned up to about the bassman's max volume, plus just a LITTLE more & it still sounded great, but the breakup on them sounds horrible & i don't plan on pushing them that hard

so you figure 55x4 would be 220 watts, which would be good

if the drummer is STILL playing over it, THEN it's my job to tell him to settle down, but he told me he's playing about as loud as he can right now so he can hear himself cuz its a pretty new band & he still needs to work out the parts, but live he'd like to be able to play that loud cuz he gets into it more & messes up less

and yeah, I'll bring an SPL meter to practice once i get all my crap, and run 2 readings, one WITH the power amp, and one without

 

[FretFire]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

A more cost-effective solution to have your drummer be able to hear himself might be one of those plastic drum screens. It would deflect a lot of the sound back towards him and maybe make the volume from his kit more manageable for you guys too.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

eh, i loves me some volume either way

by the way, assuming i soldered on a plug, would this work for a dummy load?

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=019-015

 

[FretFire]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

eh, i loves me some volume either way

That's cool, but do consider some earplugs for you future hearing's sake.

 

[Rich_T]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

Well, it depens what band you're in really. 80 Watts solid state could never be enough for me, its a damn loud band. Its best to have the headroom if you can afford it.

I would recommend crown power amps, do the job nicley, no hassle.

 

[FretFire]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

Also realize the amp could sound quite a bit different running just the tube preamp into a SS power amp, without the power tubes adding extra coloration.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

yeah i know, but with the added EQ i should be able to get some good sounds out of it

theres a couple tricks to dampen or brighten or do whatever to the tone in addition to actual EQing, shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes to get good tone out of it

 

[B2D]

Re: alright rackmount guys, educate me on power amps

You are the frontman... make yourself heard, whether that means causing permanent hearing loss to those in the crowd.

This from a guy who thought shooting up his guitar with a gun was a good idea... :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

Not that anyone's overlooking the obvious here but I still have to wonder if there isn't a loose connection somewhere thats reducing drew's guitar volume yet keeping the tone intact.

I'd hate to see Drew blow some **** up on accident and spend a ton of $$ just to find out there was a loose solder connection in the guitar or a bad cable or something like that...

I'd suggest renting a 100W tube amp of ANY type. A good old JMP or JCM800 is a good yardstick for loudness but OH YEAH wait drew shuts himself off from what are arguably the loudest amps on earth on their own. Mabe a Hiwatt would do the trick? Standing in front of a flat-out hiwatt is a numbing experience. A bigger cab to move more air would help too.