PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Mincer

Mincer

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Introducing the PowerStage 170​
PS-170-Board-BEAUTY.jpg

SANTA BARBARA, CA June 13, 2017 – Seymour Duncan, a leading manufacturer of pickups, pedals and power amps, announces the PowerStage™ 170, the first power amp designed specifically for guitar players using pedals and modelers to create their unique tone.

The PowerStage 170 is a 170-watt power amp with a clean preamp section and 3-band global EQ, making it the perfect complement to any pedal. It is small enough to fit directly on a pedalboard, or in any gig bag, and lightweight enough for fly dates. Simply plug your pedalboard into any speaker cabinet.

Features include:

• 170 Watts at 4 Ohms
• 3-band EQ
• Functions as a clean channel
• Only weighs 2 lbs

“Many guitar players are looking for great tone, control and convenience in an amp that’s powerful and portable, without compromising true amp-like performance,” says Max Gutnik, SVP of Products and CRO at Seymour Duncan. “The PowerStage 170 features some unique design innovations to create an amp that sounds and feels great. And at 170 watts of power, it is loud enough to drive your live rig, yet compact enough to live comfortably on your pedalboard. We’re very excited to bring the PowerStage 170 to guitarists everywhere.”
PS-170-Front.jpgPS-170-Top.jpg

 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

How much are these going for?

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Mincer said:
Introducing the PowerStage 170​
View attachment 81202

SANTA BARBARA, CA June 13, 2017 – Seymour Duncan, a leading manufacturer of pickups, pedals and power amps, announces the PowerStage™ 170, the first power amp designed specifically for guitar players using pedals and modelers to create their unique tone.

The PowerStage 170 is a 170-watt power amp with a clean preamp section and 3-band global EQ, making it the perfect complement to any pedal. It is small enough to fit directly on a pedalboard, or in any gig bag, and lightweight enough for fly dates. Simply plug your pedalboard into any speaker cabinet.

Features include:

• 170 Watts at 4 Ohms
• 3-band EQ
• Functions as a clean channel
• Only weighs 2 lbs

“Many guitar players are looking for great tone, control and convenience in an amp that’s powerful and portable, without compromising true amp-like performance,” says Max Gutnik, SVP of Products and CRO at Seymour Duncan. “The PowerStage 170 features some unique design innovations to create an amp that sounds and feels great. And at 170 watts of power, it is loud enough to drive your live rig, yet compact enough to live comfortably on your pedalboard. We’re very excited to bring the PowerStage 170 to guitarists everywhere.”
View attachment 81203View attachment 81204

Click to expand...

Congratulations Duncan and company!!! This is really a major milestone.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Given that I get my dirt mainly from pedals, and always liking the cleanest of cleans from which to do so, I am seriously considering getting one.

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Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Really nice! They don't do quite what I need, but I'll ask anyway, out of curiosity: the PowerStage is obviously being marketed towards the hip pedal kids and suave modelling amp giggers rather than us dinosaurs who still use old-school (non-modelling) rack rigs, but how would the PSs fare in such a context? Say, compared to a solid state staple like the Rocktron Velocity?
 
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Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Well, it would depend on how much of your tone would come from power amp tubes, I am guessing. The PowerStage 170 doesn't model a guitar power amp- it is just clean, flat power (with EQ control). If your sound is strictly preamp-based, it will work.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

One of the photos shows the warning label about needing 6" of space for ventilation but the othe shows it smacked right up against a Paladin. Which is it? Haha. Looks pretty damn sweet.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Why do you need a gut shot? When you buy a new surround sound receiver, so you search for a gut shot? I could understand hand wired stuff but my money is on there won't be much to see. Solid state and all that.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Scott_F said:
Why do you need a gut shot? When you buy a new surround sound receiver, so you search for a gut shot? I could understand hand wired stuff but my money is on there won't be much to see. Solid state and all that.
Click to expand...

Class D is something new and extremely difficult to build a clean sounding amp.

Curious what the topology looks like compared to 200W class D amp you can buy for $15 and sounds like crap as a guitar amp.

It will have to be a beautiful circuit even though the key components will be proprietary and unidentifiable.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

NeedForPower said:
Class D is something new and extremely difficult to build a clean sounding amp.

Curious what the topology looks like compared to 200W class D amp you can buy for $15 and sounds like crap as a guitar amp.

It will have to be a beautiful circuit even though the key components will be proprietary and unidentifiable.
Click to expand...
Why don't you go and buy one. You've been banging on about this for ages. Then you can dissect it to your hearts content. Photograph it and maybe even , use it.:wizard:
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

GoldenVulture said:
Why don't you go and buy one. You've been banging on about this for ages. Then you can dissect it to your hearts content. Photograph it and maybe even , use it.:wizard:
Click to expand...

I am on the list at two stores...when I will get it or them I don't yet know. Of course I will use it and dissect it to my hearts content. Patients is a virtue but it ain't one of mine.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

I don't think they would post a gut shot. You can ask the store if you can open it up, though. :)
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Mincer said:
Well, it would depend on how much of your tone would come from power amp tubes, I am guessing. The PowerStage 170 doesn't model a guitar power amp- it is just clean, flat power (with EQ control). If your sound is strictly preamp-based, it will work.
Click to expand...

I was thinking in particular how it compares against…

Sirion said:
…a solid state staple like the Rocktron Velocity…
Click to expand...

…so it would be a solid state vs. a solid state.
 
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Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Sirion said:
I was thinking in particular how it compares against…



…so it would be a solid state vs. a solid state.
Click to expand...

Oh, I must have misunderstood. Is the Velocity supposed to be flat EQ without any coloration? I don't know, I am not familiar with one. The PowerStage 170 is small, though.
 
Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Here is the other reason I am interested in the PS170. Duncan Company deserves a tremendous amount of respect for taking on the Class D amp challenge and succeeding.
For what it is worth look at the difference between pic 1 a Quitlter class D amp and pic 2 a small Marshall class AB amp and pic 3 a $20 200W class D amp.
quilter gut shot.jpg
Quilter marshall 12.jpg
quilter china200.jpg
 
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Re: PowerStage 170 is Shipping Today!

Mincer said:
Oh, I must have misunderstood. Is the Velocity supposed to be flat EQ without any coloration? I don't know, I am not familiar with one. The PowerStage 170 is small, though.
Click to expand...

That is, at least, the narrative that we have been fed all these years: that solid state power amps have a flat EQ, and thus do not contribute to the sound. Mind you, that is usually being said as opposed to tube amps.

I just had a look at the Velocity again, and it turns out that it doesn't have a full EQ, nor is what is there nearly as powerful as on the SD. So my answer might be there. (I was also under the impression that the SD would be about twice as expensive, and it is in Europe, but in the US, which I assume is the main market, they amazingly seem to go for about the same.)

I'll have to try one at some point and hear if there is any difference for myself, I guess.
 
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