Best SS Power-Amp

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Flavatrocious

Member
There litererally has to be a Best sounding Solid State power amp out there somewhere for the the Axe!

I'm seriously talking about some air-moving mofo, not afraid to knock down walls!

Please let us know what it is...
 
If you have speakers that will handle it, why not get a Lab Gruppen fp14000! :shock: That will move some air....and walls! The "sound" is so subjective, in fact, I think even more so in solid state amps than in tube amps! What are you planning on using as your speaker set up?
 
What is your budget? The Lab Gruppen would certainly do the trick at 14,000 watts, ha ha. You could also look at some of the Powersoft amps, 1 unit and very powerful.
 
What's going on Paul!

We talked a bit about SS Power amps... My first power amp (as you know) was a QSC GX5 which I later found out was a Class H PA... I ended up purchasing a Peavey PV1500 which was a Class AB PA which when I AB'd them was much cleaner and less harsh than the QSC GX5...

Most folks here seem to like the Art SLA2 which is going to be no where near enough juice to power your two 320 watt 8 ohm cabs...
 
mortega76 said:
What's going on Paul!

We talked a bit about SS Power amps... My first power amp (as you know) was a QSC GX5 which I later found out was a Class H PA... I ended up purchasing a Peavey PV1500 which was a Class AB PA which when I AB'd them was much cleaner and less harsh than the QSC GX5...

Most folks here seem to like the Art SLA2 which is going to be no where near enough juice to power your two 320 watt 8 ohm cabs...
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A class H amplifier is a class AB amplifier (with the addition of a modulated power supply.)
There may be an audible difference between an PV1500 and GX5 but it is not likely to be caused by the different class.

S.R.
 
Just look at anything that is used in the upper end pro sound industry and it will be good. All of the well known names that have been thrown around on this board. QSC, Crest Audio, Crown all have a line that will more than do the job. As to moving air it's just a matter of power and speakers that can handle it.
 
I'm going to have both my mills cabs have all Celestion G12K-100's here pretty soon, which will keep them at 8 ohms a side. I really want to try all EVM Black Labels and have 1200 watts of stereo power!!!!

My main concern is finding the right power amp to make the axe shine!

I'm thinking that a good quality brand name power amp will do the job. Both my cabs will be 400 watters so, I'm thinking a power amp with around 550-800 watts of stereo power at 8 ohms might do the trick, to get me started.

We will see. I'm looking at QSC or EVM power amps at the moment.

I'm not doing it to be loud, although the option would be nice, it's more about huge juicy tone!

Recommendations are welcome.
 
Crest CA series reign supreme in the bass guitar community. A CA4, 6, or 9 should do the trick. Pretty easy to find used.
 
Flavatrocious said:
I'm going to have both my mills cabs have all Celestion G12K-100's here pretty soon, which will keep them at 8 ohms a side. I really want to try all EVM Black Labels and have 1200 watts of stereo power!!!!

My main concern is finding the right power amp to make the axe shine!

I'm thinking that a good quality brand name power amp will do the job. Both my cabs will be 400 watters so, I'm thinking a power amp with around 550-800 watts of stereo power at 8 ohms might do the trick, to get me started.

We will see. I'm looking at QSC or EVM power amps at the moment.

I'm not doing it to be loud, although the option would be nice, it's more about huge juicy tone!

Recommendations are welcome.
Click to expand...

QSC RMX series is a good place to start problem with those are for the wattage you want to run your looking at a 3 space amp weighing in at 75 Lbs. Honestly I think you might be just as happy with the 2450 @ only 500 watts into 8 Ohms you don't get quite the head room but you do get a two space amp that is 30 Lbs lighter in the $5-600 range and should make you go deaf fairly quck.

You could step to a Crest Audio CA9 with 600 watts @ 8 Ohms weighing 41Lbs but your knocking on the $1,000 door and at that point you may want to include a Fryette 2/90/2, which I know is not a SS amp but when your looking at that kind of money you may as well include it in your list.

Another contender is Carvin and the DCML series the DCM3800L @ 700 watts @ 8 Ohms and are class A/B and weigh in at 15 Lbs which makes it very attractive even at $750.

When your looking at power amps in this category there isn't much difference with the exception of the Fryette being the tube amp they will all sound very similar most of the difference is going to basically be in build quality, warranty and I/O options. Of course there are others that I didn't mention but you will find similar results with those as well given the same caliber of amp. :ugeek:
 
Sixstring said:
Flavatrocious said:
I'm going to have both my mills cabs have all Celestion G12K-100's here pretty soon, which will keep them at 8 ohms a side. I really want to try all EVM Black Labels and have 1200 watts of stereo power!!!!

My main concern is finding the right power amp to make the axe shine!

I'm thinking that a good quality brand name power amp will do the job. Both my cabs will be 400 watters so, I'm thinking a power amp with around 550-800 watts of stereo power at 8 ohms might do the trick, to get me started.

We will see. I'm looking at QSC or EVM power amps at the moment.

I'm not doing it to be loud, although the option would be nice, it's more about huge juicy tone!

Recommendations are welcome.
Click to expand...

QSC RMX series is a good place to start problem with those are for the wattage you want to run your looking at a 3 space amp weighing in at 75 Lbs. Honestly I think you might be just as happy with the 2450 @ only 500 watts into 8 Ohms you don't get quite the head room but you do get a two space amp that is 30 Lbs lighter in the $5-600 range and should make you go deaf fairly quck.

You could step to a Crest Audio CA9 with 600 watts @ 8 Ohms weighing 41Lbs but your knocking on the $1,000 door and at that point you may want to include a Fryette 2/90/2, which I know is not a SS amp but when your looking at that kind of money you may as well include it in your list.

Another contender is Carvin and the DCML series the DCM3800L @ 700 watts @ 8 Ohms and are class A/B and weigh in at 15 Lbs which makes it very attractive even at $750.

When your looking at power amps in this category there isn't much difference with the exception of the Fryette being the tube amp they will all sound very similar most of the difference is going to basically be in build quality, warranty and I/O options. Of course there are others that I didn't mention but you will find similar results with those as well given the same caliber of amp. :ugeek:
Click to expand...
Wow... That Carving DCM3800L looks like a winner...
 
Flavatrocious said:
I think I found a winner... The QSC PowerLight 3 Series . The PL380!

Now all I gotta do is find out where to buy one...
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Those are Class D and I would probably give one a try before I would commit to one. Some of the Class D stuff can have a harsh upper end to it granted that's probably the lower end of Class D power amps (GX series) which this is obviously not and I also didn't mention this amp because it was silly expensive.

A few things you should realize when you using power amps of this quality is your not really using it to it's fullest potential. Here you are looking to push a guitar cab using the Axe as a source when the amp was designed to be used in the context of a PA. Now the amp does not have to deal with all the other aspects of a PA that you would otherwise be trying to amplify... Bass, Drums, Keys and Vocals etc. I'm not trying to talk you out of a 3,000 purchase, it's your money... but rather trying to arm you with info to get you to understand that maybe you don't need to make that purchace ;)
 
Sixstring said:
Flavatrocious said:
I think I found a winner... The QSC PowerLight 3 Series . The PL380!

Now all I gotta do is find out where to buy one...
Click to expand...

Those are Class D and I would probably give one a try before I would commit to one. Some of the Class D stuff can have a harsh upper end to it granted that's probably the lower end of Class D power amps (GX series) which this is obviously not and I also didn't mention this amp because it was silly expensive.

A few things you should realize when you using power amps of this quality is your not really using it to it's fullest potential. Here you are looking to push a guitar cab using the Axe as a source when the amp was designed to be used in the context of a PA. Now the amp does not have to deal with all the other aspects of a PA that you would otherwise be trying to amplify... Bass, Drums, Keys and Vocals etc. I'm not trying to talk you out of a 3,000 purchase, it's your money... but rather trying to arm you with info to get you to understand that maybe you don't need to make that purchace ;)
Click to expand...


That's cool. I really appreciate advice from someone with more experience than myself.

It did occur to me that it's probably way more amp than I need at this point. My main objective is to get the best amp for the axe. It has to sound as good as I can possibly get it to sound.

With advice from guys like yourself I'm sure I won't be steered wrong...
 
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