Crown D-75 for Speaker Cab Use. Experiences?

Gaukar Madhouse

Gaukar Madhouse

Member
What are people's thoughts on the running the Axe Fx 3 through the Crown D75 Power Amp to have a real cabinet setup? How's the sound quality?

I was thinking of pulling the trigger on one since they're so cheap and apparently pretty durable.
 
Crown stuff is built like a tank.

That's not a big amp though, since those are solid state, hard-clipping watts, much different than tube, clipping = balls watts.

It's a Crown, so it'll deliver more than it says on the tin, but not that much more.
 
I once was trying out my guitar cab, and tried powering it by going AxeFX out into FX return on my ODS bulld, which should bypass tone stack and everything. Sounded pretty bad. I tried one channel of a 60WPC Adcom amp, and it immediately sounded great. And loud.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Crown stuff is built like a tank.

That's not a big amp though, since those are solid state, hard-clipping watts, much different than tube, clipping = balls watts.

It's a Crown, so it'll deliver more than it says on the tin, but not that much more.
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So I'll probably want something with more wattage?

I do use a lot of hi-gain models where it's mainly pre-amp distortion. Ideally I'd like a power amp that's neutral in tone and still use the Axe's P.A. modeling.
 
Depends on what volume level you wish to achieve. D75 is approx. 35W/ch into 8ohm, so it all depends on what spkrs. you use as to whether “enough is enough”. True, doesn’t “tube distort” (lots of 2nd harmonic distortion) but it does clip cleanly/predictably nonetheless.

I use a D75 to drive a pair of JBL 4408a studio monitors for my AFX3 rig — plenty of oooph for that purpose, and I rely strictly on the AFX3 for all amp/cab distortion.
 
touch33 said:
Depends on what volume level you wish to achieve. D75 is approx. 35W/ch into 8ohm, so it all depends on what spkrs. you use as to whether “enough is enough”. True, doesn’t “tube distort” (lots of 2nd harmonic distortion) but it does clip cleanly/predictably nonetheless.

I use a D75 to drive a pair of JBL 4408a studio monitors for my AFX3 rig — plenty of oooph for that purpose, and I rely strictly on the AFX3 for all amp/cab distortion.
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I was planning on using it for a 4x12 with V30s and blending K100s in it at some point. I may just get the Crown XLS 1002 350W since it's only a couple hundred more and has a lot more headroom.

I appreciate everyone's insight! I know very little about marrying modelers with traditional cab setups other than needing a P.A.
 
A completely different beast. The XLS are Class D amps (not my fave, being the Old SoundMan that I am) with DSP onboard, while the D-Series are quieter, much lower distortion, and don't have fan noise b/c they are passively cooled. Given your speaker cab choice, you're prolly on the right track with a more modern amp like the XLS – depending, of course, on how the 4x12 is wired with respect to it's overall impedence load. If your 4x12 is an 8ohm load, you could "bootstrap mono" the D75 for a very clean 110W output into the cab.
 
The D75’s are great amps! I have one powering speakers in my office, great for that use. But I agree a bigger amp would likely be better for a 4x12
 
It all depends how much air you want to push and the efficiency of your speakers.

I almost deafened myself with a Crown D-75 powering a Hiwatt cab.
 
Gaukar Madhouse said:
What are people's thoughts on the running the Axe Fx 3 through the Crown D75 Power Amp to have a real cabinet setup? How's the sound quality?

I was thinking of pulling the trigger on one since they're so cheap and apparently pretty durable.
Click to expand...
I use an xls1002 into a mesa half stack and I really like what i get out of it, plenty loud. I paid $100 for that amp used from a DJ.
 
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