Review: Rocktron Velocity 300 new version...

Update: I tested out the Carvin DCM200.

Pros -
It's 4 frikkin pounds!! Wa wa wee wa.
It's nicely made, and it has an EQ switch that cuts the mids and boosts the lows and highs, which was great for my metal guitar sound.

Cons -
Not loud enough for un-mic'd gigs.

I use a mesa 4x12 cab at 8ohms mono, so the Carvin gave me 200 watts at 8ohms bridged, which requires a banana-to-TRS cable ($25 at guitar center). With all my levels at max, it's loud enough for rehearsals, and certainly for a gig where they mic the cab, but for a gig where they don't mic my cab this wouldn't be enough.

So I'm waiting on my Velocity 300 to arrive, since that will give me an additional 100 watts at 8ohms mono over the Carvin.

The sound quality of the Carvin seemed solid, I think it's a quality even amp. Just not enough power for my application.
 
iceman said:
I also have the Velocity 300 arriving tomorrow or Thursday and can't wait to put it to the test.

It will be powering 2 Atomic passives (1 regular, 1 wedge).
Click to expand...

How did your experiment with this setup go?
 
The wattage on the speaker does not always indicate how much power will be needed to drive the speakers(s) or have them sound good. I have had plenty of 150 watt speakers that sounded amazing with a 50 watt tube amp. To me, part of the charm of a modeller such as the Axe is that you can play at reasonably volumes and still sound great.....hence a small 212 with modest speakers and a power amp I would think would be fine. In the end most guys I talk to report a tube power amp just offers that intangible that is missing without tubes. I have not tried the Velocity 300 so I don't know if this is considered high end enough for the AxeFX or just average or whether or not it is tube like. However, 'most' report that it is.
 
@ richedie

I'm still trying to understand wattage as relates to volume. Trying and failing, so far.

"The wattage on the speaker does not always indicate how much power will be needed to drive the speaker"

But the wattage equate to volume, doesn't it?

My only requirement is that I want a power amp that's small enough to throw in a gig bag, because I'm sick of taking a triple rec to all my gigs; and it needs to be loud enough on a 4x12 for non-mic'd gigs.

I keep seeing tube amps from good companies that I wish were loud enough, but afaik a 50 watt amp would never be loud enough no matter what, right? If I want volume to fill a smallish club on my own (in a metal band with a loud drummer), I need a 4x12 cab, and since my cab is rated at 280 watts, I need about that much coming from the power amp, right?

Orange, Mesa, Atomic, there's lots of mini tube amps. But all below 100 watts.

Thanks for any help you or anyone else can provide!
 
The speakers wattage is how much power (voltage and current )can you feed into them before the burn.

That´s what it is . I have a Fane speaker that can handle 100 watts but it starts distort at 20 w (they have some material that can take the heat away but the magnet is for a 15w blue speaker modell only .
I wish that had a parameter that told you how loud sound pressure will be delievered at max power.
Most speaker companies tell how much sound pressure the speakers deliever at 1 watt and 1kHz .

Thomas
 
So am I at risk of damaging my 280ohm speaker cab if I plug in the Velocity with it's 300 watts?

It's only putting out 300 watts if the volume/level is all the way up, right?

So I can avoid speaker damage if I never put the volume at 100%?

Thanks again...
 
Thomas Larsson said:
The speakers wattage is how much power (voltage and current )can you feed into them before the burn.

That´s what it is . I have a Fane speaker that can handle 100 watts but it starts distort at 20 w (they have some material that can take the heat away but the magnet is for a 15w blue speaker modell only .
I wish that had a parameter that told you how loud sound pressure will be delievered at max power.
Most speaker companies tell how much sound pressure the speakers deliever at 1 watt and 1kHz .

Thomas
Click to expand...

Right, the spec is thermal handling. Most speakers hit their Xmax long before their rated power, especially if you are pumping a lot of low end.
 
Well , I think your 280 W cab will survive . I have played my 130w cab with 250w LAb series pa at loud live gigs . Hopefully the ears will tell us when to stop raising the volume.

Thomas
 
mofo said:
So am I at risk of damaging my 280ohm speaker cab if I plug in the Velocity with it's 300 watts?

It's only putting out 300 watts if the volume/level is all the way up, right?

So I can avoid speaker damage if I never put the volume at 100%?

Thanks again...
Click to expand...

You are more likely to damage your speakers from clipping that amp rather than feeding them too much power.
 
I talked to a speaker manufacturer about this and he said it had something to do about the point at which thermal breakdown or something happens...I forget but will dig it up. His point was that a 15 watt amp can sound stellar through 250 watt speakers and sound killer and sound killer at low volumes and even have breakup at those volumes. I'll see if I can find it but basically told me people get too caught up in the wattage ratings.


mofo said:
@ richedie

I'm still trying to understand wattage as relates to volume. Trying and failing, so far.

"The wattage on the speaker does not always indicate how much power will be needed to drive the speaker"

But the wattage equate to volume, doesn't it?

My only requirement is that I want a power amp that's small enough to throw in a gig bag, because I'm sick of taking a triple rec to all my gigs; and it needs to be loud enough on a 4x12 for non-mic'd gigs.

I keep seeing tube amps from good companies that I wish were loud enough, but afaik a 50 watt amp would never be loud enough no matter what, right? If I want volume to fill a smallish club on my own (in a metal band with a loud drummer), I need a 4x12 cab, and since my cab is rated at 280 watts, I need about that much coming from the power amp, right?

Orange, Mesa, Atomic, there's lots of mini tube amps. But all below 100 watts.

Thanks for any help you or anyone else can provide!
Click to expand...
 
I talked to a speaker manufacturer about this and he said it had something to do about the point at which thermal breakdown or something happens...I forget but will dig it up. His point was that a 15 watt amp can sound stellar through 250 watt speakers and sound killer and sound killer at low volumes and even have breakup at those volumes. I'll see if I can find it but basically told me people get too caught up in the wattage ratings.

If I got a V300, it would be used. For $369 I could get a used Carvin tube amp.


mofo said:
@ richedie

I'm still trying to understand wattage as relates to volume. Trying and failing, so far.

"The wattage on the speaker does not always indicate how much power will be needed to drive the speaker"

But the wattage equate to volume, doesn't it?

My only requirement is that I want a power amp that's small enough to throw in a gig bag, because I'm sick of taking a triple rec to all my gigs; and it needs to be loud enough on a 4x12 for non-mic'd gigs.

I keep seeing tube amps from good companies that I wish were loud enough, but afaik a 50 watt amp would never be loud enough no matter what, right? If I want volume to fill a smallish club on my own (in a metal band with a loud drummer), I need a 4x12 cab, and since my cab is rated at 280 watts, I need about that much coming from the power amp, right?

Orange, Mesa, Atomic, there's lots of mini tube amps. But all below 100 watts.

Thanks for any help you or anyone else can provide!
Click to expand...
 
mofo said:
It's only putting out 300 watts if the volume/level is all the way up, right?
Click to expand...

Wrong, the level control on power amps is an Input attenuator. Depending on the output level of the device connected, you might reach maximum voltage with the Input attenuator at say 25%, while with other devices you could have it maxed out and still not peak the amp.

Amps produce voltage, the actual wattage is determined by the impedance load of drivers connected to it.
 
I've been playing semi-pro bass for almost 30 years, and I'm just worn out with heavy tube amps. (My particular favorite power amp was a Peavey 60/60, which I only ran one channel at a time into an SVT410HE -- TONS of power for gigs, PA or not.)

So, what do you guys think. Could this Rocktron Velocity 300 power a bass rig, and would the sound possibly get some of that "living organism" effect that tube amps get?

I use either an Ampeg SVP-Pro or Mesa Boogie V-Twin (rack mount) for pre-amp, plus an old Behringer Composer for compression. I'm also planning on using a 1x15 speaker (for me the only way to make my Ric sound wonderful -- grown tired of 4x10s that I can't hear unless I'm 10 feet away).

Thoughts?
 
Hello Everyone!

A MEGA THANKS to all of you guys for your experience and knowledge sharing! I was thinking of purchasing a V300 but had to read reviews because I was hesitating between the V300 and the SLA-2. My choise is made, guided by your precious comments.

I have a question tough: I play trough a 4X12 Kustom cabinet (loaded with Celestion speakers) wired as 2 2X12 cabinets at 4 Ohms each. I am actually using 2 channels on my Marshall 8008 Valvestate poweramp to drive this cab. Would it be a good idea to wire my cabinet as 1 4X12 at 4 Ohms (in order to use only one channel with the V300) or leave it as it is ?

Your answers will be much appreciated.

Happy thanksgiving to everyone!

Youri Lévesque
 
Leave as is. This will allow you you to put 150 watts (at 4 ohms) into each side of your 4x12.

If you wired it mono at 4 ohms, you'd be sending half the wattage to each speaker.
 
If I got you right, your 4 Celestions have 8 Ohms each. So you can wire two pairs of 4 Ohms, but you can't wire a mono quad with 4 Ohms!

However, a mono quad with 8 Ohms would be possible - just right to be driven with the V300 in mono bridged mode. Anyway, I also recommend to leave it as it is...
 
Thank you BBN and Mister.friendly for your answers.

I think I will leave it as is. So if I get it right, you recommand me to plug my 2 2X12 cabs in the Velocity's ch2 outputs (nothing in ch1) in order to have 300 watts only on channel 2, am I right?

The input #1 on the rear panel is labeled 'chanel1 Mono Bridged'. Should I have to connect my VooduValve to input #2 only??? I am a little confused right now! :) ...

Thanks a lot guys, you're the best!
 
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