Power amp recommendations?

[JasonC]

In case anyone cares I ended up liking my old Crown Power Base 2 better then the Alesis RA150. The PB2 was rounder/tubier sounding, the RA150 was a bit edgy/brittle sounding.

[rgalpin]

We are running the output of the power amp into speakers that are designed to color and distort the signal to such an extent that the difference between one SS power amp and the next would be pretty minimal - I would think. As long as the amp has enough power to drive the speakers - and it's not total crap.

[VelvetGeorge]

Keep inmind that almost all SS PA's are designed to deliver full current, with the highest damping factor (which affects the feel) at 2-4 ohms. Running them into your 16 ohm Marshall cabs may not be illustrating their best abilities.

George

[rgalpin]

I have rewired my cab to 4 ohms - not sure how that affects the quality of tone/breakup/color each speaker produces. Helps give the amp some headroom. The whole reason I use this setup is because we use in-ear monitors in our live shows. The sound of a 57 crammed in a cone and going straightinto your ear hole with no ambience or anything is just more than I can stand. So I add a little delay before it hits the power amp - to give some sense of space to the sound in my in-ears.

I tried an effects loop - but it seems to me that if you drive the power amp section hard enough to get some quality tone, it starts to squish out any effects you use - even if you use an effects loop that is post-preamp.

I haven't tried anything except my simple little inexpensive ART SLA-1 for the reason I mentioned above about the speakers adding such color and break up. Maybe that's an oversight.

[JasonC]

I'm no expert when it comes to this kind of gear, but I can tell you that I can definetely hear differences between the three amps I've tried so far. The DC 150 sucked so bad I would never run it. The Alesys seemed pretty cool until I tried my PB2 and realized that the Alesys was harder sounding.

I'm looking to get ahold of one of those Peavey Classics to take for a spin just for fun.

I'm running into 2 16 ohm cabs and I'm sure your correct George in that these amps that are designed for 4/8 ohm loads may not be at their best at 16.

Thanks for all your input on this everyone!

Jason

[RedMage]

McIntosh MC-30..good enough for the Audiophiles for pure playback with some "warmth" good enough for me...or try some of the older studio quality playback systems like Altec etc (scour Ebay for either)...the only way to get into that zone these days with SS would be, starting on the low end with Bryston and working up (open your checkbook)..all the rest mentioned in this thread and I mean no disrespect, is low end consumer 'home studio' monitoring fodder..will color the 'tone' as much as any marshall power amp section etc...but in a SS kind of way..

That being said, I completely disagree with the philosophy that running your amp like this you'd be looking for a 'clean, non coloring' power amp anyway...basically you've turned your 'main' amp into a huge OD box with any oommph it had (if it were hooked directly to the speak cab) being gone at the line out box...so using something like a Marshall power might be just what your looking for..to retain some of that 'Marshall sound' so to speak...

After all this pwr amp is the last in the chain before the speakers and with the load box/Line out you've defiantly lost that special connection between the speakers and the 'main' pwr amp...nothing wrong with putting it back with amp of like kind (just don't overdrive it). Speakers and tubes react/interact with each other completely different than SS.

What have I tried...
Crown 30
Crown 60
Crown 150
Alesis RA150
Peavy 50/50
Marshall EL34 50/50
72' Marshall Super Bass Pwr section (via pre power insert)
McIntosh MC 30...

My vote goes to any of the last three..with the 72 just not being practical