BillFitzmaurice.info

These things won't cut it for live or DJ use.

Agreed; Not enough power with a limited crest factor.
Even a PowerSoft K10 ( which this isn't ) is based on a 12db crest factor.

Syd

not for a big dj never for a live setup I was thinking about one for small house parties you knowthose hey pal we have a party in my house ya know beer some greasy food etc you are invited can you bring some music just ya know couple of speakers but analizing in deep you are better off with a $99 amp and a pair of jacks

LelandCrooks wrote:The di's are a good idea, but you'd need 4, if you wanted to run 4 mixes. Kind of defeats the whole cheap idea.

I didn't realize you were thinking of running all 4 mixes into the same powered monitor and distribute from there with speaker cables. A floor wedge with that many cables would look like an octopus.

I was dreaming up how to build a rack-mount amp around the 4x100 board. Then I added up the cost of the board, the power supply, connectors, input attenuator pots, and a 2U box to put it in. I could probably buy something off the shelf for not much more.

alright... I just ordered a couple to play with.
Needed to spend a little more to get the free shipping, so basically they were free

I'll let you all know about them after I get a chance to play for a while.

what did you go with Doug?

Doug Hart wrote:alright... I just ordered a couple to play with.
Needed to spend a little more to get the free shipping, so basically they were free

I'll let you all know about them after I get a chance to play for a while.

YES! let us know how they work.


And for everyone that's thinking about buying them for actually running a PA where you get paid to run a high powered PA, nah, I wouldn't risk it.

I think these little things would be perfect just to play around like maybe mount on some jacks or on a monitor if it's not really critical. I mean, for stuff like that, they'd be pretty cool. But for everything else, i'd stick with rackmountable, pro-quality amps. Yes, I'm still going to buy one and try it out later on, and I will be running monitors off it, but that would only be when I'm running my little powered mixer and 5 mic's max. This would mostly be for like friends or small house parties or something where I don't want to carry much at all. Anything else, and the powered mixer will take the duty of monitor amp to really let them shine.

And for anyone needing a cheap amp, all the old xls series are on sale. I'm tempted to get one to fill my rack, but of course, i don't really need it

My parents have a gospel group that travels quite a bit.
As of now, they are using:
(2) Peavey SP5's
(2) Peavey SP118 subs
(2) CGM 12" monitors
(2) Kustom Monitors

For power:
Behringer EP1500 for tops
Crown CE2000 for subs
QSC RMX850 for monitors

I setup a rack for them so that everything stays patched. That way, they don't have to worry about learning how to patch everything. This is good for them and it's a quick setup time.
The downside is that the rack is very heavy. 110lbs just in power amps.
Plus: A&H Mixwiz on top - (4) TCHelicon Voice units mounted on a pullout drawer - Juice Goose - Dual 31 band EQ - Crossover - CD/Tape Player - etc...
That's a lot of rack to carry around and lift, especially since they are getting along in years and Dad has a lot of back & knee problems.

I say all of that to say this:
They came to me last week and asked about lightening the load.
I first suggested going with lighter power amps.
They agreed to that, hence the order that I placed today.

I figured that I would try one of the Sure amps from PE to power their monitors.
So, I ordered the Sure 2x100W @ 4 Ohm TK2050 Class-D Audio Amplifier Board.
I'll set it up for them to try. If it works well, I will probably just mount it inside the rack and wire it up to the patch panel on back. (I have everything routed to a panel that's labeled for them)

If it doesn't work well, then I have an amp in the shop for experiments & such.

I also ordered the Sure 2x8W @ 4 Ohm TPA3123 Class-D Audio Amplifier Board just to play with since it was cheap.

Oh and BTW: I also told them that they could lighten the load quite a bit by going with Jack 10's and T39's instead of the Peavey's. I setup the new Jack 12's for them and played their new CD through them. They were instantly sold on the Jacks. They couldn't believe how loud and clear they were.
They will be ordering a set from me soon.
And yes, I know that OT12's would be better with T39's, but there are many times that they don't use the subs. So, they need something full range.

Hey Doug... introduce them to SAC and they can ditch the rest of the gear too.

BrentEvans wrote:Hey Doug... introduce them to SAC and they can ditch the rest of the gear too.

Ya know Brent... I've been seriously looking into SAC.
Not just for them, but possibly for our new church facility.
When we get closer to that time, I'll be picking your brain quite a bit. (building construction starts next week)

That's one heavy rack if you say they are older!

But hopefully the amps work ok. And then (if i understood the manual correctly) you can wire multiple amps from the same power source! Like I said, it would be insane if I could power my four jacks and monitors with these.

+1 on the change of cabs. In the band I was in we used to run the jbl srx 215 and the same peavey subs underneath the jbls. And seriously, two of my jacks will go lower, louder, and clearer than one of those stacks. Yes, that's even on poles. Who knows, they might also be good with just two pairs of jack 10's.

Oh, and if they do want subs, remember that you can always build three of them and run them on a single channel if floorspace becomes a problem if they were to vplate. the 1.5 jack:1 titan ratio is pretty cool.

If you do go that route, youu won't regret it. It makes sense financially (especially on a new system) and gives a boatload of options most of us can't afford otherwise.

Pick away when the time comes.

SeisTres wrote:That's one heavy rack if you say they are older!

I have yet to weigh the rack, but I'm betting it's every bit of 250lbs.

SeisTres wrote:Oh, and if they do want subs...

The need for subs is minimal. Just low end of piano and the bass vocals.
They like to rattle the place when the bass singer does octave drops.
They are also looking to add a bass player.

BrentEvans wrote:If you do go that route, youu won't regret it. It makes sense financially (especially on a new system) and gives a boatload of options most of us can't afford otherwise.

I'm definitely sold on the features. I have been looking at the A&H iLive, but that's $20k easily.
My only issue is probably the most common one... not having physical faders.

BrentEvans wrote:Pick away when the time comes.

Thank you, I definitely will.

Doug Hart wrote: My only issue is probably the most common one... not having physical faders.

Easy to fix - it supports up to 32 ch of fader packs.

Or this...

Thanks a lot Brent... I just drooled all over my keyboard