BillFitzmaurice.info

I built two Jack 12 Lite's a few years ago, and they're wonderful. I've done big gigs in large tents using them with a powered 18" reflex cab as sub crossing over as recommended, which enables them to produce huge amounts of pristine audio - with a reggae band most notably, and various disco's. (I'm def going to build whatever the recommended BFM subs are.)

Reminiscence Alert: one time I did a wedding on a farm and was playing 'Live in Gdansk' as you do after tuning out the rig while I hooked up the foldback, and a herd of brown cows came galloping half a mile up from where they'd been lying unseen resting down at the river. Didn't even know they'd been there. So we all stood together and listened to the whole album - really into it.

Anyhow, I thought I might utilise one of my little gem creations for busking. Everything needs to weigh no more than say 30kg and fit into a trolley. I wondered if anyone else had done this; and what amps they might have used?

I'd wanted to use a Matrix GM-50 class AB amp I have lying around. But it seems they need around 4 amps, which I calculated at 220v requires 660 average to 1320 watts full load. Too much I thought (can't carry the batteries) - unless of course that's the peak requirement, which would be much less if backed-off with good headroom? It would be good if this option could be made to work as the GM-50 is a brilliant single channel pa amp (and I already have it...).

So Plan B would be to try my LWA 1000 bass head (A class pre, but with a D Class power amp so the right kinda thing) which I think ought to bring the power requirement down to some 250w. This would allow for a 12v 22ah golf buggy battery and 300 - 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter, which is really the most one could carry.

Of course with all the developments in lithium-battery powered PAs, it might end up being sensible just to buy a JBL One Pro or something similar. But on the other hand, the Jack 12 Lites sound soooo good....

Rather than cobbling up your own rig I'd look for a battery powered amp. With the proliferation of battery powered gear there must be one out there that would do.

- thanks Bill. I'm thinking laterally. It looks like all the battery powered amps are powered speakers/combos. So maybe this is non-runner.

The only option that seems reasonable to me is car audio amplifiers. They even have them with bluetooth built right in now.

There have been a few threads on systems like this over the years. Not having any luck finding the thread I have in mind, where they used an autotuba

If you're using 12v then auto sound amps and peripherals make sense, as they're designed to run on 12v, and you don't have to use an inverter. Size and weight savings compared to AC powered amps would be considerable as well, since they don't have AC power supplies.

you can also out-board the battery from the rig if you wanted to have an extended playtime setup.

i'm honestly astounded at the runtime life some of these bigger bluetooth rigs come in at these days...

You could try some of the class d amps discussed in this forum: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/class-d

I had a rig running 2 jack 10s using a stereo class d amp from Sure electronics, running off 2x12v SLA batteries, plenty of noise.

Just about to complete a rebuild, to run 4x jack 10s off 4 mono amps @36v, again from 12v battery boosted up to 36v.

Another advantage to car amps is that some higher power rated have voltage boost circuitry built in, allowing them to have high output from a 12v supply. Just be sure to check the 4 ohm load power rating. The other way they can get high power ratings is to use 2 ohm or even 1 ohm loads.