Amp for PA and Studio Apps

  • Thread starter Thread starter gnarled
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gnarled

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I'm looking to get a power amp to use for both a practice PA system (mainly vocals) and recording purposes. I have two old ass Peavey Criterion PA speakers (1x12 and horn) that are 8ohms and ~150W and a pair of Alesis M1's. I've been looking at the Alesis RA300 (90W @ 8 ohms) and the Samson Servo (same power, $20 less). Any thoughts? Thanks.
 
Check out Hafler.I have a several-years-old P1200 (60w/channel into 8 ohms or 150 w/ mono-bridged into 8 ohms) that I'm using very happily for monitor power in my home studio as well as another one on the guitar cab in my rock band (with the j-station).
Alesis is good,as is crown.But Hafler has a "studio" reputation and mine gives pristine sound with never a hint of trouble in years of service.

Tom
 
I have an alesis RA100. Have to say I have
had some trouble with it, one side was constantly
getting real loud when it shouldnt, then
one side made hardly any sound, and last week
it died completely.:(
 
Also...

...you may want to check into Carvin. I have not personally had any experience with them, but they seem pretty cool. It's probably what I'm going to use. They've got one 150 watts @ 4 ohms (I think) and from there you get 600 , 1000, 1500, and 2000 watts @ 2 ohms. The 600 watt version puts out 150 per side @ 8 ohms and is $350. Just my $.02. Good luck in whatever you decided to get and post it or email me if you find something particularly groovy.

Brandon
 
Well, I've found a couple used Hafler amps in my price. Any ideas what the best way to go from the output on the amp (banana plug or 12 awg wire) to a 1/4" jack? Should I just strip one end of a speaker cable and leave the ground hanging? Or ground it to the body of the amp? Thanks.
 
"Should I just strip one end of a speaker cable and leave the ground hanging"

No, you connect it to the ground on the connector.

If you plan on unplugging and replugging often, make up some banana to 1/4" cables. 12 or 10 guage duplex wire, 4 banana connectors and 2 1/4" plugs.

Maybe a set of these (1/4" to banana's) for band jamming, and a set of banana's to banana's to plug into your M1's (if they take banana connectors) when recording. Or a couple of adapters - 1/4" to 2 mono banana's so you only need one set :) .... doubt if they make such a thing.

You could use a speaker switch setup as well if your practice space is also your studio.

Lots of options.
 
We use a Crown SoundTech 2, which does fine for running both our Peavey Implulse 800s and SG-4s (SG-6? shit, forgot, heavy as shit, leave those in practice room). It had one hitch (it WAS used, you know) but we took it back to the shop and they just spiked the signal and it fixed itself. It's very low noise (as far as I know), we generally take the Mackie CFX-16 and turn the master level WAAY down (like -40 or -30) and keep the K2 cranked all the way up.

On that note, I think the Mackie needs looking at. Channel 5 is pretty much blown (why?) and we had to switch to subgroups 3 & 4 because subgroup 2 is, for some reason, attenuated about 30 dB. Really weird, it'll work for now, gotta have it looked at at some point...

Anyway, the SoundTech 2 was "$275" in a package trade we did a while back, obviously used...

If you're gonna record with this amp, beware the fan, it's noisy if you're recording acoustics...
 
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