Ashly power amp FTX-2001 (HELP)

[geomac1310]

Hi I was woundering if any body has ever used this power amp. I have it and used it on one live gig. I had some problems with the amp turning off. I think it might have been from the vocals clipping and maybe we ran it to hot. If anybody has any tips for running this amp or any other power amp in a live setting then please help. Will running a compressor before the vocals help in this situation? Thank you in advance.

 

[xstatic]

Is it running full range? If so, your singer may actually have some low undertones in his voice. If your singer has a powerful voice that outputs a lot between 80 and 160, you may have to drastically EQ some of those frequencies out, or maybe even just a little and use a high pass filter. Low frequencies consume a lot more power in an amplifier and add a lot of extra strain to it. Those old Ashly amps are actually pretty decent. The problem is they are exactly that....Old. it may need a tune up Pop off the cover and carefully vacuum it out and make sure all the filters are clean. If the air isn't flowing properly it may be thermalling out long before it normally should.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Try pointing a fan at it... any household fan will do, and will surely help with heating problems.

if the amp doesn't have an internal limiter, a compressor with a limiter might help to keep the amp out of clipping. just remember that if you compress and limit the signal too much, you actually make the signal more dense (less transients) which will heat that amp FASTER than if it was un-compressed! and speakers can blow easier, because they too heat up.

that said, use the compressor to help even everything out some, and use the limiter to protect the amp on transients.

 

[xstatic]

Personally (no offense Cave Dweller) I would try cleaning it before you try any of the other suggestions. If it is dirty, than a fan is only covering the problem up and the amp will continue to get worse until it finally just stops completely. If you are using it in even a semi normal enivronment and it is overheating than there is a different problem that if not fixed can lead to some more expensive repairs later.

I also wouldn't put a compressor on it. There is a good reason why VERY few FOH engineers DO NOT put compression on their mixes. The first and most important being that it just sounds bad. Unless you can afford a good multiband or a really nice 2 channel comp it typically does things to mixes that are very undesirable. Things like having a kick drum trigger compression for the whole mix that can result in heavy "pumping" or "breathing" of the vocals. Not only that, but often times something like the kick drum will designate when the compressor threshold is reached. Other things that are actually too loud won't trigger it but the kick will even though it isn't too loud. It has a lot to do with the response curves built into compressors. Second, compression like that can add to a lot of feedback problems pretty quickly and can really help your mix along to the "dull" category. Cleaning the amp and filters is something that is relatively simple to do, often overlooked, and costs no money

 

[geomac1310]

Thank you for your help

THanks for the good advice I will try to start with a good cleaning and if that is the problem then that is great. I will also tell our sound guy to EQ the low end out a bit. Again thank you for your tips.