Stereo amps/preamps

[fivestringdan]

Greetings!

I am curious what the club uses for their live stereo bass amplifiers. I have a Wayne Jones stereo preamp. Very well built and sounds great.

Let me know what you have and why you like it.

Thank you!

[cozmik_cowboy]

I actually don't currently have any such thing (my guitar amp is a Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve & my bass amp is an Ampeg Rocketbass B-50R), but this is a common question around here, and I stopped lurking and joined 18 years ago just to say the following:

The only power amp I would spend my own money on - and the only one I'd spend your money on if you let me decide - is a Yamaha.  In my soundman days I used Crown, Crest, BGW, Traynor, QSC, Peavey, and probably some I'm forgetting; the only one that didn't color the sound, and the only one never crapped out on me mid-gig, is Yamaha.  What goes out is exactly what came in (but a lot louder), and they do not quit!


Your turn, Wolf.....


Peter (who is willing to trade the Silvertone - now a hot item, it seems - for a good small Fender.......)

[fivestringdan]

I think I took your advice a few years ago and found a P3200..lol

I actually don't currently have any such thing (my guitar amp is a Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve & my bass amp is an Ampeg Rocketbass B-50R), but this is a common question around here, and I stopped lurking and joined 18 years ago just to say the following:

The only power amp I would spend my own money on - and the only one I'd spend your money on if you let me decide - is a Yamaha.  In my soundman days I used Crown, Crest, BGW, Traynor, QSC, Peavey, and probably some I'm forgetting; the only one that didn't color the sound, and the only one never crapped out on me mid-gig, is Yamaha.  What goes out is exactly what came in (but a lot louder), and they do not quit!


Your turn, Wolf.....


Peter (who is willing to trade the Silvertone - now a hot item, it seems - for a good small Fender.......)

[cozmik_cowboy]

I think I took your advice a few years ago and found a P3200..lol

I actually don't currently have any such thing (my guitar amp is a Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve & my bass amp is an Ampeg Rocketbass B-50R), but this is a common question around here, and I stopped lurking and joined 18 years ago just to say the following:

The only power amp I would spend my own money on - and the only one I'd spend your money on if you let me decide - is a Yamaha.  In my soundman days I used Crown, Crest, BGW, Traynor, QSC, Peavey, and probably some I'm forgetting; the only one that didn't color the sound, and the only one never crapped out on me mid-gig, is Yamaha.  What goes out is exactly what came in (but a lot louder), and they do not quit!


Your turn, Wolf.....


Peter (who is willing to trade the Silvertone - now a hot item, it seems - for a good small Fender.......)

Congratulations!  So you're actually set, right?

Peter

[keith_h]

I don't run stereo but do bi-amp. For both my bass rig and PA/monitor system I use QSC PLX series power amps. For my bass rig I use a PLX3002. The PA/monitor system is a mix of PLX 1602, 2402, 2502 and 3602 power amps. All have been reliable for me. 

As I think of downsizing and clearing out a lot of my gear if I were to stay with a discreet preamp/power amp arrangement I would probably start looking at Class D stuff for the power amp. In fact the heads I have been considering all have Class D output stages. 

[jazzyvee]

I have two different ones on my rigs. I have a Crown XLS1502 for my bi-amped rig and a 1U SYNQ1K0 stereo power amp on my mono rig. I had some issues with the SYNQ a few years back but after i took it to my service guy, he said it had collected a lot of dust and after he cleaned it out, he could not find anything wrong.

[OJ Dorson]

I do run stereo and I have the Wayne Jones WJBAII (1000wpc). I think it's fantastic!! It was the only single unit I could find that would do true stereo in/out. I used to use a WJBPII (preamp only version) with a two channel amp (or two SWR amplites) and now that I have the WJBAII the WJBPII is up for sale (pm me if you'd like a good price on it!).

The *only* thing I'd like to see differently is matching gain on the two channels. Channel two is setup more for an upright bass and so has ~60db of gain adjustment. I spoke to Wayne last year at NAMM and did suggest that he add a switch to match gain ranges for people like me who are running stereo electric basses. He seemed to get and like the idea but I haven't seen any change on new units yet.

[fivestringdan]

There were some companies making stereo bass amps. Eden WT1205, Warwick LWA. Anyone have luck with something like that?

[hdfixer]

I run a WJBA 2800 into a pair of Bergantino HG10's (one for each channel) and it's pretty darn great.  But it is huge and heavy. 

Trickfish had a stereo head at NAMM that got a lot of press but specs are fleeting - looking forward to understanding it better when it's on their website with full specs- will likely pick one up if it would be a good match with a Series instrument?

[kilowatt]

I just had my Yamaha P2200, which I have owned for over 40 years, gone through by my electronics tech. Very little to bring it right back into spec, and sounds great. Bass rig has a QSC PLX3402, which has been bullet proof. I have a few of the new Mesa Subway heads, and a pair of the single 15's, and they are very impressive, and extremely light.

Pete

[hammer]

Another Yamaha guy here…though the Phil Jones BP 800 at 800w/400w and 5 lbs. is looking more interesting the older I get.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Bass rig has a QSC PLX3402, which has been bullet proof.
Pete

I find that interesting; in experience, only Traynor broke down with greater regularity than QSC.  I mean, both were less reliable for me than Peavey, for Pete's sake.

Peter

Peter

[fclef6]

This one is easy. Two amps and two cabs…one on each side of the drummer. Whatever your back (or your roadie) can carry. Kick in your stereo chorus and stereo delay…heaven!

[keith_h]

Peter, In the 15+ or so years I've owned QSC power amps I haven't had a failure. That includes full day use outside in the North Carolina summer and sitting on top of my bass rig cabinets.

There was a time before I owned QSC amps that they had a reputation for having board mounted capacitor leads break due to vibration. The field fix for this was to run a hot glue bead over all of the caps so they supported each other. In fact I recall a talk with one of their technicians who recommended this for amps used in high vibration environments. However QSC wasn't alone in this regard.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Peter, In the 15+ or so years I've owned QSC power amps I haven't had a failure. That includes full day use outside in the North Carolina summer and sitting on top of my bass rig cabinets.

Good.

There was a time before I owned QSC amps that they had a reputation for having board mounted capacitor leads break due to vibration.

My experience with them was late '70s-mid '80s.

The field fix for this was to run a hot glue bead over all of the caps so they supported each other. In fact I recall a talk with one of their technicians who recommended this for amps used in high vibration environments.

Well, if that works, I wish someone had told me!

However QSC wasn't alone in this regard.

No, indeed; as I said, only Yamaha never broke.  But QSC was 2nd from the bottom on the reliability list for me.

Peter