Grateful Dead Music Forum

Or maybe something else for a power amp? For under $600? My main concern is brightness and treble. I like alot of it. I choose a Vibrolux over a Twin Reverb with regards to this. I`ll be preamping the Vibrolux into it. I`m concerned that the Shuttle might not be bright enough and Vic got rid of his Crown because it was too ice picky. Also looking at the Hartke 2500 and TC Electronics Bass 2.0 (last resort payment plan). I`ll be running this into 2-75 watt speakers so I want to keep the wattage reasonable. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh and it`s just to hold me over for 6-9 months while I save for a Fryette or until Brad creates a another masterpiece.
Also I`m wondering if I can run a 4 ohm speaker cab and the 4 ohms of speakers on my amp at the same time. That would be 2 ohms? Could I use 4 ohms out of the power amp to run this? Would something very bad happen? Did Jerry sometimes do this to a lesser degree? Thanks all for your help.

I have a Shuttle 6.0 head, which I tried out with my old gear (Egnater preamp and JBL E-120s). It was better than the Crown, but I think the Acoustic Image Focus 2R had a more natural sound to it. It's just a little warmer and more organic. I'm not sure the Shuttle 3.0 will have the headroom you should be looking for, though. The 6.0 has plenty of power.

The brightness and treble you want to come from your preamp, not the power amp, IMO.

Check the ratings for whatever power amp you are using. If it's rated for a 2-ohm load, it should be fine. If it's not, call the manufacturer's support line and check.

My backup head, which is a Crate PowerBlock, couldn't handle pushing a 4-ohm load at high volumes, it kept triggering the internal protection circuit. That's a Class D amp, like the Shuttle and Focus.

My Focus 2R is up for sale, I'd need $900 for it, though, it's two channels, 800 watts, reverb, 6 pounds. Great little amp.

Thank you Vic. I`d love to be able to buy your Focus but unfortunately that would be later down the line and I would hope you`d sold it by then. Thankfully my choice has been made for me by the KennayFund. I`m gonna have to go with the Crown XLS 202 for now. Got a boat gig 10/23 and wanted to have a decent rig up and running asap. Who knows? One man`s icepick might be another man`s rubber mallet. I hear that Eaton from DSO used a Crest and recently a QSC. I might look into the QSC`s.
Further down the line I`m looking at a Focus, a Clarus or a Fryette Two/Fifty/Two. I know that you`ve sold off your rig in favor of the Axe Effects into a monitor. If I ever get to playing 150 shows a year (like you) I might consider that. But until then what would you reccomend I preamp out a (now back-dated circuit, blackfaced AA9/64 THANKS JASON!!!!) Vibrolux into? Thanks again man!

I thought I would use this thread again, any thoughts about volume using The XLS amp with a Trio mine doesnt seem very loud.

jdsmodulus wrote:I thought I would use this thread again, any thoughts about volume using The XLS amp with a Trio mine doesnt seem very loud.

This could be levels. You need to check what level your Trio is sending out and what level your poweramp expects.

I experienced a similar problem with my ElevenRack into my Peavey CS200x into my Yamaha BR15.

Interesting I have the output level on the Trio on full as well as the clean channel full gain is full. My thought was also that the cable I run from the pre to the amp is new custom, amp is new cable to the cab is new. The cable though from the trio to the amp (that is all that Im running to test) is adapted from 1/4 inch to XLR in order to connect to the amp. This is also a new adapter. The speakers are NOS and they all (4) sound the same when switched out. Not very loud (respectfully) and a little hum or buz (slight).

jdsmodulus wrote:Interesting I have the output level on the Trio on full as well as the clean channel full gain is full. My thought was also that the cable I run from the pre to the amp is new custom, amp is new cable to the cab is new. The cable though from the trio to the amp (that is all that Im running to test) is adapted from 1/4 inch to XLR in order to connect to the amp. This is also a new adapter. The speakers are NOS and they all (4) sound the same when switched out. Not very loud (respectfully) and a little hum or buz (slight).

Level, my man... Mic, instrument, line pro.

It appears that the XLS is expecting a +4db and I cannot tell what the GT is sending.

How are you going from 1/4" to XLR?

Trio out> 1/4 inch cable>adapter>XLR>amp. I dont see why this would be the problem it would be the same if I had a 1/4 inch>XLR cable. It sounds fine really just not that loud. Oh and it starts with Mexi Strat>1/4inch cable>Trio nothing else!

What is the adapter? a DI? If so that's your problem if it cuts your signal down to line level.

The problem may be levels. Think of it like air/fuel mixture in a car or oxygen level at altitude changes.

I am guessing that you are cranking your XLS amp since your signal going in isn't hot enough.

This results in lower output, poor amplification and hiss.

Tragedy narrowly averted! after careful review I had not pushed hard enough on the input to amp connection so it was pulling what it could but then POW! I thought I heard that Casey Whistle! Jeez! with that amp only a quarter of the way it is super loud! I cant imagine wanting any more power. I guess being that I havent built a rack in over a year I was being really careful not to push anything right off the bat. Tons of cabling, I must check and recheck evrything. Now it seems it will be set and forget.

Check all your tubes and make sure they are not loose.

TRIO
Output Level - LOW Impedance, +5 maximum, Adjustable from 0 to 1.5 volts RMS

[EDIT] Never mind...lol