The Steel Guitar Forum

What make of power amp is good for steel to use along with a separate pre amp?

I had a Stewart World 1.2, which I thought was great. But it was 15.5" deep and would not fit into a standard rack case. I had a deep 6 space case, but it was way too big to carry around. I sold the Stuart and am now using my Stereo Steel RCA inputs to plug in my Evans pre-amp. The Stereo Steel has two 300 watt power amps. I can go from Stereo Steel to Evans by just moving the guitar cable from one to the other. This is a sweet set-up, so I am suggesting you think about a Stereo Steel for the power amp because you will then have two different amps at your fingertips.

Kenny - I'm sure you will get several good suggestions. George's is certainly worth considering. For size, light weight, power, and simplicity look into a Straight Ahead power amp sold by forum member Jay Ganz. 500 Watts @ 4 Ohms, 5" X 7", 1 1/2 pounds. Check out Jay's Facebook page for more information.

KENNY KRUPNICK wrote:What make of power amp is good for steel to use along with a separate pre amp?

Ah want to go big dog? I used this for a while with a Rev preamp. Very good, very heavy. Tubes... all the way..

http://www.fryette.com/two-ninety-two/

I used a Crown XLS 1002 with my Revelation Tube Pre-amp... Recommended to me by Brad Sarno... A Spectacular amp with a boat load of power.

Dale Rottacker wrote:I used a Crown XLS 1002 with my Revelation Tube Pre-amp... Recommended to me by Brad Sarno... A Spectacular amp with a boat load of power.

Hah hah Sarno recommended the Fryette to me.. are you using it now??

Dale Rottacker wrote:I used a Crown XLS 1002 with my Revelation Tube Pre-amp... Recommended to me by Brad Sarno... A Spectacular amp with a boat load of power.

Hah hah Sarno recommended the Fryette to me.. are you using it now??

George Seymour wrote:

Dale Rottacker wrote:I used a Crown XLS 1002 with my Revelation Tube Pre-amp... Recommended to me by Brad Sarno... A Spectacular amp with a boat load of power.

Hah hah Sarno recommended the Fryette to me.. are you using it now??

Hey George, no I’m not using it any more, but for no other reason than I ended up going to a Telonic’s 500C Super Twin 212 amp... just under 40 pounds... My rack was getting a little rediculous... I have a 10x10 Roll away rack, but full of gear it's well over 100 pounds... takes two men and a boy to carry LOL

Nice Dale.. but you gotta stay away from that new stuff hee hee

George Seymour wrote:Nice Dale.. but you gotta stay away from that new stuff hee hee

No kidding George... I also have a Quilter Steelaire Rackmount which is a really nice amp with maybe the best built in Reverb I’ve heard... I love the amp but need to sell it... I like the DI in the Telonics better. I don’t want MORE gear, but I am planning on a new D10

Since Peavey no longer makes the single rack space digital power amps, I thought either a Crown, or QSC.

Straight Ahead power amp sold by Jay Ganz. 500 Watts @ 4 Ohms, 5" X 7", 1 1/2 pounds.

ART makes a couple single rack space amps: SLA1 and SLA2. I have not tried them but have been thinking about buying one.

Robert

I agree with Ken. The Straight Ahead from Jay Ganz is the best,it's small and very light, plus Jay is a great guy to deal with.

Jay Ganz's straight ahead power amp is hard to beat for its size, power and sound quality. I use it a lot around town and it is an integral part of my travel rig.

Crown with my Rev

Hey Kenny, I would have to also recommend Jay Ganz's Straight Ahead power amp. 500 watts @ 4 ohms; it's mono of course but even if you need stereo, buy 2! It is a great price that won't break the bank! I bought one, used it for a little while but mine was the newer version with it's own cooling fan. The fan seemed noisy to me so I contacted Jay...he said "no problem send it back to me and I'll check it out". He got it back, told me yes it was "crazy loud" and he would take care of it. He did...got it back in about a week. That's including USPS shipping time! It's totally quiet now. He's a good guy who will take care of you! It's so small, I have mine tucked away inside at the back of a 3-space rack. You will love it's compactness! JMHO, Roger

Another vote for the Fryette. Heavy but nothing sounds better.

I've used some of the Peavey industrial amps. They're made for PA systems in big buildings and such, and they're fairly heavy rackmounts. But they're dirt cheap, reliable and sound great. I think I paid $20 for the last one I bought--surplus out of an industrial complex. The IPA series.

Dave

I've heard that Rocktron's Mainline is good as well

And I've also wanted to get a Carvin TS-100, but haven't yet

I have two cabs with Jay Gantz Straight Ahead Power amps and two Tommy Huff cabs with the Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170 power amps. The Straight Ahead weighs about 1 1/2 lbs, and the Seymour Duncan weighs 2 lbs. They are both very small.... like pedals, but the Seymour Duncan has 3 band eq for Bass, Mid, and Treble. Very clean and light weight class D amps with a LOT of power.

I've had great success with the PEAVEY MINIMAX Bass head power amp. Sounds great live. A bunch of power and light weight.



DEMO HERE

SWEETWATER CLICK

The new Quilter Tone Block 202 can be used as a full range flat response power amp, or as a full on guitar amp with the flick of a switch. Built in DI too...

I really like mine!