Trace Elliott gp12 smx preamp

[porterpr]

Hi Dave I've got a Trace Elliott gp12 smx pre amp could you give me any advice on a power amp that would go with it as I'm not sure What to get (mono amps seem hard to come by) Thanks.

[DHA]

[quote name='porterpr' post='1054952' date='Dec 11 2010, 01:51 PM']Hi Dave I've got a Trace Elliott gp12 smx pre amp could you give me any advice on a power amp that would go with it as I'm not sure What to get (mono amps seem hard to come by) Thanks.[/quote]

If you can't find a suitable mono amp then get a stereo that will bridge into mono.

Dave

[porterpr]

[quote name='DHA' post='1055066' date='Dec 11 2010, 03:47 PM']If you can't find a suitable mono amp then get a stereo that will bridge into mono.

Dave[/quote]
Thanks Dave ....can you suggest a good stereo power amp also what does class 1 class 2 etc mean?

[DHA]

[quote name='porterpr' post='1055199' date='Dec 11 2010, 05:56 PM']Thanks Dave ....can you suggest a good stereo power amp also what does class 1 class 2 etc mean?[/quote]

Solid state power amps are not really my thing so would not know what to recommend, sorry. But, there are many on here which will be able to.

Do you mean Class A, Class A/B? if so its to do with the design of the output stage. But, Class D (Digital) amps are very good now, they provide very high power in a small light weight package, also not to costly.

Edited December 12, 2010 by DHA

[porterpr]

[quote name='DHA' post='1055367' date='Dec 11 2010, 08:19 PM']Solid state power amps are not really my thing so would not know what to recommend, sorry. But, there are many on here which will be able to.

Do you mean Class A, Class A/B? if so its to do with the design of the output stage. But, Class D (Digital) amps are very good now, they provide very high power in a small light weight package, also not to costly.[/quote]
Yes I ment class A B ect, thanks for your time.

[dan670844]

[quote name='porterpr' post='1054952' date='Dec 11 2010, 01:51 PM']Hi Dave I've got a Trace Elliott gp12 smx pre amp could you give me any advice on a power amp that would go with it as I'm not sure What to get (mono amps seem hard to come by) Thanks.[/quote]

Any Power amp can provide the noise with these, a stereo one or two channel one is best I will explain in a minute why*. For many years my main rig was a SMX pre and power amp setup, I still have it but its split down into a 4U rack now rather than the monster 12 U it used to live in. The Best way to use these is use these balanced output on the back of the unit which then goes into the power amp. You have two choices either you can feed a full range signal into the power amp then into your cabs, or you can split the high and low into seperate channels or amps /cabs. Complicated but it was high end gear and when these where made full range cabs were rare, you normally had a sub cab for lows and a high cab i.e a 1518 (lows) and a 1048H (Mid/Highs).

But all this depends on what cabs you have and what music you play if you tell me I can advise the best way to rig it up.

My trace used to have two PPA1200 power amps and ran 4x 410's mental............. mostly for effect... now it has a RMX2450 stereo power amp which is 2.4KW it has to run off a 16amp supply (blue plug) it weighs 60kg. I hardly ever use it, but the old girl has a few tricks, which you can't do with more modern stuff. I can't believe all this old gear is still going, quality counts. To buy this kind of preamp would easily cost £2k these days............

To answer you question though have a look at power amps from behringer the europower stuff is pretty good, reliable, peavey also are good, for top end QSC and Crown but they are expensive for the RMX in the pic you are looking at nearly a grand. For stereo power amps you can either run two full range signals into each channel then drive each cab (if you have two) one on each channel. With the QSC power amp you can run one cab from one channel and leave the other channel unloaded (I have been in touch with QSC about this. You can also bridge most power amps to give you one output. But if you are bridging be careful always start with the power amp off, fire up the smx on standby, then turn your power amp on. Even if the power amp has a soft start you can sometimes get a thump from the smx if you turn it on last.

Cheers

D

If you need any pointers on how to run it, let me know, its a very versatile preamp, any sound you can imagine is there, they have the trace sound but you can turn if off. No good for studio these days to noisy, but for live its still pretty hard to beat, not many people now how to use em properly though to get the best out of it!

*I say best use the balanced output otherwise they are a bit noisy, and if there is a bit of a hum flip the ground lift switch.

Edited December 12, 2010 by dan670844

[Merton]

I'd get [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=113978"]this[/url]

[porterpr]

[quote name='dan670844' post='1056639' date='Dec 12 2010, 09:42 PM']Any Power amp can provide the noise with these, a stereo one or two channel one is best I will explain in a minute why*. For many years my main rig was a SMX pre and power amp setup, I still have it but its split down into a 4U rack now rather than the monster 12 U it used to live in. The Best way to use these is use these balanced output on the back of the unit which then goes into the power amp. You have two choices either you can feed a full range signal into the power amp then into your cabs, or you can split the high and low into seperate channels or amps /cabs. Complicated but it was high end gear and when these where made full range cabs were rare, you normally had a sub cab for lows and a high cab i.e a 1518 (lows) and a 1048H (Mid/Highs).

But all this depends on what cabs you have and what music you play if you tell me I can advise the best way to rig it up.

My trace used to have two PPA1200 power amps and ran 4x 410's mental............. mostly for effect... now it has a RMX2450 stereo power amp which is 2.4KW it has to run off a 16amp supply (blue plug) it weighs 60kg. I hardly ever use it, but the old girl has a few tricks, which you can't do with more modern stuff. I can't believe all this old gear is still going, quality counts. To buy this kind of preamp would easily cost £2k these days............

To answer you question though have a look at power amps from behringer the europower stuff is pretty good, reliable, peavey also are good, for top end QSC and Crown but they are expensive for the RMX in the pic you are looking at nearly a grand. For stereo power amps you can either run two full range signals into each channel then drive each cab (if you have two) one on each channel. With the QSC power amp you can run one cab from one channel and leave the other channel unloaded (I have been in touch with QSC about this. You can also bridge most power amps to give you one output. But if you are bridging be careful always start with the power amp off, fire up the smx on standby, then turn your power amp on. Even if the power amp has a soft start you can sometimes get a thump from the smx if you turn it on last.

Cheers

D

If you need any pointers on how to run it, let me know, its a very versatile preamp, any sound you can imagine is there, they have the trace sound but you can turn if off. No good for studio these days to noisy, but for live its still pretty hard to beat, not many people now how to use em properly though to get the best out of it!

*I say best use the balanced output otherwise they are a bit noisy, and if there is a bit of a hum flip the ground lift switch.[/quote]
Hi thanks for that info, I'm using 2 swr goliath juniors and play funky jazzy soul music, thanks again Steve.