Pedalboard sized poweramps

[agedhorse]

12 hours ago, bassman7755 said:

 

Yeah been watching a few youtube vids of people bench testing various modules, the worst offenders seem to be blessed with fake voltage regulators which over heat and marginally specced caps (50v). I've pulled the trigger on a module with 60v caps so now I just have to wait for the boat from china ... 

You are putting a lot of faith into numbers that can be totally made up, or perhaps mean nothing.

[bassman7755]

10 hours ago, agedhorse said:

You are putting a lot of faith into numbers that can be totally made up, or perhaps mean nothing.

 

Well its £25 so not the end of the world if true. Also the caps in the pics of the unit are 63v so it would be a pretty elaborate scam.

[agedhorse]

12 hours ago, bassman7755 said:

 

Well its £25 so not the end of the world if true. Also the caps in the pics of the unit are 63v so it would be a pretty elaborate scam.

Not at all very elaborate. The values the caps are labeled as and what specs they are built to can be entirely different. Below is a far more elaborate "mis-labeling" than a simple printed number:

 

 

 

[Chienmortbb]

12 hours ago, agedhorse said:

Not at all very elaborate. The values the caps are labeled as and what specs they are built to can be entirely different. Below is a far more elaborate "mis-labeling" than a simple printed number:

 

 

 

There are a number of YouTube videos showing that many caps emit magic smoke at way lower than the quoted voltage. This picture probably explains why. Another reason for probably buying an integrated amp or power amp from an established manufacturer.

[Phil Starr]

I think I ought to add something here. Just in case anyone is thinking of going the cheap Chinese route. John ( @Chienmortbb ) and I were looking at these amps as a lockdown project. I was particularly interested in a battery powered version of the House Jam Micro Cab. The reason it didn't get anywhere was that we didn't find a reliable supplier of a board we could recommend. John got some of the amps 'working' but the quality of some of the components and the heatsinking issues meant we were never going to recommend anything. I moved to looking at the Warwick Gnome to use with the House Jam cab and John went on to look at better manufactures for boards. Any potential savings weren't worth the risk in terms of reliability.

 

Not everyone in China is making capacitors like the ones @agedhorse pictured but it's the Wild West out in the East and definitely buyer beware.

[agedhorse]

This is one of the reasons I have stuck with ICEPower for all of my designs.
 

There were many Asian vendors that made great promises yet every one of them had significant questionable elements with their offerings. Ultimately it made more sense to pay a premium price for a premium product.

[Chienmortbb]

6 hours ago, agedhorse said:

This is one of the reasons I have stuck with ICEPower for all of my designs.
 

There were many Asian vendors that made great promises yet every one of them had significant questionable elements with their offerings. Ultimately it made more sense to pay a premium price for a premium product.

I bought a few of the cheap modules  and they were invariably unreliable. I have had power supplies +\- 50V and they were +/- 70V. There is almost no technical support or documentation. 
 

I have modules from Connex that work flawlessly and I have had good support from Connex but, as with 3e, the actual cost is virtually the same as a certified ICEPowet module. 
 

A little knowledge IS a dangerous thing and whatever route you take, you must know what you are doing.  These amplifiers have dangerous voltages, not only on the mains side but also at the output of the power supply. In addition, The regulations around safety and emi/rfi are also important and most enthusiastic amateurs (since retiring I must include myself in this group) do not have the knowledge or experience required. 

[agedhorse]

It comes down to “the quality is proportional to the cost”. 

[NancyJohnson]

Just an update on the Harley Benton.

 

Spent a bit of time on it yesterday, I have some studio stuff upcoming and give my recent bout of sickness (see elsewhere), I've not played much.

 

Used it for about an hour, fairly loud, plugging in various devices, started to get some farty overtones/weird distortion; wondered whether it might be the cabs (nope)...it just doesn't seem to like a hot input.  Went back to the Darkglass and it was fine. 

 

I realise the AO900 is undoubtedly going to be more robust, but in conclusion, I guess it's fine for short-term playing, but not for longer sessions.

[JottoSW1]

Quilter Interbass . Got a second hand one and it's ace. Not a power amp but pedal bord sized 4sure

[NancyJohnson]

I'd not really given the TC Electronic BAM200 a single thought until earlier.

 

Understandably, I really don't want to keep chucking money at these things; I just want something titchy.

[Phil Starr]

A couple of years ago we tested the BAM/Gnome/Elf against each other. We ran frequency responses and had a look inside. They aren't all the same and each has it's own voicing, they sound different but the power output is the same suggesting they use similar components in the power amp. I now use the Gnome for most gigs and rehearsals through a 1x10 and it is plenty for on-stage monitoring and small gigs. The BAM is it's equal as is the Elf.

 

I'm  a bit surprised at the farty tones unless you were really loud and I've never looked at a Harley Benton but the three above all have really high gain so turning up the input gain would lead to clipping in the pre amp and pass horrid distortion to the output stages.  Try turning the master volume up full in the HB and your bass down and see if that helps. If not then either the HB is faulty or 100/180W isn't enough for what you need.

[Jo.gwillim]

A quick shout for the gk mb200 which is in the elf size camp, well just a bit bigger. I had it apart recently to change the DI output chip which was noisy. Really well made, the preamp section has through hole components so repair is possible and a real icepower module. 

[Jo.gwillim]

Ps really interesting thread, thank you all

[NancyJohnson]

On 13/07/2024 at 08:40, Phil Starr said:

A couple of years ago we tested the BAM/Gnome/Elf against each other. We ran frequency responses and had a look inside. They aren't all the same and each has it's own voicing, they sound different but the power output is the same suggesting they use similar components in the power amp. I now use the Gnome for most gigs and rehearsals through a 1x10 and it is plenty for on-stage monitoring and small gigs. The BAM is it's equal as is the Elf.

 

I'm  a bit surprised at the farty tones unless you were really loud and I've never looked at a Harley Benton but the three above all have really high gain so turning up the input gain would lead to clipping in the pre amp and pass horrid distortion to the output stages.  Try turning the master volume up full in the HB and your bass down and see if that helps. If not then either the HB is faulty or 100/180W isn't enough for what you need.

 

I suspect the farty may have been the bass.  Spent a bit of time in the Spector control cavity and rolled back the Tonepump, which has improved things significantly.  I haven't hooked the HB up since doing this as of yet (it's also had a positive effect through my AO900).

[alexa3020]

incidentally i just bought a fosi audio bt20a bluetooth amp to power some old tannoy hifi speakers - it was cheap on prime day.

it uses the 3116 chip. i have to say its pretty good as a 'hifi' amp. To my ears that setup easily beats the Q acoustics m20 active speakers that i was tempted to buy.

[Obrienp]

On 19/07/2024 at 18:25, NancyJohnson said:

 

I suspect the farty may have been the bass.  Spent a bit of time in the Spector control cavity and rolled back the Tonepump, which has improved things significantly.  I haven't hooked the HB up since doing this as of yet (it's also had a positive effect through my AO900).

Interested to know how you got on with the HB after that.
 

I just received mine. I’m running it into a LFSys Monza with a Flyrig v2 in front. It gives me a low volume option and I find it much less aggressive sounding than my other small amp:  a Warwick Gnome iPro. The latter can be turned down to a certain point and then it’s like flicking an off switch. The GPA100 seems to be able to go to lower volume and still keep it together but I’m not sure how sensitive the Monza is at such low volumes; after all it is rated at 600 watts AES @ 8ohms. I also noticed that the GPA100 gets a bit distorted much over the 3 o’clock position and this is without the Peak light activating. If I turn down the Flyrig output level, the distortion goes away but the overall volume drops. I guess this is about the GPA100’s operating ceiling. I haven’t tried it with my 4 ohm cab yet. I’m hoping for a bit more headroom with that. I’ve noticed the GPA hardly warms up at all even after an hour’s use, which is pretty impressive given there is no fan and is much better than Gnome.  
 

So far, I think the GPA100 is amazing value for £68.