chrisd24 Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Not sure if this is being posted in the right place so apologies if its wrong. I have a 12v to 230v power inverter rated at 300w continuous and 600w peak, i thought i would see if i could power an amp from this via a 12v deep cycle battery, when i plugged the amp in it just made a horrible hum from the back and didn't allow me to power it up, the amp is only about 20w. So was i just being optimistic when i plugged this in? or have i just done something wrong? thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 (edited) Probably because the inverter ain't got a lot of smoothing 'if any' on the output so you're getting a ton of 50Hz'ish' hum. Pretty sure the inverter won't be rated suitable for audio devices. What you need is a amp that runs on 12VDC Edited April 7, 2010 by KiOgon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisd24 Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 [quote name='KiOgon' post='798721' date='Apr 7 2010, 02:18 PM']Probably because the inverter ain't got a lot of smoothing 'if any' on the output so you're getting a ton of 50Hz hum. Pretty sure the inverter won't be rated suitable for audio devices. What you need is a amp that runs on 12VDC [/quote] Hmm seems to make sense then! i have a 12v amp but its mainly for a guitar as it sounds like a chorus of farts with a bass running through it! so is it possible with a different type of inverter then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 [quote name='chrisd24' post='798725' date='Apr 7 2010, 02:20 PM']Hmm seems to make sense then! i have a 12v amp but its mainly for a guitar as it sounds like a chorus of farts with a bass running through it! so is it possible with a different type of inverter then?[/quote] [color="#FF0000"][size=5]chorus of farts[/size][/color] That sounds like the exact fx pedal I'm looking for Maybe - but you can bet your last peanut a 'audio friendly' inverter ain't gonna come cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanP2008 Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 [quote name='chrisd24' post='798725' date='Apr 7 2010, 02:20 PM']Hmm seems to make sense then! i have a 12v amp but its mainly for a guitar as it sounds like a chorus of farts with a bass running through it! so is it possible with a different type of inverter then?[/quote] You should be fine with some kind of "pure sine wave" inverter. Most of the cheaper inverters produce square wave output, because it is easier and cheaper to do, and a lot of kit is pretty happy with that. However, there is a significant amount of stuff that needs a decent looking sine wave, and it sounds like your amp is in that class. The ironic thing is that a sine-wave inverter is itself somewhat like a power amp that runs off a 12V battery - you crank a small sine-wave up to 240VAC, then in your amp you transform it down to a lower AC voltage, rectifiy it, then use those volts to drive... a power amp... As an earlier poster said, an amp that runs directly off 12V (or whatever) would be a more efficient approach (most inverters *suck* amps from 12V in a alarming fashion), but an amp that produces, say 15W into 8R, will need +/- 18V or more (although a bridged pair of chip amps running off of two 12V batteries would work pretty well, it is diy stuff rather than off-the-shelf). I don't know if there is a bass player's version of the Roland Street Cube??? Yeah - a sine-wave inverter would probably be the easiest... Be nice to try-before-you-buy tho'. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 The little Roland Bass Cube RX can run on batteries... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisd24 Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 many thanks for all your replies.......i think what it boils down to is a pure sine wave inverter is a pretty expensive bit of kit and wouldn't really make economic sense to go down that road......if i had the know how then possibly just converting an amp at its power source to 12vdc would prob be a good shout.....but ultimately i think i need to invest in a descent battery amp! i have tried the Roland one before in a shop about a year ago.....not sure if it was the bass i used in the shop but it sounded pretty terrible, although i have heard good things on here....also a pignose 30 or a crate taxi 50 watt battery amp i have heard good things about....and although the price tag is a bit steep at around the 200 quid mark ultimately it will make sense as my band seem intent on busking pretty much on a weekly basis now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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