Karaoke Forums

Hey all....I recently made the switch from a powered mixer to separate components, and I have most everything figured out. The question I have is: What is a good rule of thumb as to the volume setting on the amp?? I started last night with the volume switches at 50%, but found they were not driving the speakers very well. I upped it to 75% and it sounded a ton better. Would it hurt to drive the amp knobs to 100% (the "0" settting).  I know my rule of thumb has always been to crank it up then back off a bit, would this apply to the amp volume, since I can always then control the output volume from the mixing board???

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Pretty much the same question in a different post
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic. ... ght=#61650

Amp wide open!  You are controlling volume from the mixer - it is essentially the pre-amp.

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I used to run the gains on the amp at 50% until I received the same advice from Lonnie - Its been all wide open on the amp for the last year or so and never a problem!   Control the volume from your mixer !

So now we have 3 people saying the same thing. Amps are made to work! Turn them up!

Lonnie, would you apply the same logic to powered speakers as well?

Same deal applies.  The amp is just in the speaker cab instead of an external.

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Lonnie, as usualy, great advice. I was wondering this myself and thanks for the answer.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Tried this last night, I have powered JBL g2's that I've always run about 75% and never had a problem.  Last night I ran them 100%, the sound was slightly better I think, however one of them shut down 3 hours in.  I cycled the power and it came right back so no big deal I guess, I'm just curious if this was just a coincidence or not.  Anyway I'll try again tonight and see.

If you are running your mixer anywhere close to max, then yes it may have been the reason why.  But if you are needing to push the mixer that high, then you need more power.

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This is a great question. I'm glad you asked it cause there is lots of misundertanding about those "Volume" knobs on the front of all pro amps.

First of all, those are not volume knobs, they are input gain limiters. The more you crank them down, the more you limit when the amp can hit full power.

So what are they for?......They are there to allow you to match one amp to another...That is all they are there for.

You can use them to limit sound pressure in a too-small room when using just one amp, but that is a trick you reserve for those times you really need it...

Ok, please let me explain......

Every amp has certain specs. One of those specs is called "input sensitivity".... That spec is expressed in voltage. Your amp input sensitivity might be .75 volts or 1.5 volts.....Who knows what it is, but you can determine what it is by reading the amp owner's manual.

What that spec tells you is at what input voltage point the amp will go to full power.

You must remember that the sole purpose or any amp is to amplify the input signal to a more powerful output signal....So if one amp hits full power when it sees 1.5 volts input, and another will squawk at only .75 volts, then you must crank one of them down(attenuate the input) to match the other or one will make the speakers scream before the other......You want all your amps to work together thru a usuable "volume" range, not have a spot where the woofers blare and the horns are weak or vice versa.

This is never a problem until you get fancy and start to bi-amp or tri-amp and you are using two or more amps......

What you would do then is limit the more sensitive amps as required to balance out the sound levels between all the speaker drivers.

If you are running only one amp, then run it wide open and adjust the SPL's at the mixer master sliders.

Doing so will allow full amp head room where your highs will be be brighter and the bass fuller.

Hey Lonnie

what about my Peavey 600G  mixer amp?  should I crank the main gain and back off on the 6 individual volume knobs?

Well hey, thanks to yall, I mastered my new system on try #2, which is fine.

I am quite the perfectionist when it comes to my sound and the first time I used my new setup last Wednesday I really sucked (@$%&#!).

Anyway, on Friday I opened up the amp as suggested and went ahead and added my BBE sonic processor to the mix, and I immediately have the new, better sound I was looking for when I spent $1300 to upgrade all of my stuff!!

Less volume + more resonant sound = very happy bar owner , patrons, and KJ!!!

Tons of people were even commenting to me that they thought the music sounded just as loud as usual, but they were somehow able to talk over it and hear each other over it without any problems, which is exactly what I was going for.

Thanks to all for the suggestions!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Mixer amps are different as the amp is internal & set for maximum gain already.  So in a "simple" answer, no DO NOT run a mixer amp wide open.  I would run the mic channels as hot as they can go until the clip light just starts to light (green is good, red is bad), then back it off a notch.  Music just enough to stay a little under the music then turn the main volume up as high as needed.  If you find you are needing to turn up to a point of distortion, you may want to consider a higher power amp - which you can hook up to the Peavey - bypassing the internal amp or using it for monitors etc...

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