Karaoke Forums

I am currently redoing one of my rigs. I have a venue where I am at 3 nights a week. I am currently running 2 Peavey 1800 watt amps. I have had good use of them. Any suggestions and why would be appreciated.

Why do you want to replace them? There are plenty of qualities you can find in modern power amps at a wide range of prices, so which ones do you care about most?

* weight?
* power?
* built-in DSP?
* rack space savings?
* brand preference?

What kind of speakers do you have, and what sort of crossover or DSP?

_________________
Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

I like my peaveys, but they are heavey lighter would be a plus. More power and space saver a plus. Just checking what others are using and like.

Well, for everything except subwoofers, I like my Crown XTi amps. I use them on monitors but if I didn't have outboard DSP, I would put them on mid/high cabinets too.

As far as subs go, light-weight, high-power, and low-cost are three things that really do not go together. The cheapest option that would be a significant upgrade from your current amps, and work well on subs, would be the QSC PL3 (NOT PLX) or Crown I-TECH lines. A PL380 or I-TECH 8000 will be in my amp rack eventually, replacing two Behringer EP4000s. These are $2000+ amplifiers and it's a pretty large investment for most karaoke situations. I'm mainly doing it to reduce weight and free up some space in my amp rack.

_________________
Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

The QSC PLX series are very nice.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Opinions on whether or not PLX amps are any good on subs vary widely. I would no sooner use PLX on subs than XTi or Behringer EPX.

_________________
Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

How about the new Carvin DCM series? Only 15 pounds, and their big boy is 3800 watts! It's a "class D" amp I believe, but it should rock the free world. Those are the ones I am considering. Only 750 bucks for that one too.

I've never had a problem on subs with them & ran 20K watts systems with them for bands.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Those are ones i'm replacing with a couple I have as well. I already use several Carvin amps now.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

A/B them against big-iron amps or "better" light-weight amps (PL3/I-TECH/LG/etc) of similar power rating sometime; it will probably change your mind. I thought my XTi amps were great until I took the time to directly compare them to other amplifiers.

Part of it is certainly to do with electrical power. Subwoofer loads have huge transients, and if you are working in bars with crap power (which most seem to have) and need your whole PA to run on one or two 20A circuits, RMX is going to work better than PLX. Sure, they are a lot heavier; but they are a lot more forgiving.

_________________
Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

I use QSC PLX amplires on subs without a single issue.

It all depends on exactly what you are trying to power.

PLX 3602 will work just fine on single 18's.

If you need to power something like JBL SRX Dual 18" subs a RMX 5050 may be a better idea.

Is there anyone using Peavey Amps out there. I am currently looking as Qsc just wondering.

_________________
Where were you, we were having fun with Lonewolf Karaoke......

The new Peavey amps are supposed to be the bomb. Problem most stores do not have them yet and I would not want to buy something that I'm going to be the beta tester.

I use a 2007 Peavey PV 1500 in my mobile rig. It is a great amp, but it is pretty heavy. I got it used on Ebay for $150.00.

I'm getting ready to replace it with a Crown XLR 602 that I've had for a few years, which is also a good amp for mains and weighs 27 lbs to the Peavey's 34. In a mobile rig, that 7 pounds makes a big difference.

I would trust the Peavey for mains or subs, but I don't think I would run a sub off of the Crown.

For mains, though, I would recommend both the PV series and XLR series of amps. Mine have been going strong for over 3 years of hard driving!

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

Yep, the new ISP line of Peavey amps only weight 7 pounds,,,yep 7. Dunno how sturdy or reliable they are, but as of right now they have only released 2 models so far. And I haven't heard a word on how they perform. I am waiting for at least some sort of review before seriously looking at them.

Only the IPR1600 exists so far as anyone can tell. I have seen no thorough review, and Peavey is apparently not interested in sending them out on a road test with experienced folk to evaluate them. I am skeptical at this point, given that they missed multiple ship dates that they committed to with their dealers. The manual is finally available on the Peavey web site.

While these amps are slightly cheaper than Crown XTi and weigh quite a bit less, the Peavey DSP is far less functional.

As far as the non-DSP model goes, I guess they will compare quite favorably to the QSC GX3, and the GX5 once a higher-power IPR model becomes available.

I was much more excited about these amps a few months ago, before they missed two more ship dates and then started shipping only two models instead of eight. When the other six will be here is anyone's guess, and the Peavey rep who was posting on PSW had very little to say other than, "LEAVE PEAVEY ALONE!!! AAWWAAHHHH."

_________________
Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

I ran into a guy who actually works for a company that makes amps,,and amps only. I saw a few of them, they look totally awesome! I didn't get a chance to hear any of them, but the guy has a masters in audio, so I take it he is a "pro". The brand is "Face",,,so go to www.faceaudio.com and check them out. I think they will compare with the Crown's and QSC equipment. You tell me. He said the specs they give are "real" application specs, not max. Just another one to throw into the choices I guess.