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What's the maximum watts an amp can have?


mbengs1

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49 minutes ago, daddymack said:

As have I...I dumped my Marshall 100SL/1960A half stack in the early 80s and never looked back...and my back thanked me after every gig...

A half-stack is an iconic look, but I've never really seen the point outside of that. I've always been more of a combo guy, although at one point, the two combos were a Fender Super Six and a Boogie, so I was dealing with plenty of weight myself. :lol: 

 

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Yeah that is a crazy price, but... somewhere there is some gearfreak who will buy it to hold onto...

Probably. Like the ad said, it's probably the only NOS E/V / Fender 12 F to be found anywhere. Fender should buy it and put it into their museum... 

 

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I know I've seen used/reconed 12F speakers going in the $2-300 range, and yes they were a very expensive option.

A good friend/band mate had the JBLs in his SF Twin, and when he wanted to get a custom 2x12 extension cab made, he couldn't get the same JBL E120s, and the only option was the EV12s/Fender12F, he took a pass...

I absolutely love mine. I've had it for ages - I think I paid $300-400 for the amp total, and it came with the speaker. Not a lot of them out there from what I understand, but it was a factory option in the Princeton Reverb II, and the 10" EV was an option in the Super Champs, although Super Champ has the regular Eminence. I think I bought the PRII amp in the early or mid '90s. I've done a bit of work to it internally (negative feedback switch, 3-position standby / power switch, upgraded the reverb and speaker wires, put in a DC heater mod to knock the noise down a bit, etc.) and re-tolexed and grilled it with cream tolex and oxblood grille. Oh, and added a green jewel lamp. It's been a terrific amp, but it's very similar to some of the 1x12 Boogies (although only 20W vs 60W or more) in terms of not only the way the cascading preamp gain works, but also in terms of overall weight. Those speakers aren't exactly light... :lol: 

 

 

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I just saw a concert on TV over the weekend that had the Cure playing.  They had a line of small amps they were using.  Looks like they were Rolland Cube amps.  They turned the B in CUBE to an R using a black piece of tape)  By the size they couldn't have had more then a 12" in each one, Maybe even 10's.  That outdoor audience must have been 100,000 people or more. 

cube.JPG.d59c0042a726dc89b2f209ea9e6daadc.JPG

In an article they said their stage volume has always been based on an acoustic drummers drum set. 

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Oh, speaking of the EVM 12 L, there is a similar speaker that Eminence makes. Similar power rating (200W) and efficiency (101.1 dB @ 1W / 1m) but it's still in production and it's a lot more reasonably priced than the used Electro Voice models are - especially that NOS one I linked to earlier... it's called the Eminence Legend EM12. You can get a brand new one for ~$150.00. 

There's also a lighter-weight version that uses a neodymium magnet called the EM12N. Still rated for 200W RMS. I'm not sure what the efficiency rating is on that one, but it's considerably lighter at 6.6 pounds vs the ~16 pounds of the EM12. It costs about $10 more because of the expensive magnet, but that's not too much for such a big decrease in weight IMO. 

I personally have not tried either one, but I've heard good things about the "regular" EM12.  If anyone's interested, maybe I could try to do a review since I have an EVM to directly compare them to... 

 

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I have a 90s EM12 in my 70s Traynor YGM 3, apparently what they based the Legend speakers on.  It’s really nicely balanced and clear sounding across the volume range and handles amp OD really nicely. If these are anything like that I would recommend them.

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On 3/29/2020 at 3:12 PM, Control_67 said:

I have a 90s EM12 in my 70s Traynor YGM 3, apparently what they based the Legend speakers on.  It’s really nicely balanced and clear sounding across the volume range and handles amp OD really nicely. If these are anything like that I would recommend them.

Good to hear - thanks for that!

 

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On 3/12/2020 at 6:19 AM, SteinbergerHack said:

The Kemper powered head is 600W.

That said, what difference does it make?  An amp's power output is only one small portion of the volume equation, and has nothing to do with the sound quality.

Lack of power (headroom) can certainly be a hindrance to sound quality.

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On 3/14/2020 at 2:51 PM, SteinbergerHack said:

After having chuckled my way through reading this thread, I finally realized that there is a reasonably accurate answer to this question, and one that is based on the basics of physics, power amp design efficiencies and electrical distribution practices:

At 120VAC (North American power), the largest common circuit capacity is 20 Amps.  Thus, the theoretical maximum power that can come from a single 120VAC power outlet is 2,400 Watts.

For a Class A amp @ 50% efficiency, the maximum you could get from a single 120VAC outlet would be 1,200 Watts.

For a class B amp @ 75% efficiency, the maximum you could get would be 1,800 Watts.

For a class D amp @ 90% efficiency, you could get very close to 2,160 Watts.

 

Problem solved.  Do I get a cookie?

Yes, but only if you post a chart with a graph that illustrates your point.   :snax:

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On 3/16/2020 at 8:17 AM, Phil O'Keefe said:

A half-stack is an iconic look, but I've never really seen the point outside of that. I've always been more of a combo guy, although at one point, the two combos were a Fender Super Six and a Boogie, so I was dealing with plenty of weight myself. :lol: 

 

Those things weigh as much as a small car... and those Ultralinear Transformers.

I never has a Quad or a Super Six but I did have an Untralinear Super Reverb which was very difficult to move. The transformers made it top heavy and I couldn't carry it with a straight arm. I had a few 100 Watt Twins over the years and put a pair of EVM12Ls in one of them (for that heavy sound) and it was a great amp for a Fender Rhodes (I had a used 88 for a short time and replaced it with a new 73).

My lower back hurts just talking about this stuff.

 

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5 hours ago, onelife said:
On 3/16/2020 at 8:17 AM, Phil O'Keefe said:

 

Those things weigh as much as a small car... and those Ultralinear Transformers.

 

98 pounds... and not all of them have the UltraLinear transformers - I had an earlier one, with 100 watts, not the later ones with 135 watts and the UL transformers. Moving dolly and hand truck were not factory-supplied accessories, but they should have been. :lol: They definitely weren't optional... 

 

6 hours ago, onelife said:

I had a few 100 Watt Twins over the years and put a pair of EVM12Ls in one of them (for that heavy sound) and it was a great amp for a Fender Rhodes

 

The factory-stock EV in my Fender Princeton Reverb II makes it feel like a Mk1 Boogie combo insofar as overall weight. 

 

6 hours ago, onelife said:

My lower back hurts just talking about this stuff.

 

Now you know why I like working in studios more than I like touring. ;) 

 

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I had a Mesa Tremloverb 2x12 combo that weighed 98 lbs. What a lovely amp that was.

Mine was as clean as a whistle. 

 

I can't believe I bought it and carried it out the door, loaded it in my car back seat myself.

When I sold it a buddy helped me carry up my cellar stairs.

I also have an Ashdown ABM 500 made in the UK. The amps had 4x10 speakers, when I looked at it I said what the heck and never looked at the weight. I think it weighs 110 lbs.

hat amp is a hernia surgery waiting to happen.

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