Power amps for Helix

Wazmeister

SD 170 - absolutely brilliant

welshboyo

Watching this thread with interest too - so....is it safe to run a 170 into a single V30 cab (Bogner Cube)?

digitalscream

Handsome_Chris said:

digitalscream said:

Jetfire said:

@digitalscream what cab set up are you using?  

Ironically...a Matrix NL212

You've bought another one?

Nah, never sold the original.

welshboyo said:

Watching this thread with interest too - so....is it safe to run a 170 into a single V30 cab (Bogner Cube)?

Yep, just watch the volume. That's exactly how I ran the Barefaced GX12 when I was testing it.

Beexter

welshboyo said:

Watching this thread with interest too - so....is it safe to run a 170 into a single V30 cab (Bogner Cube)?

Yes, provided you don't run the PS170 wide open. It's only putting out 170w at 4 ohm, so likely around 85w at 8ohm.  

welshboyo

Beexter said:

welshboyo said:

Watching this thread with interest too - so....is it safe to run a 170 into a single V30 cab (Bogner Cube)?

Yes, provided you don't run the PS170 wide open. It's only putting out 170w at 4 ohm, so likely around 85w at 8ohm.  

hmm, at 16ohms then its going to be mouse squeak loud....

sgosden

Can't do a comparison, but been incredibly happy with matrix 1000fx for the last few years. 

Has saved our butts live too. I like to run a cab either side of stage. But when the bassist amp went up in smoke, I quickly set him a parralel path with a amp block. Sent my amp sim to the left channel, and his to the right (plus a DI out to foh). 
Drove a 6x10 more than well enough for stage volume .

Clarky

I've toured the Matrix both sides for the Atlantic and it's been brilliant
a cool feature is you just pop the lid and flick a switch for US voltage

paulmapp8306

Handsome_Chris said:

@Jetfire , in which way did the Matrix amp not like it when the G Major 2 was plugged in?  @paulmapp8306 , did you have a G Major 2 and Matrix amp,  although not necessarily at the same time?

I had a GMaj 1 not the 2.  Sold it when I got my first AFX rig back in 08 as the AFX took over the GMaj FX role as well as the amp (in fact the FX was why I jumped on the AFX not the amp sims - the G Maj had problems with its encoder. The other FX option was an eventide Eclipse).

paulmapp8306

OP - If you dont want rack mount, then a Fryette Power Station......  I switched from the Matrix stuff a couple of years back (not that the Matrix wasnt great - but there were several considerations at the time).  This is now what I use with my AFX in to a Zilla 2x12.  

professorben

welshboyo said:

Beexter said:

welshboyo said:

Watching this thread with interest too - so....is it safe to run a 170 into a single V30 cab (Bogner Cube)?

Yes, provided you don't run the PS170 wide open. It's only putting out 170w at 4 ohm, so likely around 85w at 8ohm.  

hmm, at 16ohms then its going to be mouse squeak loud....

Nope, I have 2 cabs, a 4x12 Marshall at 8 ohms and a 4x12 peavey at 16...both using my PS170

 there’s not a lot in it, I don’t need to adjust the volume between the 2 cabs to any great degree, it’s more about taking advantage of the 3 band eq on the PS170 to tailor the sound for each cab, which is really useful for can share gigs, plus not having to worry about cab ohms, just plug and play. 

Obviously speaker sensitivity has a part to play, but it really is bloody loud and we have a loud drummer. 

WiresDreamDisasters

Tried the PS170 into 16ohm EVH EL34 cab (no, I don't know why they're branding a cab with a tube value either) in GuitarGuitar at the weekend. It was VERY loud. So I can only imagine it would be even louder at 4 or 8ohms.

And I agree with Ben that the EQ on the PS170 is incredibly useful.

nick79

I use a Fryette Power station. I actually bought it to attenuate a loud non master volume amp (which it does brilliantly) but it works very well as a power amp for my Stomp too. 
They are a lot of coin though.. 

professorben

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Tried the PS170 into 16ohm EVH EL34 cab (no, I don't know why they're branding a cab with a tube value either) in GuitarGuitar at the weekend. It was VERY loud. So I can only imagine it would be even louder at 4 or 8ohms.

And I agree with Ben that the EQ on the PS170 is incredibly useful.

I think it’s a matching cab to the 5150 Mkiii EL34 Head. 

gearaddict

Can you actually buy the Matrix amps in the UK?

People do rave about the SD Powerstage amps...it makes me wonder what they do to the sound? I mean, they just make a pre-amp louder right? How can they be anything other than boring? My instinct is to buy the cheapest make-louder-thingy.

gearaddict

Oh - the other rack style cheaper amps people seem to like are the Palmer Macht 402 and the Harley Benton GPA400.

I've been using a Magnum 44 and that sounds good.

digitalscream

gearaddict said:

Can you actually buy the Matrix amps in the UK?

People do rave about the SD Powerstage amps...it makes me wonder what they do to the sound? I mean, they just make a pre-amp louder right? How can they be anything other than boring? My instinct is to buy the cheapest make-louder-thingy.

It's a combination of three things:

1 - They've got headroom for days, so no attenuation of the low end.
2 - They're incredibly lightweight and small, to the point where they'll fit in a large jacket pocket.
3 - The active EQ is both phenomenally powerful and really useful in a gig situation for adjusting to the stage/room.

No other power amp really does all three things as well.

Jetfire

My only concern was raised earlier in this thread about frying a cab. Otherwise, Im interested. However , as fortune has it, im borrowing a power cab this week so I'll report back

Clarky

gearaddict said:

Can you actually buy the Matrix amps in the UK?

People do rave about the SD Powerstage amps...it makes me wonder what they do to the sound? I mean, they just make a pre-amp louder right? How can they be anything other than boring? My instinct is to buy the cheapest make-louder-thingy.

they do nothing to the sound, which is what you want..
when you have a modeller that's making the tone of both a preamp and power amp stage of an amp, you want the real power amp to be absolutely clean, transparent..
my GT1000 just makes the AxeFX loud and then stuffs it through a pair of real 4x12 cabs..
alternatively, I could if I wished us it to drive passive FRFR speakers and have the AxeFX do the cab modelling too
[which I personally prefer not to do... just a taste thing]..

the additional thing with the Matrix GT1000 is that it's lightweight and really powerful..
having a ton of power means you have all the volume you need with plenty of headroom..
and.... apparently [according to the designer] the GT1000 has 'sag' designed into it [the GT800 does not]..
so as you crank it harder, it'll sag like a real amp [even though the tone is unaffected]..
I can't say I've ever noticed it.. maybe I don't drive it hard enough for that effect to be noticeable..
and I'm not exactly quiet on stage.. lol

maybe the cheapest make louder thingy colours the sound more and has less headroom than the expensive one

in the olden days of rack kit, you'd have a preamp / multi-fx unit like a 2120 or JMP-1
those do not model power amps so you'd want to stuff it into a power amp that has a 'voice' like a big ol' valve jobby
think Marshall EL34 100/100 or Mesa Strategy sort of thing..
I used to run my 2120 into a Marshall 8008 with ValveState selected [rather than running the 'linear' setting: which is clean / flat and more suited to something like the AxeFX that also models power amp tone]

WiresDreamDisasters

If I recall correctly, all poweramps are going to introduce some level of harmonic distortion (or total harmonic distortion). What you want is as low as possible for as loud as possible - ie, even in the solid state world an EHX Magnum 44 running at 44watts is going to have a higher THD than a 600-watt Matrix poweramp running at 44watts. The Matrix will be running cleaner and wont be messing with the signal as much, because the entire system wont be under as much stress.

Jalapeno

gearaddict said:

Can you actually buy the Matrix amps in the UK?

They're made in the UK.

Here -->http://uk.matrixamplification.com/rack-amplifers/gt-800-fx.html