marshall 20/20 or other 1U power amp?

[gwEm]

i'm in the market for a 1u rack power amp. it doesn't need to be stereo. is the 20/20 any good, or is it a bit lacking in tone? is there other stuff i should be looking at?

open to considering solid state if good sounding, though obviously it will be used for guitar. does it need to be a dedicate guitar power amp, or can i use a studio power amp? it will be driving guitar speakers at the end.

thanks...

[Will]

Well since you have got no responses...
I looked into one a bit back, and there seems to be HUGE overheating problems, it has to have a clear rack space either side, and the cover needs extra vents.
Also is only stereo, not dual monobloc as the EL34  versions are.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Was the Mesa Boogie 20/20 any better?

[hunter]

i'm in the market for a 1u rack power amp. it doesn't need to be stereo. is the 20/20 any good, or is it a bit lacking in tone? is there other stuff i should be looking at?

open to considering solid state if good sounding, though obviously it will be used for guitar. does it need to be a dedicate guitar power amp, or can i use a studio power amp? it will be driving guitar speakers at the end.

thanks...

If you can go SS without losing major sound aspects depends also on the preamp that drives it. I am using SS because my preamp (AxeFX) has on/off switchable power amp simulation, which considers all aspects of a tube power stage (sag, 3D-ness, punch, transformer impact, etc), but this is rather unusual or even unique.

If your current rack doesn't allow for another 2U, I suggest to sell it and get a bigger one. Rackspace should not dictate what you get, it should be tone vs price?

[gwEm]

i'm in the market for a 1u rack power amp. it doesn't need to be stereo. is the 20/20 any good, or is it a bit lacking in tone? is there other stuff i should be looking at?

open to considering solid state if good sounding, though obviously it will be used for guitar. does it need to be a dedicate guitar power amp, or can i use a studio power amp? it will be driving guitar speakers at the end.

thanks...

If you can go SS without losing major sound aspects depends also on the preamp that drives it. I am using SS because my preamp (AxeFX) has on/off switchable power amp simulation, which considers all aspects of a tube power stage (sag, 3D-ness, punch, transformer impact, etc), but this is rather unusual or even unique.

it doesn't have the power stage simulation. i hope to make a post about my preamp later

If your current rack doesn't allow for another 2U, I suggest to sell it and get a bigger one. Rackspace should not dictate what you get, it should be tone vs price?

its more a question of size, and how much i can carry. sort of assumed that a 1u would be lighter. don't have a rack case so far, so maybe one option is to check the weight of these things.

[gwEm]

Well since you have got no responses...
I looked into one a bit back, and there seems to be HUGE overheating problems, it has to have a clear rack space either side, and the cover needs extra vents.
Also is only stereo, not dual monobloc as the EL34  versions are.

thanks will. i read this on harmony central also, but some people are disagreeing and saying its really reliable etc etc. there seems to be a question mark over it though as you say

[FELINEGUITARS]

Gwem - Theres a guy near you in Shoreditch selling a Boogie 2U hight 50w a side power amp
Has an advert up for it on Gumtree

I know cause he's also got an Egnater preamp up for sale
(was why `I asked you about Shoreditch the other day)

[Brow]

I have a 20/20 in a 4u rack and had no problems at all with it so far.

I've heard the problems about over-heating etc, but it has a rack space above it empty and it seems ok so far :)

1 thing I don't like about it is that it's always stereo (as mentioned above). What I do when I want to run it in mono is to use my Weber Mass on the 2nd output without plugging it into a cab. As it sees a speaker load by doing this I don't think it should cause any problems.

[gwEm]

it should also be possible to physically remove the EL84s and phase inverter from one of the channels i suppose to use it in mono.

do you like it as a power amp brow? in terms of the sound?

[Brow]

it should also be possible to physically remove the EL84s and phase inverter from one of the channels i suppose to use it in mono.

do you like it as a power amp brow? in terms of the sound?

I have no idea about removing the other valves and phase inverter, bit technical for me, but the Weber mass things works for me so far :)

As regards the sounds, I really like it for clean, crunch and mid level ODs, but haven't been able to dial in much I like for higher gain stuff so far. Whether thats because I'm used to the sound of EL84 amps for clean/crunch and not high gain I don't know. I need to sit down with it at a decent volume level and give it another go :)