Peavey CS1200X amp.

[Doc Mark]

Greetings All,

Today, I went out to visit an old friend, whilst down in San Diego. We had a great time talking about "the good old days" when we played music together in various local bands.

When it was time for me to hit the road, he asked if I would like to have a super heavy Peavey amp, which he had bought many years ago, but never used. Whilst not a fan of Peavey, back in the day, this amp looks very well made and wreaks of quality. It has tons of features, and puts out 375W into 8 ohms, and is safe down to loads of 2 ohms, supposedly. For free, I could not turn it down!

Anyone have any experience with this amp? I will certainly play around with it, but would like to hear from folks that already have experience with it. Thanks, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[WDJ]

Well, that should drive your 2405

sorry, just couldn't resist....

[Doc Mark]

WDJ,

Very funny, and probably very true! Thanks for the big grin!

Doc

[grumpy]

Supposed to be a good sub amp, and ok to run into low impedance loads, even bridged.
Make sure the fan runs. Nice present!

[Doc Mark]

Hey, Dave,

That's what I had in mind for this huge amp. It's rated for 1,200W into 2 ohms, with, supposedly, plenty of protection included. Was thinking about running two 8 ohm cabs, with the amp bridged. I'll post some photos when we get back after Christmas. I hope to get the 2245's fairly soon, but, whenever I get them, I'll get to start playing with all this stuff, big amp included. Fun! Talk soon, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[Doc Mark]

Greetings, All,

Well, today, I got a chance to finally play with the new amps, the largest of which is this big, heavy, brute of a Peavey!! As I was unsure as to it's history, I decided to hook it up to something other than the L300's, and chose an old pair of Radio Shack Minimus 7's. If the amp blew them up upon start-up, well, not a great loss...

Using an H/K preamp, and cassette deck, I went for it, and...... hey, the amp worked very well! So, I let it play classical music for a half hour, or so, and decided it was time to swap speakers. Once the L300's were hooked up, I was very happy with the tight bass, and clean sound, though the highs were a tad bright, for my tastes. I'm used to the sweet high end of my H/K amps, so the Peavey sounded a bit different to me. I chose fairly powerful pieces from Bach, Ravel, Moussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsacoff, as well as the ET "Flying" theme, plus some Larry Coryell guitar stuff, and have to say the Peavey acquitted itself nicely. So, for free, I'm definitely happy to own this amp!

Now, for the fly in the ointment: the fan is VERY apparent between passages, though not at all during the music. I'm not used to that, and I don't care much for it. However, the huge amp ran as cool as if it had been off, and even with some of the demanding stuff I played, the level meters never even got close to the red.

So, for now, I think I'll not be using the Peavey to power the 2245's, when I get them back from Edgewound, until I can figure out how to "hide", or mask that fan noise. The Crowns are dead quiet, as are the H/K amps, and hearing the fan working is a bit distracting in a home environment, at least to me. I would, however, like to test this amp with some heavy digital material, once the 18's are in the mix, and see how it handles something other than the analog stuff it got today, albeit with a very well-recorded TDK Metal tape. Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

P.S. I also tested the new Crowns, one a D150A II, and the other a D45, which sounded sweet and outstandingly clean! They will do very nicely for the HF and VHF drivers in the 4-way system!

[Fort Knox]

the level meters never even got close to the red.

I got 3 tube amps (Peavey) There's really no atturnative for the money...
and w/4 high eff. speakers I don't hear the fans anyway ((rack mtg)....even @ low vol..)
Peavey stuff is proven reliable ..I see it everywhere

[Doc Mark]

Howdy, Fort Knox,

Thanks for your thoughts on your Peavey amps. Back in the day, we considered them to be low end stuff. But, must admit, they seem to have come a long way in quality since then. I think the CS1200X weighs in at around 75 LBs, or thereabouts, which is heavy, to say the least!! Maybe when I rack mount it, the fan won't be so loud. But, right now, it's bothersome to me. Thanks for chiming in, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[BMWCCA]

Do you have the ability to run it from another room? Opimax had his amps in the basement beneath the sound room, at least in his last home.

[hjames]

Do you have the ability to run it from another room? Opimax had his amps in the basement beneath the sound room, at least in his last home.

Yep, its on the agenda for the new home as well -
run some power cables to the garage and put the big amps there!
Get the heat (and the fans) out of the listening area.

[Doc Mark]

Do you have the ability to run it from another room? Opimax had his amps in the basement beneath the sound room, at least in his last home.

Howdy, BMWCCA,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this, Phil. From where our sound system lives, there is no way to have the big amp in another room, without some major modifications done to our home. Neither Sweet Bride, nor I, are up for such stuff, at least not right now. The area directly underneath our system is an unfinished space, with a dirt floor, where our heater, and water heater reside. Not a great place to have nice electronics, me thinks. For now, all is on hold until Ken has a chance to finish work on the 2245's. Until then, I'll keep thinking of options for that big Peavey amp. Thanks for your input, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[BMWCCA]

From where our sound system lives, there is no way to have the big amp in another room, without some major modifications done to our home. Neither Sweet Bride, nor I, are up for such stuff, at least not right now.

I wouldn't recommend it nor should you need it. My 4345 system is pretty darn efficient. I can't imagine needing any more power than I have already with the PS200/PS400 bi-amp setup. All they need is a little breathing room—no fans. But then some day I'll try the Crown Studio Reference-II, now sitting idle. Maybe I'll amaze myself.

Interesting comment from Heather on a new home. We're working towards one, too. Maybe in a year we'll have room to host our Mid-Atlantic JBL fans in a space large enough to include more than two of you at a time!

All the best with all the projects.

[SEAWOLF97]

Howdy Doc

my big BGW amp has a fan , can be set for low/high/off. The low setting doesn't seem to work , but high is too loud and I didn't want to run it with NO cooling. so ...

I wired up an external 5 inch muffin fan (112v) through a rheostat to the rear of the amp case. Now I can dial in the most air flow with least noise setting and it all runs cool (and silent).

It was meant as a temporary fix, but worked so well that it's been in place quite a while now.

[hjames]

Interesting comment from Heather on a new home.
We're working towards one, too.

No, not me! I meant on the agenda for Opimax's New Home - he moved from MD to VA over the last year.
Couple weeks back Wilfredo and I came over and used a fishtape to snake wires through his music room ceiling
from his rear speakers to the front rack.

The eventual plan is for us to help him mount the big amps in a space in the garage and fish interconect and speaker wires up to them ...
But that may be a few months off ... he has other config issues to visit first.

Emma and I are pretty well settled in our current home, going on 14 years in August ...

[BMWCCA]

Emma and I are pretty well settled in our current home.

We are, too. Thirty-years now. A bit too settled. We've owned a piece of land across the street for probably twenty years that we bought to build on. Maybe some day soon.