clipping

[deltaforce]

had my amp at three quarter way tonight and it was clipping had it the same volume last week and it was ok the only difference being the this week was out side in a marque last week in a hall seemed a lot quieter tonight also.:confused:any reason for this
my amp is this http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=WARAMP18&browsemode=category and my speakers are these http://www.classd.ltd.uk/1000w-12_pair-of-class-d-cd128-1-speakers.html
any help thanks

[NKR]

had my amp at three quarter way tonight and it was clipping had it the same volume last week and it was ok the only difference being the this week was out side in a marque last week in a hall seemed a lot quieter tonight also.:confused:

Marquee will leak sound rather than bounce it back into the room, which is why it sounded quieter.

What DB are you showing on master and each fader? If you are running over 0 you are risking a clip so bring your gain down.

If its an average marquee you are going to be caning 250w cabs. I would take out 4 300watt units for that or 2 300 watt units and powered bass cabs. You were probably just pushing it too hard.

[Tony Scott]

Marquee will leak sound rather than bounce it back into the room, which is why it sounded quieter.

What DB are you showing on master and each fader? If you are running over 0 you are risking a clip so bring your gain down.

If its an average marquee you are going to be caning 250w cabs. I would take out 4 300watt units for that or 2 300 watt units and powered bass cabs. You were probably just pushing it too hard.

Yeah agree with the above, faced with this situation I would have turned the amp up to full and brought the gain down on the mixer, that way you run less risk of sending a clipped signal to the amp.

Keep the master gain and fader VU's out of the red, let the amp do the driving not the mixer, if it's still not loud enough then you need a bigger system. :)

[NKR]

Yeah agree with the above, faced with this situation I would have turned the amp up to full and brought the gain down on the mixer, that way you run less risk of sending a clipped signal to the amp.

Keep the master gain and fader VU's out of the red, let the amp do the driving not the mixer, if it's still not loud enough then you need a bigger system. :)

I was going to suggest you should run your amp at full, but the amp kicks at 380 watts at 8ohm to his 250 watt cabs 8 ohm cabs. The 250 watt cabs could end up overdriven unless you control your desk properly. I have probably now opened a debate about amp headroom, but this may aready have been done in the past.

But in general my pro sound engineer friend told me always run your amps at full. Its an urban myth that you protect your speakers by running lower amp level as its the amp that clips the signal wave (I believe also known as square waving) and speakers just don't love square waves.

[A1DL]

If its an average marquee you are going to be caning 250w cabs.

That depends on the efficiency of the cabs. According the the specs, those "class d" boxes aren't very efficient at 94dB 1w/1m. The maximum SPL of 110dB is rather dubious too, as unless the design is so poor that over 70% of the power dissipates as heat, inverse square law tells us the maximum should be around 118dB continuous/121dB peak.

If I were to put C7 (a 200w box) or Q7 (a 300w box) in your "average marquee", I doubt very much I'd be able to "cane it". Incidentally, the 1w/1m of these boxes is higher than the max SPL 1w/1m of the boxes linked in the OP. Watts are a meaningless number, except when calculating distro & load balancing across three phases.

[deltaforce]

i was under the assumption that you should choose an amp that's somewhere in between the rms and the peak of the cab which this amp doe's. it says on the side of the amp 400 watts each side and the cabs peak says 600 watts
also when i opened the back of the cabs up on the back of the speaker it says 300 rms so is it 250 or 300:confused:
anywas would you say this amp and speakers are matched ok thanks guys
oh yea i may have been pushing to +2db would this cause the clip

[TonyB]

Amp and speakers are probably matched fine. The Warrior amps are budget amps (I own one) and compared to other amps of the same claimed output, I would say the claimed wattage is a little on the high side. They also don't have a massive power supply and can cause the bottom end (bass) to be lacking when pushed.

It is probably irrelevant where you had the gain control set, either 3/4's or full on (turning the amps gains up would just mean you would reduce the mixer output so the end result would probably be the same volume), the set up was simply not powerful enough for the environment. Outside/marquee gigs need a bit extra, either more efficient speakers or a bass bin or two added.

[ppentertainments]

When did you buy your amp ?? There has been a faulty batch released last year which I only found out after 6 months of arguing with my dj shop.

[Creature]

i was told by disco shop always have ya amps turned all teh way up - then if your over driving the clip should come into force (peavey cuts 10bd for a few secs)

otherwise your mixer will be driving it and thats when you start takeing ya cones out

[TonyB]

Clip limiter (or DDT as Peavey call it) will work irrespective of what the gain is set at.

It seems to be in some people's mindset that the gain controls are volume controls and to get the most out of an amp, they need to be fully turned up. They are not. They are there for sensitivity matching as part of a gain structure. If they weren't needed and the amp was to be used at full gain all the time then they wouldn't be there :)

[ppentertainments]

Clip limiter (or DDT as Peavey call it) will work irrespective of what the gain is set at.

It seems to be in some people's mindset that the gain controls are volume controls and to get the most out of an amp, they need to be fully turned up. They are not. They are there for sensitivity matching as part of a gain structure. If they weren't needed and the amp was to be used at full gain all the time then they wouldn't be there :)
Can of worms springs to mind :D :D :D

[Excalibur]

Can of worms springs to mind :D :D :D

I'm gonna use this. :sofa:

[sted]

am so confused i think i might join you lol

[Excalibur]

Clip limiter (or DDT as Peavey call it) will work irrespective of what the gain is set at.

It seems to be in some people's mindset that the gain controls are volume controls and to get the most out of an amp, they need to be fully turned up. They are not. They are there for sensitivity matching as part of a gain structure. If they weren't needed and the amp was to be used at full gain all the time then they wouldn't be there :)

Tony, was it you who once linked to an article on gain structure? It was comprehensive and logical, if a tiny tad involved. If it was, I'm sure it would be helpful to see it again.

For those who haven't, basically it meant that when set up correctly, everything went red togethjer, thus eliminating the possibility of having red lights in one part of the system only, and cooking something because they never showed elsewhere.

To echo part of Tony's point, the dials on the front of amps are not volume controls. :eek: They're gain controls. Turn 'em way down and shove a huge signal in from the mixer, you can still get the full output from the amp. Often dangerously distorted.

[TonyB]

Was it this one? http://www.thenoizeworks.co.uk/tech2.html

Section C is particularly relevant - setting amp gains to full can achieve a reduce volume output from the amplifier :)

[Excalibur]

Was it this one? http://www.thenoizeworks.co.uk/tech2.html

Section C is particularly relevant - setting amp gains to full can achieve a reduce volume output from the amplifier :)

Not sure if it's the exact same article, but the meaning is identical, and this is easy to understand. Everybody on here would do well to have a look at this, cos it could improve your sound, and make your kit last longer.