power amp vs. guitar power amp
Question:
i have a somewhat complex question. Guitars have a limited freq. spectrum. For the sake of discussion, say a six string has 80 Hz to 7 kHz. Why is that upper register so low? Is it the speaker that is doing the frequency cutoff or is it the power amp? If i use a full sprectrum 20 Hz to 20 kHz amp, will the amp pick up all the nasty fizzies of distortion? Or will the speaker roll them off. The reason i am asking is because i am dabating on whether to get a general purpose power amp to drive my 1X12 boogie cab or do i have to get a six string guitar specific amp to do the frequencies properly? While i’m at it, do guitar specific power amps have a limited range or are they really full frequency spectrum that get tamed by the speakers? Thanks for your time and replies.
Response:
> i have a somewhat complex question. > Guitars have a limited freq. spectrum. For the sake of discussion, say > a six string has 80 Hz to 7 kHz. Why is that upper register so low?
It’s mostly way lower than 7k, but there are harmonics that make a difference. > Is > it the speaker that is doing the frequency cutoff or is it the power > amp?
Most guitar speakers roll off at around 5k. It’s the speaker that is the limit. > If i use a full sprectrum 20 Hz to 20 kHz amp, will the amp pick up all > the nasty fizzies of distortion? Or will the speaker roll them off.
The speaker. > The reason i am asking is because i am dabating on whether to get a > general purpose power amp to drive my 1X12 boogie cab or do i have to > get a six string guitar specific amp to do the frequencies properly?
Either, but I like TUBE guitar amps. For a single driver setup, a Peavey Classic Series 60 (mono version of the 60/60) would probably make you very happy at a reasonable price. > While i’m at it, do guitar specific power amps have a limited range or > are they really full frequency spectrum that get tamed by the speakers?
For the most part, the latter. But keep in mind that there’s no reason to design the output transformer for clean output at either 30 or 15 kHz. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Thanks for your time and replies.
Response:
>i have a somewhat complex question. >Guitars have a limited freq. spectrum. For the sake of discussion, say >a six string has 80 Hz to 7 kHz. Why is that upper register so low? Is >it the speaker that is doing the frequency cutoff or is it the power >amp?
There are upper harmonics that go well above the notes on a guitar’s neck. Take those out of the picture, and your sound will be a lot deader than you’ll want. And speakers don’t really have a point where they sharply cut off all frequencies above that. It’s more like a rapid rolloff at a certain point. Many guitar speakers have a frequency response chart and you’ll be able to get a vague idea which frequency ranges that speaker is strongest in. Which to be honest is mostly just useless info since you pretty much need to judge speakers on their tone, and how efficient they are, and not on what a graph tells you. >If i use a full sprectrum 20 Hz to 20 kHz amp, will the amp pick up all >the nasty fizzies of distortion? Or will the speaker roll them off. >The reason i am asking is because i am dabating on whether to get a >general purpose power amp to drive my 1X12 boogie cab or do i have to >get a six string guitar specific amp to do the frequencies properly? >While i’m at it, do guitar specific power amps have a limited range or >are they really full frequency spectrum that get tamed by the speakers? >Thanks for your time and replies.
Well, most people don’t consider guitars to be all that Hi-Fi. So a 20-20,000hz frequency range isn’t as useful as you might be thinking. Now, if you were a synthesizer player, you’d probably have a better reason for having 20 to 20,000hz. Even a drummer covers a wider frequency range than a guitar player does. But if you’re a straight forward Rock & Roll guitar player, then don’t kid yourself. Go for good tone, not good specs. Pete — Oh look, the exploding circus is coming to town. One night only. –Brak’s Dad
Response:
>> Is > it the speaker that is doing the frequency cutoff or is it the power > amp? > Most guitar speakers roll off at around 5k. It’s the speaker that is > the limit. > If i use a full sprectrum 20 Hz to 20 kHz amp, will the amp pick up all > the nasty fizzies of distortion? Or will the speaker roll them off. > The speaker.
A number of guitar amplifiers have or can have useful frequency response out to the ultrasonic range, the main restrictions are the tone controls and the number of preamp stages with no negative feedback, each of which introduces another high-frequency rolloff. You *could* add a tweeter (and some bass cabs have that), but that usually that(a) introduces a crossover, which is a huge power sink (b) amplifies a lot of hiss & microphonics and (c) as soon as you crank the amp into distortion, the clipping distortion can (and probably will) blow the bejeezus out of the tweeter. I guess you could use a piezo tweeter, but they’re no great shakes as far as tweeters go. > For the most part, the latter. But keep in mind that there’s no reason > to design the output transformer for clean output at either 30 or 15 kHz.
Yeah, there is some, generally the wider the low distortion bandwidth of the output transformer, the lower the distortion is going to be in the audible bandwidth.
Response:
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