Info on Seymour Duncan powerstage 170. Any of you guys use one?

  • Thread starter Thread starter romanianreaper
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romanianreaper
romanianreaper
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I have a 16 ohm cab and know that will cut the power and curious how loud that is or if anyone uses that setting for gigs? I like the idea of a pedalboard rig with a speaker and just curious about this.
 
I’m not gonna be much help as far as how it would work out at a gig but I used one at the house here playing it fairly loud volumes indoors and with an AMT S1 pedal it sounded killer . Had it hooked up to two 1x12s with Creamback H75s . I would suggest though spending a little bit more and getting the blackstar amp 1 . You can use that as either a preamp or a poweramp and I didn’t even utilize the other features it has but you can get 100 watts out of that thing with any ohm cab . It will flat out crank for ya
 
hammered said:
I’m not gonna be much help as far as how it would work out at a gig but I used one at the house here playing it fairly loud volumes indoors and with an AMT S1 pedal it sounded killer . Had it hooked up to two 1x12s with Creamback H75s . I would suggest though spending a little bit more and getting the blackstar amp 1 . You can use that as either a preamp or a poweramp and I didn’t even utilize the other features it has but you can get 100 watts out of that thing with any ohm cab . It will flat out crank for ya
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I had that for awhile and didn't jive with it for some reason. It was a cool concept but not as clear of a power amp thing for me.

That is what is crazy about all of this stuff. All of us have different experiences with them. I was going to get a pedal baby but then people said they don't really do what the SD 170 can do.
 
I had, and gigged a 170. Great power amp for modelers or preamp pedals. I used it with an 8 ohm 4x12 and had plenty of power. Never went past 2 o'clock on the volume.
Incidentally, I have a powerstage 200 arriving today!
 
It puts out max power at 4 ohms so at 16 you're probably looking at like 40-50 watts


I would not recommend this unless you always play with nice PA support
 
Had one long enough to know it sucked. Sent it back immediately. Have a Quilter 101 and Blackstar Amped1. Both kill the SS 170.
 
headlessdeadguy said:
Had one long enough to know it sucked. Sent it back immediately. Have a Quilter 101 and Blackstar Amped1. Both kill the SS 170.
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I didn't like the Amped1 but I actually looked into thr Quilter 101 before. What didn't you like about the 170 out of curiosity?
 
headlessdeadguy said:
Had one long enough to know it sucked. Sent it back immediately. Have a Quilter 101 and Blackstar Amped1. Both kill the SS 170.
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I've been looking up the Quilter 202 and people seem to really dig it so I'm intrigued....
 
I had a 200, it wasn't powerful enough to keep up with a hard rock / 80 metal band at practice running through a 16 ohm cab. Would start clipping well before it would get loud enough. I'm sure live if you're fully mic'd up and you were just looking for some stage volume it'd be fine but if it can't even hang at practice then I'm not bringing it to a show.

Might work for you if your drummer has a very light touch or everyone else just really keeps the volumes very low. I wouldn't risk it.
 
I have a 200 and run it into either two 4x12s or recently pulled two speakers and blocked the holes in another 4x12 so I could run just one cab. I like it, it’s plenty loud and I don’t have clipping issues.

But @vultures has warned against clipping issues with the 200. I don’t know why I don’t encounter that but I still 100% believe him.

I’ve heard other people say they (170 and 200) sound fine at 16ohms but to me they sound small/weak. I should add that the only amps I’ve compared it to are all tube amps such as the amp in a PS2 or a Peavey Classic 120. And I prefer the fidelity of the SS amp.
 
headlessdeadguy said:
Can’t go wrong with a 101 or 202
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I was looking at those block cabs too. When I was looking at the Quilter stuff before, I think I only saw the Aviator or the other ones and didn't realize they had the basic ones.
 
Ok, so I got the 200 yesterday. Either it's defective or it just really likes a VERY low input signal. I had to cut my preset levels by half just to get the preamp clip light to shut off. Annoying.

The 170 I had didnt have this issue. Of course the 170 doesnt have an input clip light, but still my brain says..."clipping no good". And running it into an 8 ohm cab was plenty loud.

If you go the Powerstage route, I would definitely only use it with a 4 or 8 ohm cab at minimum. 16 ohm probably wont satisfy you.

So, I'm returning the 200 and picking up another 170. I had great results with that one.
 
I normally run my 170 with an 8 ohm 2x12 which is plenty loud for me. I did have a chance to test it with a friends 4ohm 2x12 but didn’t really notice any change in tone or volume.
 
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