back in the early 70's i bought a phase 400. never will i buy a refirbished one. they are known to fry speakers because they were not well built. i have mcintosh now. no worrys! |
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Thanks for the warning. I won't buy any 40 year old mid-fi amps from Phase Linear. Not that I was any danger of doing that.......
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and that's why they were commonly called "Flame Linear"
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What's your point of this thread most of us are never going to buy one anyway.They had no speaker protection circuits and they sounded incredibly etched like nails on a chalkboard.
They were some of the most powerful solid state amps of the day mainly used for concerts and used in home systems with the guys using them having great hearing loss now.
I would take a old Threshold over anything carver ever made.
Kenny.
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threshold, now that's what an amp is all about. you get what you pay for!! |
lots of older amps had bad reputations. Counterpoint, Sumo, Carver, Inner Sound, Melos, Audio Research, etc. I have repaired so many amps mostly because of the chassis design that could not remove the heat. Some of the circuit boards are just plain cheap. Some of them can be repaired with no worries, some, not so much. After 20 years, you should have a tech look at your amp and check the caps. Better caps are now available and going up a size if they can fit in, is also a good idea IMO.
Happy Listening. |
I purchased a 400 brand new and it drove our bands PA for many years under brutal conditions and sold it in working order.
Back then there were only a few high powered solid state amplifiers available and most were available through pro audio. Gene Cerwinski (yep, Cerwin-Vega) was one of the pioneeres of solid state amplification production and developed a massive 18" bass driver to handle the then monumental 200 watts coming from his naked purpose built amplifier installed in the now legendary acoustic 360/361 electric bass amplifier. His A-1800, 3600 stand alone amplifiers, folded horn PA and box home speakers followed as well as providing theater reinforcement for the film "Earthquake" years before THX.
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To add to a pointless thread: A friend knew Gene Cerwinski and had a pair of home speakers with a 15 and a tweeter…late 60s. Interesting if somewhat overkill speakers for his small cabin.That Acoustic 360 beast of a bass amp became the ubiquitous go-to amp for many bass players, and was notable in that you often could’t hear it on a loud stage until you were 30 feet away. My band in the 70s opened for Loggins and Messina and they were a "state of the art" act utilizing Clair Brothers multi driver PA cabs (18s, mids, horns, tweeters…all JBL or something) with stacks of Phase Linear amps. On stage Messina used 2 pre CBS Fender Twin Reverb amps as preamps (really…2 of them in a sort of double Dual Showman Reverb cabinet) running into Phase Linear amps powering 4 Cerwin Vega 2X12 rear loaded (for efficiency or something) cabs…loud as HELL. Those were the days, and concert sound levels were insane for a while. I currently use a couple of relatively low powered guitar amps (a 15 watt push pull or an 18 watt single ended), and my hifi rig is now efficient speakers with a single ended 12 watt per side amp…things have changed. |
Somehow I just couldn’t resist on this one. I’m sure a slip
of the typing hand, but it is Phase Linear. In my early days of audio I owned
and greatly enjoyed a “Phase 400” driving stacked Advents and yes even triple
Advents for a time. I can still hear (what?!). Selling hi-fi at the time while
in school, I thought Bob Carver delivered amazing value in the Phase Linear 400
and 700/B amplifiers. Never a reliability problem, ever… And no, I’m not a
Carver “fan boy” just stating factual experience. And as others have mentioned,
what’s really the point?
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The point is the fact that this thread is pointless, which somebody pointed out. |
hey guys, don't be personal. if my comments don't mean anything i apologize. i'm just stating my experience with the400. |
Wolf, Dem daze the back line was loud for sure. Interesting about Massina's setup. Mid 60's Bass amplification didn't cut it for me. Using a Fender Reverb as a preamp feeding two Marantz 8Bs driving two JBL 4530 scoops (I think D140s) was a real pain in the butt setup but it carried well even outdoors. Lots of DIY on stage back then.
Compared to that rig the new 360/361 was like a holiday, for a minute anyway. As you say on any stage smaller than a half court I couldn't hear the acoustic without blasting the mix. I sold the 360 when the SVT came out and I regretted it every day. The SVT was boring but I could hear it in most situations. As coveted as they've become I don't miss it a bit. I played through the modern 360 with the 10" forward facing driver. It's the perfect solution very well made and even louder but who really needs a trunk anymore? |
I drove the hell out of my Phase Linear 400. Never had so much as one hiccup, never fried any speakers, never blew any outputs, etc, etc.. Had many friends who also used Phase with great success. Yes, I also owned McIntosh too, lots of it. Never had any of my Phase gear requiring service, but I did need to service my MA-6100, my C-28, my C-29. Just sayin. Your bad experience is not a reason to unilaterally slam Phase Linear.
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