Digihertz Audio Amplifiers....

DG Whitley · Posted 15 Mar 2017 7:49 am

Anyone have any experience with these amplifiers? I am considering a DAH-500 for use in my rack setup. They seem to have good specs and the price is in my budget.

Any comments/experience on this much appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your time and effort.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

The prices look nice, BUT check out the weight. Their cheapest, lowest power version weighs 39lbs. These days for about $300 you can get a Crown that weighs 1/4 that amount. And Crown is a proven brand.

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Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

And if you want to try an amplifier in that budget category, I'd trust this one here long before the Digihertz. And instead of 40lbs, this one is 6lbs.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NU1000

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DG Whitley · Posted 15 Mar 2017 4:18 pm

Thank you much for that Brad, deeply appreciated.

I think I know the Crown model you are referring to but for the record, I hate Class D amps of any kind. There is just something (and I cannot put my finger on it) that my ears just cannot stand.

One thing might be I was raised hearing more "traditional" power amps, just cannot say for sure. I know some people swear by them and others swear at them, I guess I am of the latter group.

But thank you for the suggestion.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

I felt that way about class-D a few years ago, especially those early Peavey ones from the '90s, really hard to listen to. These days there is a wide range of class-D and the technology has made HUGE leaps in sound quality over the past 10 years. I find the cheaper stuff like these tiny budget bass amps don't have the sweetest sounding tone quality. But better class-D, the more expensive high end stuff, is pretty amazing, very smooth midrange, virtually zero crossover distortion, low-fatique, sweet and open highs. So I wouldn't rule out any and all class-D until you've compared with the better stuff. The Crown likely sits somewhere in the middle, not junk, not high-end, but a reasonable compromise.

But one thing I've heard for sure is that pretty much ALL class-D amps have a dry, sandpapery, edgy high treble when new and cold. The midrange is also hard sounding. But after class-D is well broken in, at least 100 hours, some say 200 hours, and when it's fired up and given 20 minutes to fully warm up and settle in, the tone quality becomes much, much more clean and natural and without unpleasant artifacts.

I run a mastering service, and after auditioning many high end power amplifiers for our main monitors, we settled on some very high-end class-D power modules, ones that have been re-packaged by very high end audiophile brands (Jeff Rowland, Bel Canto) in extremely pricey products, thousands of dollars per channel. This class-D is a sound I can absolutely live with for both steel guitar and studio work. And the awesome TC Furlong SPLIT powered speaker cabinets are loaded with this same very high quality class-D power, fantastic sounding stuff.

Not all class-D is the same. And to be fair, I can't really vouch for these Crowns when compared to the real high-end stuff, but what I've heard and the reports I get suggest that these affordable Crowns do sound pretty nice after they've had plenty of run time to break in and are auditioned once warmed up fully.

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DG Whitley · Posted 16 Mar 2017 9:28 am

Thanks for the explanation Brad, maybe that is what my ears hear and cannot stand. But I guess if money were no object, I would be buying that Fryette 2/90/2 (which is really what I want but cannot afford).

I will continue to look around and see what I can find and compare specs and price.

Thank you for all your advice, deeply appreciated.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Ahh yes, that Fryette may very well be the Rolls Royce of pedal steel power amps. Expensive, heavy, but sounds gorgeous. Very powerful.

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Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Not bad for 98 watts RMS per channel:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/fryette-two-ninety-two-g2902s-90wx2-tube-guitar-power-amp

That like running two super twins!

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I used to have a rack system. I tried various "P.A" power amps and didn't like any of them as they all were "high fidelity" and sounded sterile to me, including the popular Peavey DPC series of amps.

I finally "bit the bullet" and got a MOSValve 500 power amp, which was designed to be an instrument amplifier and it did the job. After a couple of years I decided I didn't need a "stereo" system and sold off the parts.

George Seymour · From: Notown, Vermont, USA

DG Whitley · Posted 17 Mar 2017 10:06 am

It seems like there is a lot of concern over weight issues here, and I can understand that. But quality of sound is an overriding factor here at least in my opinion. I have a cart for heavy things and I am willing to deal with the weight for quality of sound.

Again, this is just me, I know others may have another idea and I respect that.

Just my 2 cents FWIW.

George Seymour · From: Notown, Vermont, USA

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