badboy1984 Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 (edited) I think I need a power amp module but I need some advice. The preamp and the power amp is seperate on my Trace Elliot amp. Both unit is mounted in a single case unit. The preamp will power when the power amp switch is turn on. The photo below is the photo Roland send me when he was servicing my amp. Reason why I wanted to replace the power amp because the amp only work on 8ohm, with 4ohm it will overheat and turn off. This will be a problem if i wanted to buy a 4ohm cab or adding a second cab to my exisiting 8ohm cab. Is not like I can just use the preamp and buy a new poweramp because everything is in bits. Edited April 29, 2014 by badboy1984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Not really sure what your questin is, badboy. Are you after a replacement power amp that will run into 8 ohms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboy1984 Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 (edited) [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1398769819' post='2437351'] Not really sure what your questin is, badboy. Are you after a replacement power amp that will run into 8 ohms? [/quote] Sorry for the confusion, what I wanted is the amp to run safely at 4ohm. Roland told me the amp is 200watt but the transformer on the amp will allow it to go 300watt at 8ohm and 400watt at 4ohm, but when run at 4ohm it will overheat and switch itself off. So I'm safe to use the amp at 8ohm. I'm not sure is this the cooling system on the amp that causing the problem or I need to replace the power amp for this unit. Edited April 29, 2014 by badboy1984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I'd like to have seen a view from the other side, but larger/ better heatsinking and ducting on the output transistors would probably do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboy1984 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Thats interesting suggestion MoonBassAlpha. That might solve the problem, I haven't try to run the thing at 4ohm to see the overheat problem myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subthumper Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 That looks like a very old amp. As a tech I would say it's probably cheaper to buy a second hand amp that does what you want than to.mess about trying to modify this to do what you want. There is so much good cheap gear out there that no one wants I'm almost surprised anyone buys anything new at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboy1984 Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 (edited) [quote name='Subthumper' timestamp='1398929728' post='2439039'] That looks like a very old amp. As a tech I would say it's probably cheaper to buy a second hand amp that does what you want than to.mess about trying to modify this to do what you want. There is so much good cheap gear out there that no one wants I'm almost surprised anyone buys anything new at the moment. [/quote] That old amp is a Vintage Trace Elliot GP11 preamp. Yes it is 30 years old now but it sounded better and louder then most modern amp these days, plus it got that classic Trace Elliot tone. Also is one of the original Trace Elliot. Thats why I want to make it work better. The worse case is to leave it and use it as an 8ohm amp. Edited May 1, 2014 by badboy1984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey R Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 (edited) Its very unlikely you would notice much difference in output volume by increasing the output power by only that much. It was rated at 200 watts by the manufacturer for a reason, most likely a max current rating of the output transistors. The power supply was likely overspeced to make sure the bottom end wasnt compromised at the rated output. If you wanted more output, as you said a second power amp would probably be the way to go. You could slave a second amp from the DI out, rather than cut up this classic amp. Edited May 1, 2014 by Mikey R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1398858365' post='2438301'] I'd like to have seen a view from the other side, but larger/ better heatsinking and ducting on the output transistors would probably do it. [/quote] Yes that heat sink seems completely inadequate, despite the fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 you could try bolting some finned heat sink to the aluminium chassis as close to possible to the amp to increase the cooling. Smear it with a heat conductive paste first. This is the sort of thing http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Heatsink-159-X-200-50-0159/?source=googleps&utm_source=googleps&gclid=CIeHpe2wjb4CFQcTwwodgzoAKg though you will need to look for something that is as good a physical fit as possible. look for the lowest thermal resistance you can find. It won' be as good as mounting the amp directly onto the heatsink but it should help a little without too much surgery on the amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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