From what I've seen:

Powersoft K20 - Not warmest sound @ 2.66 ohm stereo, but plenty power, most reliable, decent power on 32A ring main

QSC PL9 - Most powerful when on Genny, most unreliable, fairly warm sound, often blows on 32A ring main

QSC PL380 - Ok reliability, warmest sound, ONLY really performs on Genny, or very strong mains spur.

Comment, opinions, thinking of trying Crown MA12000.

spongebob wrote: "Most powerful when on Genny"

Maybe should say, performs best when on Genny.

I have seen this many times..

Looking at the fuse curve I can't see there being much point.

Can't see the point of running 1850s downto 30hz, in most cabs.

Can forsee many disadvantages, and problems of doing it though.

All QSC amplifiers sound the same. If the Powerlight 380 sounds "warmer" to you than the Powerlight 9.0, it usually stems from one amplifier running out of headroom faster than the other (which begins to clip). When this occurs, distortion (Not at all times a bad thing when you are aiming for a particular tone) is coming into play. 

The above is very common when comparing two amplifiers of the same brand offering unequal output power. The QSC Powerlight 9.0 is 9000 watts RMS whereas, the QSC Powerlight 380 is 8000 watts momentary (Burst) Peak.

Best Regards, 

I have an MA12000i sitting around at the moment. Would be interested in selling it on. PM me if you'd like to work something out.

Chris

QSC PL380 is a crap Class-D, does not even have real output feedback.. Very poor sound quality.

Its PSU is also a nigthmare for circuit breakers, poisoning the mains with extreme current spike harmonics.

QSC PL9.0 is a half-finished yet over-complicated design. Not reliable, since ~10 or more years out of production, not a surprise!

Powersoft K20 is not sounding good but still works better than the two above^

Intrigued what's good sounding then?

Have to agree with 99% of that, PL380 on proper mains/genny can properly spank 6x PD1851s, with warmth and tone.

K20 loses bit of warmth, when you play > 2 "8 ohm" cabs a side.

But K20 is possibly the most likely amp to survive heavy gig, at 4x cabs a side.

Notice I didn't mention terms like 4 ohm/2 ohm stereo, as most cabs are never 8 ohm exactly.

If I've got 4 x "8ohm" cabs to run from a K20.......I'll put them all on a single channel personally 

 

As far as I am concerned, QSC has no real heritage in reliable very high power amplifiers, compared to crown, Lab Gruppen and Powersoft.

I have no experience with the K10 but a lot of what you are saying  about the pl380 is objectively wrong. The PL380 exceeds its specs, putting out over 2900 watts at 4 ohm @ 40hz before clip while stating 2500 in its spec sheet.  https://www.abeltronics.co.uk/amptesting/amp-meet-three.php" rel="nofollow - https://www.abeltronics.co.uk/amptesting/amp-meet-three.php  . The pl380 not some new amp that has a questionable reliability and power output. It has existed for more than 10 years, people have a lot of experience with it; it almost has a heritage of its own. This ignores the fact that the PL9.0, RMX5050 and mx3000a exist. 

I cant comment on your personal experience using it, but I guess sound is subjective. 

They walk All over everything, so its a good investment.

End of discussion :)

How still they get bipolar power Si-transistors since no company making them anymore?

Does it have the usual LabGruppen's Switching Buck pre-regulator followed by a linear Class AB stage for signal smoothing, right?

"How still they get bipolar power Si-transistors since no company making them anymore?"

What? That´s an absurd statement!

Of course they are. Here are a few high power devices:-

https://www.digikey.com/products/en/discrete-semiconductor-products/transistors-bipolar-bjt-single/276?k=&pkeyword=&sv=0&umin2109=100&umax2109=400&rfu2109=W&sf=1&FV=-8%7C276&quantity=&ColumnSort=0&page=1&pageSize=25" rel="nofollow - https://www.digikey.com/products/en/discrete-semiconductor-products/transistors-bipolar-bjt-single/276?k=&pkeyword=&sv=0&umin2109=100&umax2109=400&rfu2109=W&sf=1&FV=-8%7C276&quantity=&ColumnSort=0&page=1&pageSize=25

No shortage there.

QSC make good amplifiers however, you need to understand what the general public wants. That has always been the concept of QSC. They were the first manufacture to revolutionise our industry offering lightweight (Powerlight & PLX) amplifiers. Their amplifiers were also very tolerant when faced with low voltage which, is essential in parts of the world where voltage is very dodgy.

This is the most important thing that many of us tend to forget about amplifier manufactures. Their main objective is to attain the specified wattage with the lowest distortion possible. So, as technology moves forward, the distortion will be reduced from the previous models based on new innovative parts. For Mid to High frequencies this may be all in favour however, for bass it may not be wanted by some.

I recall a Crown Representative stated a decade ago after numerous complaints about the I tech 8000 not sounding as “Warm” (I know poor choice of words) as the MA 5000vz on a forum to just load the Itech down until it sounds like the Crown 5000vz. Although, a lot of users were not happy with the answer, there was some truth in his reply. The Itech had no parts of the Macro-Tech other than a logo stating “Crown.” The same thing applies to the QSC Powerlight 3 compared to the Powerlight.

The market today is powered speakers. Don't be surprise within a 10 year period many of these brands we tend to debate about merge with a loudspeaker manufacture and do away with their stand alone amplifiers altogether. Remember we are hitting a new decade and, a lot of things are going change in our market whether we like it or not.

Best Regards,

Recently went to amp/driver test, and one thing I learned, bench testing amps with purely resistive load, proves nothing.

Hi, does the PL380 sound like a RMX5050?

Any body knows where to buy control board for QSC PL9.0?