Am I going to blow my speakers with a Matrix 1000?

J

joshjoshjosh

New member
Found a Matrix 1000 2u for $550 locally. Thinking about grabbing it. I have been looking at power amps and opinions and info seem to be all over the place. Seems like a solid deal and there have been plenty of positive things said about the Matrix. The only power amp I own(ed) is an old Peavey 300 Series Monitor. Sounds alright. There are a few scenarios I want to go through with the Matrix:

1. Run my old 50 watt NMV Marshall into my Suhr RL and use the Matrix to power a cabinet
2. Run WDW with my Naylor between three cabs
3. Grab a preamp pedal and use the Matrix to power a cabinet
4. At some point, I am going to grab an Axe FX, so once again, power up a cabinet

My main cabs are an 8 ohm 4x12 loaded with Greenbacks, and a 8 ohm 4x12 loaded with V30s. I am not gigging at the moment, but like to crank up loud every once in a while when the family is gone. I've read so many conflicting things like, if you don't crank the Matrix you will be fine, if using the Matrix bridged at 1000 watts you will surely blow a speaker, people have used the full 1000 watts and all is good, I've read that people have blown speakers. Not a lot of description if they were trying to peel the paint off their walls or if they were above bedroom levels and were blowing stuff.

Any input appreciated.
 
It’s 500 watts per side (1000w total) into 4 ohms so more like 250 watts per side into 8 ohms.

If you max it out so it’s outputting maximum power (which also requires a strong input signal as far as I understand) that’s the only time it will be outputting 250 watts (into your 8 ohm cabs at least). I believe That is when the ‘limit’ LED’s on the front light up (or maybe before that I forget, I think it’s in the manual).

I run my amps into a reactive load and reamp with a gt1000 also, works great and sounds great, I use 16 ohm cabs though. And my room isn’t big so I think I would die before I blew a speaker. (I’m using a 4x12 v30 cab and a 2x12 h75 Creamback cab).
 
I was thinking of a different led- the ‘signal’ one on the front starts to light at -9db and stays fully lit while playing at -6db

So into an 8 ohm cab per side you would be outputting approx 80 watts per side when the ‘signal’ led lights steadily while playing. Good way to keep an eye on levels.

Mine also has a ‘limit” led which isn’t explained in the manual
 

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You could blow your speakers if you crank the amp, yes. If you don't crank it you should be good.

I have a Matrix GT1600FX I use on two 4x12 cabs and I've never had an issue. I don't crank it anywhere close to super loud though.
 
NO....Just use the volume controls on the power amp and sneak up on the volumes you want to play at. I run my two rack space Matrix GT1000FX to drive two 16 ohm cabinets in a W/D/W setup and set the volumes on the power amp to 3 o'clock and then use the volume level control on my Suhr Iso Line Out box to set the overall playing volume.

I find the power amp punches best when the volumes are set to half way/Noon 50% or to about 3 o'clock about 75% that way it still punches hard on the low end but doesn't clip. You would then use the volume controls on what every line level device you are using, preamp, Suhr Line level of the RL or the volume control on the Fractal unit to set your volume level.

As was mentioned in stereo mode the amp is roughly 100-125 watts for each channel into 16 ohm cabinets. Bridged in mono into a 16 ohm load is will be roughly 150-160 watts according to that Matrix manual.

It's been a great power amp.
 
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