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Author Topic: Camco Vortex Amplifiers  (Read 96319 times)

Evan Kirkendall

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #40 on: November 28, 2006, 09:50:01 PM »

Hi guys,
Just to let you know, Tom M. now has the amp. He'll probably be writing something up about it soon. I did have it, but had no use for it.



Evan
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RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #41 on: November 28, 2006, 10:08:44 PM »

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Tue, 28 November 2006 19:50

Hi guys,
Just to let you know, Tom M. now has the amp. He'll probably be writing something up about it soon. I did have it, but had no use for it.



Evan


Let me get this right....You have two Yorkville UCS1 subs and you couldn't find a use for a Camco Vortex 6?  Hmmmmm?  Let's see, 1350 watt per channel into 8 ohms with only 2 RU and 29 lbs wouldn't work for you.  

I just got my fourth Vortex 6 and hope to buy another four of them really soon.  I can find all kinds of uses for them.  I just wish I had the budget to buy a bunch of Vortex 4s for my monitors too!
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Ryan Jenkins
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #42 on: November 29, 2006, 03:14:52 AM »

Lester Moran wrote on Tue, 28 November 2006 18:42

Lester Moran wrote on Tue, 03 October 2006 01:27

This is timely for me as I was recently offered four rep-demo V6s for 2,900 USD each.  I would be replacing four MA3600s that serve as sub and mid amps in a JBL 4894 /SRX 4715 system.  I like the 3600s, but a more power/less weight upgrade would be cool as long as sonically it is an upgrade.

I see the latest Bink's Amp Shootout didn't get Camcos to test, and Forum searches haven't produced the breadth of Camco opinions I was hoping for.  Can anyone provide a link to some opinions I may have missed?

Thanks,  Les


Thank you, gentlemen, for the insight and the opinions.  This has been quite an education.

Les

Hi Les-

I'm sure it's been... educational. Wink  What conclusions, if any, did this help you to reach?  Were you able to draw any conclusions about the suitability of the V6 for the gear you own and the types of gigs you do?  I'm not bagging on you, I'm just trying to find out if some of this was meaningful for you.

I'm hoping that you will be able to secure a demo unit and try it for yourself, and I'd really like to hear *your* opinion of the differences you find in your applications.  I think part of the disparity in comments comes from a pretty broad swath of use types and test bench expectations...

It boils down to:  how do they work for you?  And that's the reason we have the Road Test.

Good luck, have fun, and let us know how this all goes for you.

Tim Mc
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Tom Manchester

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #43 on: November 29, 2006, 01:56:37 PM »

As Evan said I now have the amp in my posession...for less then 24 hours at this point. Here are my initial impressions:

Likes:
Lightweight, <30 pounds and the weight is well distributed. should make lifting in a rack easier since the rack won't tip one way or the other.

lots of power in a 2 space package, with 4 channels. Would be great for 4 passive or 2 active monitor mixes if you don't mind putting all your eggs in one basket.

good amount of options for gain, bridge modes, etc. by switches on the back. nice amount of indicators on the front.

Dislikes:

Only 2 NL4 speakons on the back for output? Anything other then 2 bi-amped speakers is going to require special cables. banana / binding posts would be nice

personal dislike: 4 amp channels in one package, would be ok if you have more then one amp in a rack, or carry a backup, but use this thing as your only amp in a rig and in the unlikely event it dies you are out of luck.
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RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #44 on: November 29, 2006, 02:29:25 PM »

So you have the Vortex Quatro 3 if it is four channels!  I thought you had a Vortex 6.
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Ryan Jenkins
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Lester Moran

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #45 on: December 02, 2006, 10:45:14 AM »

Tim McCulloch wrote on Wed, 29 November 2006 08:14

Lester Moran wrote on Tue, 28 November 2006 18:42

Lester Moran wrote on Tue, 03 October 2006 01:27

This is timely for me as I was recently offered four rep-demo V6s for 2,900 USD each.  I would be replacing four MA3600s that serve as sub and mid amps in a JBL 4894 /SRX 4715 system.  I like the 3600s, but a more power/less weight upgrade would be cool as long as sonically it is an upgrade.

I see the latest Bink's Amp Shootout didn't get Camcos to test, and Forum searches haven't produced the breadth of Camco opinions I was hoping for.  Can anyone provide a link to some opinions I may have missed?

Thanks,  Les


Thank you, gentlemen, for the insight and the opinions.  This has been quite an education.

Les

Hi Les-

I'm sure it's been... educational. Wink  What conclusions, if any, did this help you to reach?  Were you able to draw any conclusions about the suitability of the V6 for the gear you own and the types of gigs you do?  I'm not bagging on you, I'm just trying to find out if some of this was meaningful for you.

I'm hoping that you will be able to secure a demo unit and try it for yourself, and I'd really like to hear *your* opinion of the differences you find in your applications.  I think part of the disparity in comments comes from a pretty broad swath of use types and test bench expectations...

It boils down to:  how do they work for you?  And that's the reason we have the Road Test.

Good luck, have fun, and let us know how this all goes for you.

Tim Mc


Hi Tim.

My Criteria for amps and indeed much of my personal gear are:

How it sounds to me.
It should have an "industry-standard" reputation for durability and user-friendliness.
And...  Snob appeal.


I've worked part-time for a relatively big-deal production house for a long time, and they've always used QSC (which I think is great stuff) into JBL "proprietary" in the seventies, Turbosound in the eighties, to JBL Array series and HLA in the nineties, and now Vertec.  So this is what I'm used to and my frame of reference.

I've been a Crown guy since I bought my first used DC300, and powering my 4894 Array cabinets I think my Macrotechs are a little sweeter than the boss' Powerlights, and my experience, at least on the east coast, is that Macrotechs garner a bit more admiration from those I may occasionally be providing my personal system for.

And now I'm thinking Macrotech may have been the apex of the Crown line.  I've worked jobs that had ITech on them but not personally used them, but the carping on them on PSW has caused me to think it's time to consider that another manufacturer may be producing the next "greatest" amp.  And like I said earlier, less weight and fan noise would be a plus.

So for me, the search goes on.  Regardless of how they "sound", I'm reading enough less-than-glowing endorsement here to believe that the Camco V6 is not going to assume the hallowed position once occupied by Macrotech.  

Put another way, the company gear is rightfully all about business.  My personal stuff also brings in the intangible "pride of ownership".  Does this make any sense?

Les



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RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #46 on: December 02, 2006, 12:11:27 PM »

Hey Lester,

Before letting anyone totally influence your purchasing decisions let yours ears do the work for you.  I for one am VERY happy with the sound and quality of the Camcos.  Obviously there is one person here that doesn't like them for what ever reason.  Each to thier own!

I think you should at least demo one.  Semd me a PM and I can get you in touch with someone to try to get you a demo.  That's what I did and they were just the ticket for what I do.

I was thinking about I-Techs but I can not afford to carry a bunch of spare amps just in case one goes down in the middle of a show.  That is why I decided to demo the Camcos and I am very happy that I did!

I now have four of the Camco Vortex 6s and will be buying several more as the budget arises!  I may even buy some Vortex 4s for my monitors.
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Ryan Jenkins
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Jens Droessler

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #47 on: December 02, 2006, 08:56:26 PM »

@ Ryan: Yes, there is ONE person who doesn't like them, doesn't own them and won't ever own them (I compared! But anyways, I could send over a lot more people speaking of exactly the same problems I do, but most of them aren't interested in international, not to say English, forums). You say you can't afford to carry spare amps, so you didn't buy ITechs. Have you ever tried ITechs yourself and had them failing? Guess not, but you heard about it. I SAW multiple blown Vortexs, all from ONE SINGLE event, on the repair desk at a known company here in Germany, and I know what happened to them. It was no wrong handling and the mains were good also (none of the more 'line' sensitive gear crashed there). And of course this wasn't the only time I saw defective Vortexes, and I HEARD about much much more. Will that happen if you get a demo amp which you will test carefully? Certainly not. But now you heard about Vortexs going up into smoke. Will you start carrying spare Vortexs? I don't think so. You will have to let one burn during an event until you think about that. Don't forget that Crown ITechs are far more spread in the USA than Camco Vortex. If you hear about 15 ITechs shutting down it sounds worse than 1 Vortex shutting down, but in fact it's a similar ratio, if not worse!

While we are at anecdotal evidence, anyone ever heard of a LAB Gruppen burning?


@ Lester: Ryan is right in that point. Get a demo unit, but DON'T forget to do plenty of AB comparisons. Don't forget to do some comparisons on bad main lines and generators too, because there won't be always premium power available, right? And of course, every company that wants to sell mps will give you a demo unit. If you're looking for lightweight, don't forget LAB Gruppen, PowerSoft......

The Vortex is an really good sounding amp in mids and highs, I won't deny that.
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Lester Moran

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #48 on: December 03, 2006, 12:59:39 PM »

Jens Droessler wrote on Sun, 03 December 2006 01:56

... Don't forget to do some comparisons on bad main lines...


That alone is enough for me.

I do this festival every spring where it's common to see fluctuations from 109v to 127v all the way out at house.  I've worried about my omnidrive (no problem), but fretting over the power amps in such a situation is not something I'm willing to deal with.

Les
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Jens Droessler

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Re: Camco Vortex Amplifiers
« Reply #49 on: December 03, 2006, 01:52:05 PM »

I really encourage everyone to do AB comparisons under realistic conditions. If you have the time, do it. No one needs to take my word on such matters.... I know what I'm talking of most of the time (that's when I talk about sound Smile ), but as I am obviously with a minority with some of my statements, I think people have to see for themselves... Smile
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