# ISP Stealth Ultra Lite 180 vs Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170 - Pedalboard Poweramps



## lewis (Apr 29, 2017)

2 very very similar products. Both brand new and are dropping soon.
I need one of them myself. Thought this would be interesting for those who are needing something similar and might not have heard about either etc.

Here we go

*ISP Stealth Ultra Lite*













"The new STEALTH ULTRA-LITE is the first ULTRA compact, high power guitar amplifier with a built in preamp allowing direct interface with small signal foot-pedals. The STEALTH ULTRA-LITE provides 180 watts Peak, 90 watts RMS output power into a 4 ohm load. 
The STEALTH ULTRA-LITE is based on ISP Technologies patented Dynamic Adaptive Amplifier Technology and delivers nearly 60 volts peak to peak output signal swing from a 19 volt DC power supply by use of stored energy. The built in preamp is designed to allow instrument level pedals to directly drive the STEALTH ULTA-LITE to maximum output level plus you have the added tone shaping capability of +/- 10dB bass and treble control providing up to 47db of composite signal gain. The flexibility of the STEALTH ULTRA-LITE built in preamp also allows direct interface with professional +4dB rack mount signal levels."

*Specs*
Input Impedance: 470k
Output Power:
4&#8486; @ 10% THD = 180WPEAK = 90WRMS
4&#8486; @ 1% THD = 160WPEAK = 80WRMS
8&#8486; @ 10% THD = 120WPEAK = 60WRMS
8&#8486; @ 1% THD = 100WPEAK= 50WRMS
16&#8486; @ 10% THD = 62PEAK = 31WRMS

Input Sensitivity/Max Output: -10dBu / .25vrms
Maximum Input Signal: +17dBu
Voltage Gain: 42dB
Noise Floor: -80dBu
Dynamic Range: 104db A WTD
Distortion: @10dBu output=.02% Full Output=.1%
Frequency Response: 20Hz  20KHz = +0 / -.5dB
Input Power: 80mA @idle 3A full power @4&#8486;
Dimensions: 4.9 W x 1.75 H x 4 D
Weight: .95 LBS
Protection: Auto shutdown / Output shorts or low load impedance. Protected for open loads.

Note: 0dbu = .775 vrms

*Sweetwater price = $255 with coming soon status*



*Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170*











"The PowerStage 170 is a game-changing product for guitar players that have dreamed of the day their entire rig can live on their pedal board. Maybe you love your tube amp but dont want to lug it around. Or you use a modeler that has a ton of functionality but doesnt sound as good when plugged in to your amp. Do you dread fly dates or gigs because youre never sure what your backline will be?

This is a 170-watt power amp with a beautiful clean preamp section and 3-band global EQ, making it the perfect complement to pedalboards and digital modeling devices. It is small enough to fit directly on a pedalboard or in any gig bag, lightweight enough for fly dates and attractive enough to look great at a church or coffeehouse gig, in a home office or in a dorm room.

The PowerStage 170 will give you reliable, musical power on every gig, eliminating the uncertainty that backline amps can bring. Simply bring your guitar and your pedalboard and get your tone through whatever cab is provided. The 170s intuitive 3-band analog EQ allows for quickly fine-tuning your sound for any cabinet and any venueno need to wrestle with the cumbersome and ineffective EQs on digital gear or modify your stompbox settings. Everything you need is right there. You can even adjust the big Master Volume knob with your foot, boosting solos and controlling dynamics in real time. And when you bypass your overdrive and distortion boxes, it will function as your clean channel, with the sweet, warm sound that we associate with great amps. Not every power amp can do that.

Imagine the freedom of showing up at a gig with a streamlined, lightweight rig that you can get up and running in under five minutes, with the confidence that comes from knowing that you will have your sound, no matter what. Forget about cartage, forget about complicated setups, forget about backline issues and think about the PowerStage 170.

Like our award-winning pedals, the PowerStage 170 is designed and assembled at our Santa Barbara, California, factory by the same team responsible for our legendary pickups."


*Specs*

LEVEL: 0 dB to 47 dB
TREBLE CONTROL: +/- 13 dB @6.61 kHz
MID CONTROL: +/- 13 dB @712 Hz
BASS CONTROL: +/- 13 dB @87 Hz
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE: 4-8 Ohms
POWER: 170 W at 4 Ohms
DIMENSIONS: 5" x 5.24" x 2.84"
WEIGHT: 2 lbs.

*Sweetwater Price = $399 with coming soon status*

So who wins?. Despite being more Im leaning towards the Duncan powerstage 170. being fan cooled is nice and its Aesthetic appeals more to me, but still. That ISP sounds amazing too. My cabinet is 8ohms

Sidenote, does anyone know when exactly these are dropping?. These pre-orders are up but there is no release dates provided on either that I can see.


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## Wolfhorsky (Apr 29, 2017)

On paper SD wins for me. It is an amp designed to be pedal friendly and pedalboard friendly. As the opinions go, ISP Stealth is considered to be transparent and even lifeless sounding which might be great for modellers. PowerStage is new on the market so reviews and user feedback are yet to be seen.

PS. i'm GASing for SD as my Mag44 doesn't satisfy my needs.


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## lewis (Apr 29, 2017)

Wolfhorsky said:


> On paper SD wins for me. It is an amp designed to be pedal friendly and pedalboard friendly. As the opinions go, ISP Stealth is considered to be transparent and even lifeless sounding which might be great for modellers. PowerStage is new on the market so reviews and user feedback are yet to be seen.
> 
> PS. i'm GASing for SD as my Mag44 doesn't satisfy my needs.



I think you are right about both!.
Im actually thinking of going SD route for my pedal board setup (Pod X3 live) and trying the ISP for my Kemper. Long term obviously.


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## BurningRome (Apr 30, 2017)

Just bought the regular stealth last night off reverb. I saw the "light" which is nice and smaller but I was worried it wasn't enough power.

In the end if you get a good preamp and a good pedalboard power amp it ends up costing near what a good used amp head costs. So there is a fine line with this stuff. 

In the meantime I've been running my Friedman BE-0D into the poweramp of my fryette Sig X and it sounds great however the Fryette gives me tone controls for the power section, I'm skeptical the Friedman will sound as good with the ISP, but this trial and error is worth the fun. I hope it sounds killer! If so the question is whether or not I'm willing to get rid of my tube amps.


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## lewis (Apr 30, 2017)

BurningRome said:


> Just bought the regular stealth last night off reverb. I saw the "light" which is nice and smaller but I was worried it wasn't enough power.
> 
> In the end if you get a good preamp and a good pedalboard power amp it ends up costing near what a good used amp head costs. So there is a fine line with this stuff.
> 
> In the meantime I've been running my Friedman BE-0D into the poweramp of my fryette Sig X and it sounds great however the Fryette gives me tone controls for the power section, I'm skeptical the Friedman will sound as good with the ISP, but this trial and error is worth the fun. I hope it sounds killer! If so the question is whether or not I'm willing to get rid of my tube amps.



keep us updated on that mate. I was tempted to get the stealth for my kemper


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## Gmork (Apr 30, 2017)

I know it wasnt included in your choices but Perhaps because you just didnt hear about it
But i recently got the Quilter Tone Block 201and its absolutely incredible! Quilter seems to be somewhat unknown, at least in the metal world but theyve been in the business for over 30 yrs
Anyway, the toneblock201 is 200w (was told by pat quilter himself that its actually 400w but it only allows you to go to 200w so you have 200w of complete headroom) you can go through its somewhat flat fx return but everything sounds way better going through the main input as the coloration is very warm and tube like and offers you additional eq options. It has dual speaker outputs. Can run any ohm load including mismatched has speakercab emulated direct output. Its only 4lbs. People claim that it has tube like volume and i can definitely back this up. Its so incredibly loud. 
Feel like im forgetting something. Main point is its perfect for a pedalboard based rig.


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## lewis (Apr 30, 2017)

Gmork said:


> I know it wasnt included in your choices but Perhaps because you just didnt hear about it
> But i recently got the Quilter Tone Block 201and its absolutely incredible! Quilter seems to be somewhat unknown, at least in the metal world but theyve been in the business for over 30 yrs
> Anyway, the toneblock201 is 200w (was told by pat quilter himself that its actually 400w but it only allows you to go to 200w so you have 200w of complete headroom) you can go through its somewhat flat fx return but everything sounds way better going through the main input as the coloration is very warm and tube like and offers you additional eq options. It has dual speaker outputs. Can run any ohm load including mismatched has speakercab emulated direct output. Its only 4lbs. People claim that it has tube like volume and i can definitely back this up. Its so incredibly loud.
> Feel like im forgetting something. Main point is its perfect for a pedalboard based rig.



yeah I mean, thanks for the heads up because it looks great and sounds amazing from demos...............BUT
in the UK its £439   ($568). Way too much money. The Duncan is quite alot and thats $399.
For those prices you can buy a ridiculously good Amp head. Besides the whole idea for me to do a compact pedal rig is to save money, but it wouldnt be adding pedals this expensive.


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## Gmork (Apr 30, 2017)

Yeah its pricier than those others but you get what you pay for in this case. Im in canada and paid just over $600 plus another $82 for US shipping tax or whatever. As far as im concerned its the best oney i ever spent. 
Ive got my whole rig on my pedalboard. Heres my set up if you care to see.


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## lewis (Apr 30, 2017)

Gmork said:


> Yeah its pricier than those others but you get what you pay for in this case. Im in canada and paid just over $600 plus another $82 for US shipping tax or whatever. As far as im concerned its the best oney i ever spent.
> Ive got my whole rig on my pedalboard. Heres my set up if you care to see.



ooof that board is lovely!
Interesting having the BBE on there. THat pedal is so 50/50 with people.
I have good results with sonic maximizers in a DAW but never used a pedal.

yeah it looks the part and sounds great in those demos. But ouch thats ALOT.
I just got an old x3 live board and im thinking to have clean tones on that as my patches (Rhythm Patch clean with a touch of reverb, Lead tone clean but with more verb and delay etc, clean tone with ambient effects etc), an distortion pedal out front (like say the MXR5150) going into it, then out of the X3 into a power amp. Then when I want the "clean tone" in the pod I switch to that patch and then turn OFF the distortion pedal etc. A little bit of tap dancing but nothing problematic. The Rhythm and lead patches the MXR would always be "on" and it would just be the Pod patches I would be switching.

I do have a preamp tube pedal that could go into the PODs effects loop aswell for a tad more "tubey'ness"


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## Wolfhorsky (Apr 30, 2017)

As far as Quilter goes, You can buy smaller amp - 101 mini head, which can make 100w on Full Q setting IIRC. And it costs 315 Euros: http://www.euroamp.com/produkt/quilter-101-mini-head/

I am still curious about that Powestage 170..


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## PBGas (Apr 30, 2017)

The Duncan piece looks great! Even has an internal power supply. If I went this route, that would be would I would get. Nice!


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## js75 (May 2, 2017)

I am looking to upgrade my EHX 44 mag.What would be a good choice for an AMT D2.The isp, seymour duncan or the quilter.I just play in the basement but would like more volume.Would the stealth be O.K.?Maybe the microblock or the 101?Seems to be alot of options out there.


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## Mike (Nov 16, 2017)

bumping this. Now that these have been out for a little bit, has anyone had a chance to try either out?


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## takotakumi (Nov 16, 2017)

Haven't personally tried either, but I've read mixed reviews about the PowerStage.
Ones where they say it sounds still "linear" and very Solid State sounding, and others where 
they say that the EQ behaves like Presence and Resonance parameters on a tube amp.

This is obviously a solidstate power amp, but I'm still wondering how good it can emulate tube power sections.
I used to use a crowne to power my kemper couple of months ago but eventually got a 6505MH which I use as
my power amp hehe There is a definite difference when using tube power section, the resonance/presence knob add 
the dynamics I felt was missing, and the oomph on the low end. 

There were some threads about both products a couple of months ago, the guy ended up returning his ISP lite,
the powerstage thread had some nice tech info about tube vs SS poweramps.
Will try looking for them and linking them here


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## takotakumi (Nov 16, 2017)

http://sevenstring.org/threads/seymour-duncan-powerstage-700-power-amp.318724/page-2

http://sevenstring.org/threads/new-poweramp-day-isp-stealth-ultra-lite.324911/#post-4785326


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## Mike (Nov 16, 2017)

takotakumi said:


> Haven't personally tried either, but I've read mixed reviews about the PowerStage.
> Ones where they say it sounds still "linear" and very Solid State sounding, and others where
> they say that the EQ behaves like Presence and Resonance parameters on a tube amp.
> 
> ...



Thanks man, good stuff. Great idea with the MH lol. I honestly wish peavey would just make some kind of tube power amp only version of the 6505 for this reason. I've used a couple of small ss power amps now and the problems I've experienced are the lack of headroom (the power amps seem to loose clarity and start to gurgle about 80% of the way up) and they don't have that commanding full room filling resonance like using a tube amps power section does.


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## takotakumi (Nov 16, 2017)

Mike said:


> Thanks man, good stuff. Great idea with the MH lol. I honestly wish peavey would just make some kind of tube power amp only version of the 6505 for this reason.


I'm thinking about ordering the power stage one of this days from amazon just to try it out and return it hehe
I am genuinely curious as to how well it performs


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## mnemonic (Nov 16, 2017)

Mike said:


> Thanks man, good stuff. Great idea with the MH lol. I honestly wish peavey would just make some kind of tube power amp only version of the 6505 for this reason.



I think the peavey Classic 60 (mono) and 60/60 (stereo) poweramps were supposed to be similar to the 6505, or at least I'm pretty sure I read this somewhere. The 50 watt ones are different as they are EL84. 

It's pretty old gear at this point but it does go for peanuts. 

Also regarding low wattage tube poweramps, Mooer had a 20 watt (iirc) tube poweramp in a recent video they were demoing some of their preamps through. Though it still remains to be seen if it was just a one-off for their own internal use, or if it's a not-yet-announced product. 

Shask has a pretty good post in the Powerstage thread linked above that explains why EQ controls on SS poweramps won't really ever react like presence / depth on a tube poweramp.


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## shred-o-holic (Nov 16, 2017)

My old guitarist had the ISP Stealth and it sounded OK but I felt the Quilter Tone Block 201 I was using and still own sounded better. We were both running Kempers. I have heard good things about the Duncan but honestly I have no desire to try one. I am happy with the Quilter if I need to go super portable..


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## Mike (Nov 16, 2017)

Since we're a bit OT anyway naming other power amps, listening to the Rocktron Mainline 300, I think the resonance and presence do sound pretty good in it, so maybe someday someone will really figure out how to duplicate tube power amp and speaker reaction in SS.


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## lewis (Nov 16, 2017)

Mike said:


> Since we're a bit OT anyway naming other power amps, listening to the *Rocktron Mainline 300*, I think the resonance and presence do sound pretty good in it, so maybe someday someone will really figure out how to duplicate tube power amp and speaker reaction in SS.



Please tell me its at least half the weight of the velocity???


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## Mike (Nov 16, 2017)

lewis said:


> Please tell me its at least half the weight of the velocity???


About 1lb. less according to the spec sheets

Velocity 18lbs.
Mainline 17.1lbs.


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## lewis (Nov 16, 2017)

Mike said:


> About 1lb. less according to the spec sheets
> 
> Velocity 18lbs.
> Mainline 17.1lbs.


Eurgh. At least its lighter but still. The Harley Benton GPA400 is completely comparable to the Rocktron and apparantly is louder yet weighs loads less. ?


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## Zoobiedood (Nov 17, 2017)

I have used the PowerStage 170 with a Fractal, and it is really loud and perfect for modelers into a FRFR cab. I haven't used it into a guitar cab.


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