# Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700 power amp



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 19, 2017)

http://www.seymourduncan.com/power-amp/powerstage-700



> The PowerStage&#8482; 700 is a game-changing product for guitar players that want uncompromising tone in a compact power amp. Maybe you love your tube amp but don&#8217;t want to lug it around. Or you use a modeler that has a ton of functionality but doesn&#8217;t sound as good when hooked up to your existing amp or direct to the PA. Perhaps you have the ultimate pedalboard and just need a better way of amplifying or running it direct. Do you dread fly dates or gigs because you&#8217;re never sure what your backline will be? PowerStage is the answer, whether you&#8217;re playing live or recording in the studio. When you create your tone from a modeler, pedals or effects processor, what you want is a clean, transparent power source that brings your tone to life. With PowerStage, you can bring your whole rig to the gig without compromising your sound, breaking your back or draining your bank account. The PowerStage 700 is the perfect companion for the current crop of amp modelers and effects processors. With discrete stereo ins and outs you can reproduce your carefully crafted amp sounds in massive detail, with power, clarity and a warmth that will take even state-of-the-art modeled tones to the next level. And with the True Cab Circuitry (TCC)&#8482; on the XLR line outputs, you can send your tone direct to the front of house&#8212;with all the feel and response of a speaker&#8212;even as you monitor through a cabinet onstage. Another huge benefit of the PowerStage is its musically voiced 3-band EQ. This allows you to fine-tune your sound, quickly and with precision, without scrolling through menus or editing patches. Such a powerful and intuitive tone shaping tool at the very end of your signal chain makes it easy to maximize your tone for any situation. For guitarists who use pedals to create their sound, PowerStage is the missing link in your signal chain. Run your favorite distortion pedal into PowerStage and then simply bypass it and let it become your ultimate clean channel, turning any pedal combo into a two-channel amp that delivers your perfect tone. And it can plug into any cabinet at any impedance anywhere in the world, thanks to its versatile 100v-240v power supply. The benefits extend well beyond live gigs. In the studio, it can be your secret weapon. By using the XLR outs, you can plug your pedalboard into the PowerStage and all of your impedance issues will disappear. This allows you to run your pedals straight into your DAW&#8212;with full speaker simulation &#8211; no mics required! With its stereo operation, you can send your pedalboard into one channel and then run the other side completely dry into another, facilitating complex layers, reamping and more. Think about it: a powerful, portable, musical tool that can prevent headaches and backaches, onstage and in the studio. Whether you use pedals, modelers or anything else to get your signature sound, the PowerStage 700 will let you amplify it in a clean and toneful way. This is your tone, only louder. Like our award-winning pedals, the PowerStage 700 is designed and assembled at our Santa Barbara, California, factory by the same team responsible for our legendary pickups.



Pretty weird for them to venture outside of the pickup and pedal game.


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## oniduder (Jan 19, 2017)

they've built power amps before, not in awhile though


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## Hollowway (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm seeing a lot of these sorts of things come out. Fryette came out with something similar, too. I'm not sure I fully understand all the ways they can be used, but it's cool that they're doing it. Curious what the price will be.


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## sylcfh (Jan 20, 2017)

There's also a 170 watt version that is the size of a pedal.


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## Malkav (Jan 20, 2017)

I'm going to be putting one on order as soon as they're officially released  Really keen on this  Been wanting to go FRFR for a while so these have popped up at the opportune moment


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## WarMachine (Jan 20, 2017)

Ok, not to squash what might be a good thing before it gets out the gates, but to be "that guy":


> When you create your tone from a modeler, pedals or effects processor, what you want is a clean, transparent power source that brings your tone to life.



........but on the front panel it has bass mid and treble  doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of "transparent"?


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## Vrollin (Jan 20, 2017)

sylcfh said:


> There's also a 170 watt version that is the size of a pedal.



If this can power cabs other than 4ohms I'm all over it. Been looking for a smaller solution tof my big marshall valvestate power amp....


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## Wolfhorsky (Jan 20, 2017)

That smaller one is tempting. I wonder how much power it provides into 8 ohms.


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## Gmork (Feb 5, 2017)

I emailed them to ask this very question. They said 80w at 8ohms and 40w at 16ohms. Im also very interested in these. Cant decide which would be better to get. I like the idea of having the 170 on my pedal board for my tightmetal/amt p1 etc when i want to travel lightly but i like the higher power of the 700 which would also mesh nicely with my crate xlp and peavey rockmaster racks.the 700 is listed at $999 though!!! here in canada


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## narad (Feb 5, 2017)

WarMachine said:


> Ok, not to squash what might be a good thing before it gets out the gates, but to be "that guy":
> 
> 
> ........but on the front panel it has bass mid and treble  doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of "transparent"?



Transparent as in not distorting early, in the way a tube poweramp theoretically might. It's fluff terminology, but totally apart from whether they put some EQ tweakability in there.


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## rewihendrix (Feb 5, 2017)

Definitely a market for this sort of thing.


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## Wolfhorsky (Feb 6, 2017)

I hope it is much more usable than mag44.


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## Vrollin (Feb 6, 2017)

Wolfhorsky said:


> I hope it is much more usable than mag44.



Given the EQ I reckon it will be a bit of a winner and much more user friendly from cab to cab.


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## mnemonic (Feb 6, 2017)

Looks like they're aiming for that modeler poweramp market, especially with that mark Holcomb quote at the end. Except this poweramp also has some kind of cab modeler (I think?) built in if needed. 

Looks like it has holes for rack ears on its side, so what is it, half rack space? Doesn't look wide enough for a full space. That could be a cool space saver.


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## lewis (Feb 6, 2017)

sylcfh said:


> There's also a 170 watt version that is the size of a pedal.



Now we are talking!!!!!!!. I want one!


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## Mike (Feb 6, 2017)

The pedal form one looks awesome to me. I recently started using a Kartakou pedal sized power amp with my 2x12/modeler rig and I really like it. The only downside is it could really benefit from having some more power/headroom on tap.

My power amp is very transparent and only has a master volume knob which I like, but I can see how the EQ section can be handy for making slight tweaks to adjust for different room acoustics. 

edit: nvm

$700 for the head
$400 for the pedal


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## cGoEcYk (Feb 6, 2017)

Wolfhorsky said:


> I hope it is much more usable than mag44.


What did you see as the main weakness of the Mag?


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## Wolfhorsky (Feb 7, 2017)

cGoEcYk said:


> What did you see as the main weakness of the Mag?



Very wrong taper on volume pot.
It starts to distort quickly.
Not much clean headroom.
It is OK, but not great by any means. 
Only my opinion.


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## GunpointMetal (Feb 7, 2017)

$700? 

Nope.


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## Mike (Feb 7, 2017)

GunpointMetal said:


> $700?
> 
> Nope.



Agreed. I think they're both overpriced for what they are, small form factor, solid state power amps.

I think they'd sell a ton of them if they priced them a lot better. I was hoping something more along the lines of $299 for the pedal one and $499 for the head.


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## oracles (Feb 7, 2017)

Yeahhhhh, that's a no from me. At that price point, I'd be going straight to Fryette.


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## Wolfhorsky (Feb 7, 2017)

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PowerStage170
399 $ is fair price imho.


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## ZXIIIT (Feb 7, 2017)

The pedal version looks intriguing, as it has an EQ, something my 44 Magnum lacks, especially for live shows, but the 44 Magnum does such a great job that I can't see myself dropping $400 just for the EQ, essentially.

I asked EHX if they would consider a 66 Magnum, but they replied with a joke, :/


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## GunpointMetal (Feb 7, 2017)

Wolfhorsky said:


> https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PowerStage170
> 399 $ is fair price imho.


That's for the pedal....
I'd rather buy another PowerBlock, used. Yeah its not a pedal, but they're proven reliable, similar wattage, stereo....and about 1/3-1/2 the price.


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## Asphyxia (Feb 7, 2017)

I got a 44 Mag today.
Was going to wait on the Quilter 45 micro.
I like the one switch and volume on the 44.
Tomorrow my Tight Metal Pro will arrive.
I hooked a Digitech Death Metal to 44 today with a 10 band and it sounded pretty good.
My only problem with the 44 its hard to find a sweet spot between too loud and just right. I'm a bedroom player.
I plan on upgrading to the Seymour 170 eventually because I am a brand whore.


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## Wolfhorsky (Feb 7, 2017)

GunpointMetal said:


> That's for the pedal....
> I'd rather buy another PowerBlock, used. Yeah its not a pedal, but they're proven reliable, similar wattage, stereo....and about 1/3-1/2 the price.



I can sell You one


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## Gmork (Feb 7, 2017)

If youre a metal guy youll be in heaven. I often use my mag44/tightmetalpro rig for practice and sometimes shows. At super high volume the mag44 gets a bit thin and harsh (approaching noon on the vol)


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## lewis (Feb 14, 2017)

I have a Laney Pulse tube preamp pedal that would run into this (pedal version) perfectly for small shows, and an un powered Kemper that I can use the pedal version with to run into a 2x12 on stage for better monitoring whilst also sending the Kemper FOH with that signal with cab emulation on. Which given most stage wedges are terrible, that would really suit me.

Winner winner


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## lewis (May 6, 2017)

new demo on the powerstage!


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## lewis (Jul 24, 2017)

to bump this

We are 2 weeks away from these being available to purchase and Im seriously considering going down this route instead of the Rocktron 300 just because its new, intriguing and most importantly weights like 1lb whereas the Rocktron rack weights 18lb!!!!!!

The plan will be to mount it inside my rack case at the bottom next to the Line 6 Relay G10.

Anyone think that would work fine?. Also if I want to run stereo in the future I could buy another one. 1 each to power 2 seperate cabinets. 
Uk Price is £345


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## mnemonic (Jul 24, 2017)

I saw a review on the axe fx forum, one guy prefers them over the matrix and likes how the EQ can be used for a quick eq change for different cabs or rooms without having to mess with global eq's in the axe fx. 

I really like the look of the 170 and I may get one if I decide to go solidstate, I'm still on the fence if I want to find a used tube poweramp or just go SS.


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## lewis (Jul 24, 2017)

mnemonic said:


> I saw a review on the axe fx forum, one guy prefers them over the matrix and likes how the EQ can be used for a quick eq change for different cabs or rooms without having to mess with global eq's in the axe fx.
> 
> I really like the look of the 170 and I may get one if I decide to go solidstate, I'm still on the fence if I want to find a used tube poweramp or just go SS.


see Im seeing similar positive reviews.

I think Im really going to go for it because not only does it look built so well, its compact and unbelievably lightweight vs the competitors. My cab only puts out 160watts max so I dont need anything massive power wise either.

I have a 6U and I will only be using 4U of that on stuff so Im hoping it will fit no problem at the bottom of the rack case under the rack stuff. As I said earlier I will be getting the Line 6 relay G10 (the new USB powered one) to sit next to it. Great all in one, light/compact, rack setup


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## VBCheeseGrater (Jul 27, 2017)

> "Maybe you love your tube amp but don't want to lug it around"



Maybe, but I don't to see how another solid state power amp is going to help with that!


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## Kisbori (Sep 7, 2017)

mnemonic said:


> I saw a review on the axe fx forum, one guy prefers them over the matrix and likes how the EQ can be used for a quick eq change for different cabs or rooms without having to mess with global eq's in the axe fx.
> 
> I really like the look of the 170 and I may get one if I decide to go solidstate, I'm still on the fence if I want to find a used tube poweramp or just go SS.


I think it was Mr Holcomb, who say that he's likes SD better than the matrix.


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## chuggalug (Oct 5, 2017)




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## Shoeless_jose (Oct 5, 2017)

chuggalug said:


>




THIS is pure sex, I love my Helix Floor, but the rack is impressive looking, bet that slays.


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## lewis (Oct 5, 2017)

chuggalug said:


>




Possible review on tone/power of the powerstage??


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## chuggalug (Oct 5, 2017)

I had the helix floor originally but as time went on it just made more sense for me to swap over to the rack/floor controller.
I just received the powerstage 700 a few days ago and havnt had a huge amount of time to tinker with it yet.
First impression though is really good, I am currently running this rack into a 4x12 mesa cab in stereo and its got power in droves.
I went with this poweramp because I really wanted something that would provide a transparent power source for my helix without affecting the tone considerably.
After powering it on and plugging up I was amazed at how great my patches sounded with just a few quick turns of the EQ knobs on the powerstage.
all of my patches I have been using on my helix have been played through a set of studio monitors with cab sims, with that being said I knew there would be some tweaking involved when moving these patches over to a cab. I will follow back up after a bit more time of playing through this rig and give you guys some more feedback.

the one downside i've run into which isnt a make or break it on this unit for me is that only the balanced outs are the only ones affected by the 3 band EQ on the front of the powerstage - the XLR outs which you would use for FOH are not affected, so im assuming that if you relied on the EQ on the powerstage to adjust the sound coming from your cab on stage, you are going to be getting a different tone coming from the PA. I'm sure the remedy to this is just adjusting your global EQ or adjusting your patches individually instead of relying on the EQ from the powerstage. Maybe someone else could provide better insight as to why that is.


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## Bearitone (Oct 6, 2017)

Do the bass and treble behave like Resonance and Presence controls?


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## chuggalug (Oct 6, 2017)

yes they do.


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