PowerStage 700 - 700-watt Guitar Amp Head Review

The dude

For pedal guys, here's your unicorn. It's PLENTY loud. Kemper, HeadRush, helix, players need one of these to complete the live rig. 2 complaints. When you rack mount the 700 it takes up 1 1/2 spaces which is kinda annoying. It sets my OCD off. Also annoying, the power switch is in the back. Pro tip: ALWAYS turn the volume to zero before turning off. Kinda like a standby switch.… read more Also, I used colored tape to indicate the inputs matching the outputs.

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Great solid state amp

I first tried the PS200 with a 4ohm cab and for the most part it was loud enough to play with a loud drummer but didn't have the extra headroom for when things got really loud in the jam room. I just got this PS700 and with a 4ohm cab it's plenty loud enough. My pedals sound great through it. I use the KSR Ceres as my preamp and it all sounds amazing. This thing will run two 4ohm… read more cabs in stereo. It doesn't say that in the literature but I called Seymour Duncan to verify. The stereo outs are independent of each other like having two separate amps in this thing. Lightweight and bad***.

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Lots of POWER!

Just what I needed. Plain, simple,unadulterated and complete power. This unit lets your pedals perform to their best potential and you can actually hear the difference because clean unfiltered power is the answer from the start.

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Solid - Best In Class

The Seymour Duncan Power-Stage 700 is loud, clean and solid. The onboard preamp adds just enough color and clean boost to connect your pedalboard to your speakers with the life of a "real" amp sound... I run this piece in stereo, in a rack with a DBX 386 stereo tube preamp in front of it. The DBX is there in case I want to dial in some tube color to mimic a tube-amp. A Mesa V-Twin… read more pedal would be similar. The Power-Stage is exceptional for modulated clean tones, a la Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Stereo Combo Amp. Of course you'll want a decent stereo Reverb and Chorus to really dial in that sound, I use the new TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal (but have also tried the EarthQuaker Devices Avalanche Run V2 Delay and Reverb Pedal as well), and a Boss Waza Chorus... The Power-Stage is meant to have your pedalboard in front of it and a nice cab or 2 after it, although the cab simulated outs work great in the studio and in a live situation if needed. This technology has come a long way from the rack set-ups of yesteryear... Rack-mounted, the Power-Stage is an odd size, meaning that it takes up about a space and a half in a rack, so you want a 3 or 4 spacer if you're going to add a tube preamp and/or power conditioner. Plus, make sure you've got 2 Speakon to male TS cables!!! Anyway, this thing kills. It's this or a boutique Sarno power-pre for me!

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Surpasses all expectations

This thing handles pedals so well! (as it was designed to) I ran my guitar through a Diezel VH4 pre, Vapor Trail, Catalina chorus, Big Sky and Andromeda simultaneously and it still maintained note clarity through it all. The tone controls are powerful and very useful. It has so much power on tap you could use this anywhere. Makes setting up a stereo rig a breeze. I haven't tried… read more any other amp in a box pedals on it other than the Diezel yet but it was amazing! Smooth, fantastic break up, booming bottom end. Almost convincing enough to mistake for a high quality tube amp in a blind test. In a mix you would not tell.

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