Amp for Alexis Surge kit.

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Pootle

Active Member
My cousin recently bought an Alexis Surge kit and has been playing through his headphones but wants to buy an amp. Can any guitar amp be used or is a specific drum amp required or better? Probably looking to spend between £150 - £300, mainly home use but will no doubt want to play with other musicians as he develops.

I only play acoustic drums so any advice for me to pass on would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advice.
 
The oft posted rules <wink>
  • Home: headphones (or a PA if you *really* need speakers)
  • Rehearsal: a PA
  • Live: a PA
  • Minimum of 12" woofers, speakers on stands, tweeters at ear height. Test / audition by playing Prodigy's Firestarter at full pelt thru it.
Avoid so-called wedge-tastic "drum amps". They're just badged up floor wedges, bass or keyboard amps.

Def don't use a guitar amp.

PA is also more flexible and useful, esp for adding in band members etc.

Dead easy to get a PA (mixer/amp + couple of speakers + stands) for your budget (can be picked up starting at £50!) - where in UK is the cousin?
 
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I'd go and look for some active speakers (he can start with just one) with at least 12", better 15" woofer.
 
Guitar amps do not do well on drums because drums covers such a wide range of tones, extremely high to extremely low. I have a Simmons 50 watt amp for an Alesis kit and it's great for small room like my practice room. My son has a Simmons 200 watt amp and that baby is really something. When I was looking for an app I read that keyboard amps work very well also but not guitar amps
 
Guitar amps can't handle the lows. With a bass amp, you won't hear much if at all of the cymbals.
I've found powered speakers to be a little light on the lows - similar to keyboard amps.
Your best bet is to go with a dedicated drum amp if that's all you're going to be using it for.
I had a Simmons 200 and if you stood in front of it, it'd get your trouser legs flapping. :ROFLMAO:

I don't have any experience with that new Alesis Strike amp, but I've got some Alesis monitors that have served me well for about 10 years.
Lots of power there, but if he goes with that, I'd probably say to get the one with the 12"woofer:
 
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On my quest to find the best drum amp, I now own several; simmons da25 25w, ddrum dda50 50w, ddrum dda200 200w, simmons 2012b 2000w max. I also have a full blown PA with 15" mains, 18" subs, 12" monitor wedges and so forth. But to me, it's overkill for just practicing/playing on my own. The PA is used when I'm jamming with my band or gigging.

Howver, my favorite amp to use for monitoring is my JBl EON 15". It sounds way better than any of my drum amps including the simmons 2012B. It is more than powerful enough for what I need.

I really am not a fan of drum amps as they typically lack clarity...a bit too mid range for me and they never sound as good as headphones.

As mentioned by others, a good set of headphones will give you the best experience (I really like my audio-technica m50x), but if you need an amp for monitoring, a good powered 15" speaker should fulfill your needs. I understand Mackie makes a great powered speaker, too.
 
I have the strike 8... I think it sounds really good for the price
 
Pootle said:
Thanks for your responses. What’s your thoughts on the below, is this an example of the wedge-tastic amps to be avoided?

drummersreview.com

Alesis Announce Strike Amp 8 For Electronic Drummers - Drummer's Review

Alesis (alesis.com), a world leading manufacturer of electronic drums, have announced their new Strike Amp 8 powered drum amplifier.
drummersreview.com drummersreview.com
Click to expand...
Great amps & perfect for the Alesis.
I have the Strike - 12 for my Roland & seven it's purpose very well :)

www.andertons.co.uk

Alesis Strike Amp 12 2000W 1x12" Drum Monitor - Andertons Music Co.

Get the Alesis Strike Amp 12 2000W 1x12" Drum Monitor from Andertons Music Company today!
www.andertons.co.uk
 
Any amp will work but a drum kit is a full spectrum instrument. You have lows from the bass drum and very high frequencies from the cymbals. Get a powered speaker with tone controls, 15 inch speaker. Or get a small PA system. The PA will be useful when somebody sings, which is likely to happen sooner or later.
 
I'm unsure if I would buy a speaker from a company not being famous for building one and without any history in this technology.
 
wildbill said:
If you're referring to Alesis, they've been around for quite a while.
Click to expand...

True, they are. But in my opinion they are famous for completely different technology, which mainly lives in the digital world. I absolutely love my DM5 and really appreciate development like ADAT and the like (Tascam DA-88 was a breakthrough technology, based on Alesis Digital Audio Tape). Those guys are great in creating and processing digital audio. But what's their history in converting electricity into sound? They have some barely usable monitors in the market, since - you can't even call it decades. Speakers? JBL (first class sound transducers - and nothing else - since 1947), HK, EV, Syrincs, QSC, PanAcoustics - whatever. That's just my personal opinion on this topic. In general I prefer people buying whatever fits their perferences, needs and likings.
 
Supergrobi said:
True, they are. But in my opinion they are famous for completely different technology, which mainly lives in the digital world. I absolutely love my DM5 and really appreciate development like ADAT and the like (Tascam DA-88 was a breakthrough technology, based on Alesis Digital Audio Tape). Those guys are great in creating and processing digital audio. But what's their history in converting electricity into sound? They have some barely usable monitors in the market, since - you can't even call it decades. Speakers? JBL (first class sound transducers - and nothing else - since 1947), HK, EV, Syrincs, QSC, PanAcoustics - whatever. That's just my personal opinion on this topic. In general I prefer people buying whatever fits their perferences, needs and likings.
Click to expand...

I like my "barely usable" Alesis monitors much better than the JBL's they replaced.
But of course, all the manufacturers have made advances since I've had either of those.
 
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