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Newbie with very basic questions about a 200 PA [message #17538]

Fri, 12 October 2012 20:01

Burt_Macklin
Messages: 2
Registered: October 2012
Location: Madison, WI

Junior Member

Hey, guys. I recently acquired a 200 series pa. I don't know much about musical equipment at all so I am hoping you can help me out a little bit.
model: K 200B 5
serial: 40840

I have basically only four questions.

1- Why are there two 'on' positions?

2- how old is this?

3- There is an extra input/output jack on the backside. (bottom right if you are looking at the back) What is it for?

4- Is there anyway I can make it sound more clear? Right now it sounds kind of.. cloudy. And there is always white/static noise coming from them (although you can only hear it when there is no music on). Don't get me wrong, they sound great, but just not as clear and crisp as other systems I have heard. Right now I attribute that to the fact that they are probably very old.

Thank you so much for you help!!

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r511/Mitch_Kramer/0707121202.jpg

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r511/Mitch_Kramer/1012121849.jpg

[Updated on: Fri, 12 October 2012 20:18]

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Re: Newbie with very basic questions about a 200 PA [message #17539 is a reply to message #17538]

Fri, 12 October 2012 20:34

pleat
Messages: 1452
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi

Senior Member

Welcome, the power switch has two on positions which is a polarity switch. If you get a lot of buzz or shocks when touching other equipment, switching to the opposite on position should eleminate the shock hazard. Most of us replace the two prong power cable with a grounded three pin power cable.
The 1/4" jack on the lower right back panel is the for the footswitch cutoff for the reverb, the RCA jack is for driving another slave amp or tape deck.
As far as the tone, the system is designed for vocal, not as much for guitar. The system should date to around late 68 to mid 71 so depending on what might have been done to the amp over the years is something to consider when judging the amps tone.
I know I've owned several K200B-5 heads and they sound great with a guitar cab.
pleat

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Re: Newbie with very basic questions about a 200 PA [message #17541 is a reply to message #17538]

Fri, 12 October 2012 20:47

rodak
Messages: 511
Registered: October 2001
Location: Georgia

Senior Member

Nice looking PA!
Pleat, just to confirm, when you say it was designed for vocals, you mean just the speaker columns, right? All K200s have he same preamp and power amp circuits (except, of course, for the effects), whether bass, guitar or PA, right?

In fact, there weren't any specialized circuits for guitar/bass/vocals in any of the Frank/plexi series, were there? Were the slant-front amps the same way (i.e., same circuits, differing only in effects, # of channels, etc)?

www.combo-organ.com

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Re: Newbie with very basic questions about a 200 PA [message #17542 is a reply to message #17541]

Fri, 12 October 2012 21:16

pleat
Messages: 1452
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi

Senior Member

Yes, all amps in each series used the same power amp, there were differences in the pre amps. Bright channels vs. normal channels, main differences were what kind of effects or lack of effects the amp has.
pleat

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Re: Newbie with very basic questions about a 200 PA [message #17543 is a reply to message #17541]

Fri, 12 October 2012 22:44

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

rodak wrote on Fri, 12 October 2012 19:47

All K200s have he same preamp and power amp circuits (except, of course, for the effects), whether bass, guitar or PA, right?

Yes that's basically true, but like Pleat said, there were a few differences in the preamps.

The K200B-5 that we have here uses 4 basic preamps that are the same as the ones used on the K200B-1 guitar amps, but the bright switch has been replaced with the reverb control.

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Re: Newbie with very basic questions about a 200 PA [message #17545 is a reply to message #17543]

Sat, 13 October 2012 22:17

BC
Messages: 583
Registered: March 2000
Location: Kentucky

Senior Member

I have played bass with Kustom PA heads and they work quite well. Also the extra channels are good for a keyboard player to use. The secret with 200 Series amps is match a cabinet appropriate for the application. 4 ohm Load is what they like. BC Cool

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