Ultrasound Dean Markley CP100 amp

[JonWer]

Appreciate your input on this amp and any experience you may have with it. I am looking for something for home and very small setting use. I play nylon with electronics. Thank you.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by JonWer

Appreciate your input on this amp and any experience you may have with it. I am looking for something for home and very small setting use. I play nylon with electronics. Thank you.

Hi JonWer…
I own/use three different Ultrasound Amps, one which is over 10 years old (AG-50) which is like the CP-100 except that the CP-100 has a 100W of power where as the AG-50 has 50Watts of power. I have owned 7 UltraSound (two of them Dean-Markley versions) over the past 20 years.

If I were you, I'd look at the AER Alpha or the Roland AC-33. You said small setting, nylon string, and to play at home.

The AER Alpha, or the Roland AC-33 are great small amps with very good sound in living room sized venues.

And the Roland can be found in 17½"watt, 30 watt or Dual 30 watt versions.

Let's talk watts…a general statement about watts is to double the output volume of an amplifier, one need 10X (ten times) the watts/power.

So 17½, 30, & 60 watt acoustic amps are usually more than ample to fill the spaces they are designed for.


The rest of this is general UltraSound & Dean-Markley acoustic amp information…
Two of my older UltraSound AG-50 were given away to friends, and one of those is no longer working (it's 15 years old).

All UltraSound/Dean-Markley acoustic amps have either a single or a pair of 8" speakers with high frequency drivers in the center of each speaker. They use the same exact model in all the their cabinets.

They were great amps, when UltraSound owned the company (out of DesMoines, Iowa)…back then the service was great.

When they sold it to Dean-Markley, service immediately went out of the window, and manufacturing numbers and consistency went down substantially.

All three of mine are working great, but I'm looking for a source of service for two people who own them and they will not make sound.

A CP-100 is/always-has-been overkill in the 'Watts' department. I've known several owners of these (which were designed with buying a non-powered 4 speaker extension cabinet in mind), and they all got rid of them because they were so powerful they were touchy to operate. None sprang for the extra cabinet.

I've played through a couple of the 100 watt models and they are the same machine layout as the 50 watt model. All the new Dean-Markley 50 & 100 watt amp models have dual XLR/¼" combo in.

I've never had my AG-15M above ½ way on the output volume while within 10 feet of it on stage, and my AG-50s (both of them) about the same. They project really well!

I've never had good luck using the built in direct/xlr or ¼" output to the mains or other sources of input (like another amp or the board). Something funky happens when attempted. The output on these is not selectable, simply a mirror of the amp settings, and affected when adjusting settings.

I've always run my output to mains and on stage amps from a direct box for a feed that leaves me able to adjust the amp without affecting the mains anyway.

I've used mine like a small PA, but you can distort the vocals pretty easily when singing through them if you are not careful.



Hope this adds to the discussion…

[JonWer]

Thank you for the thorough reply, I will look into the models you recommend.

[SpruceTop]

Double Post and deleted. See below posting. Thanks.

[SpruceTop]

I have an American-made Ultrasound AG30 that is a spartan acoustic amp but it sounds great, and "ljguitar" was an influence on my desire to get an Ultrasound amp! If the Ultrasound CP100 sounds as good as my UltraSound AG30, but with more power and effects, it may be a winner, but as Larry mentioned, it also may be kind of finicky.

[Jonnyk]

I have the 50 and 100..loved them but recently bought a fishman loudbox mini.. Liked it so much I bought an artist also.. I play my Chet nylon through them love them..