What's the Difference berween Low & High Drive Linear Amplifiers Kickers?

Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by Holy Moses, Mar 5, 2015.

  1. Holy Moses

    Holy Moses Bobtail Member

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    Basic questions here: What's the Difference berween Low & High Drive Linear Amplifiers Kickers; what does "dead key" input mean; full output? Best/worse ways to use them...? Thanks for the help.
     
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  3. Turbo-T

    Turbo-T Road Train Member

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    Low drive means you need a low carrier of 1-2 watts

    High drive means you can run a little more, like 5-10 watts into them.

    Dead key is the carrier, or when you key up the mic and dont speak into it.

    Best way to use it is match the amp to the radio. I.E. a low drive amp is better suited for a Cobra 29/Connex 3300/General Lee. High drive is better suited on something like a Magnum S9.
     
  4. Largecar359

    Largecar359 Road Train Member

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    I use a high drive amp. It's a davemade straight 4. With this amp there is no driver inside the amp you use your radio to push the amp. It has a max of 200 watt input with a max of 20 carrier watts. I drive it with a connex 4600 which dead keys 16 and swings to 190 watts. So that's well within the limitations of the amp. I've run this setup for 8 yrs now without a problem.

    If You wanna run a low drive amp, the amp will have its own driver in it. You can only put low watts into the amp but you will still see the same numbers out the other side as a high drive amp. I prefer the high drive amp b/c I don't need to run the amp all the time. I talk with 190 watts without the amp which is respectable. When I wanna light it up, I throw 625 watts with the amp.
    Its all preference, but whatever you choose do not try to over drive your amp it will only cost you time and money in the end.
     
  5. Holy Moses

    Holy Moses Bobtail Member

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    Can you use the Cobra 29/Connex 3300/General Lee with a high drive or do I have to use a low/high drive with the respective radio types? If I'm going to get "one" amp which one will give me the versatility to use with both types of radios since I have a Cobra 29 & a Connex 4600 Turbo? Thanks for the input everybody!!!


     
  6. Largecar359

    Largecar359 Road Train Member

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    Cobra 29 will Not drive a high drive amp. At least not the way you would want. The amp will have to driver in it. You will turn down the cobra 29 to put in low watts into the amp and then the amp will create its own power. The connex 3300/gen lee will drive a high drive amp as long as the amp is not too big. On a four pill amp you want 40 watts out your radio to drive it. The amp will multiply that into 400 watts on the other side.

    If you get a high drive amp it will give you versatility. If you get a low drive amp you will need to cut down your radios to a safe output, and the connex 4600 turbo is incapable of being turned down that low. What size amp are you looking for? 4 pill?
     
  7. mike5511

    mike5511 Road Train Member

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    I had a Cobra 29 and a Texas Star DX 350 High Drive amp. One of the best set ups I every had. I used it! It worked good! Now tell me a 29 won't drive a hi-drive amp!
     
  8. Jcook

    Jcook Bobtail Member

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    How many watts do I need to drive a gatekeeper 4 pill 800 watt amp?
     
  9. Largecar359

    Largecar359 Road Train Member

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    Need 10 watts per pill to drive it. 40 watts total. But that’s the minimum it needs to be real watts not whistling into the mic ghost watts. The more important number is dead key watts, you don’t want to overdrive it or you’ll fry it. Most 4 pill amps have a max of 20 watts dk. I set my dk watts at 17 and peak at 178. Seems to be a solid setup for my 4 pill amp, I’ve been running the same setup for 10 yrs with no issue. Truck runs 5-6 days a week so the radio and amp get a workout.
     
  10. rabbiporkchop

    rabbiporkchop Road Train Member

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    Since everything has to be kept in proportion a small amplifier requires a tiny radio and a larger amplifier requires a larger radio to drive it. The more transistors you have in parallel the more power you're going to need to drive that amplifier. There's amplifiers from 30 years ago that only have one transistor in them and they're completely worthless today since most export radios generate that amount of power by themselves without needing an amplifier at all.
     
  11. Meteorgray

    Meteorgray Heavy Load Member

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    I don't know about small amps being "completely worthless."

    As noted, a tiny CB radio matched to a small amp can produce the power of an import.

    The difference is that the tiny radio and small amp can cost significantly less.

    They can be quite worthy.
     
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