QSC GX 5

The GX 5 is a very competitively priced budget amplifier from QSC.

The build quality is exactly what you would expect from QSC, despite the budget price point it doesn't feel cheap at all, the rear connectors are nice and solid and the case feels strong and firm, no flimsy, bending cheap metal as you pick it up.

The gain knobs on the front also feel nice and solid.

Well featured inputs, been aimed at the Mi market it's got phono as well as balanced XLR/Jack, the phono's are a great for connecting up a phone or mp3 player for quickly testing speakers (without getting out a mixer etc) or just for basic ipod disco applications.

Sound quality is very good for the price point as is the power output, works well and does what it says on the tin!

My only negative comment (if I have to find one) is the weight, been a conventional transformer power supply, rather than a switch mode supply, but something has to give at this price point.

All in all a great budget amplifier, QSC quality!

I had an opportunity to mix the same band in the same smallish venue with different PA. First we had some JBL loudspeakers on the edge of the stage driven by behringer EPQ series amplifier and I must say I had some serious hassle, bringing the vocals to front without compressing too much. The live effects were also useless, reverb only made it worse.
The other time they had upgraded to 4x QSC GX5 and HK Audio speakers and it was like a day and night. At first we had them on the edge of the stage (also a decent improvement), but i brought my speaker stands with me and took the speakers a bit higher also. This gig went unexpectedly quickly - vocals sounded so massively, but yet so lightly and I had so much headroom left for playing with effects.

Of course this time it was a lot more power behind the band, but i didn't use even half of it. And to be objective, the JBL+Behringer coombination sounded also quite nice while playing music from CD. It even had the parametric EQ. But you can hear and feel the real difference when the real band is playing on the stage!

I would recommend QSC to anyone who's looking for reasonably priced amplifier.

This amp offers excellent performance at a reasonable price. The sound quality is first class and it's well made. The fan does create some noise but this would only be an issue in a very quiet room where you probably wouldn't need the PA anyway. I have never found this to be a problem and the fan noise is insignificant once the venue fills up and the band gets going. It's not the lightest of amps but not the heaviest either. One in a flight case is liftable on your own. I wouldn't recommend two together unless they are on wheels. I have been using these amps for a number of years and they have been very reliable. They are also not that deep so plenty of space in the back of the rack. They have a multitude of connections on the back which will cope with all eventualities.

The sound is great but for some reason only one side of the grill seems to get warm when I use it which leaves me wondering if it's functioning correctly, I presume it's not a good reason to send it back but I find these things disturbing.

Another real bad thing happened when I first connected my speakers to it, I inserted both speakon connector 180º the wrong way and it seem to slide in with no difficulty, it obviously didn't work and I had great difficulty getting the speakons out, now one of the connectors isn't clicking anymore when I insert the cable. It all seems to be working fine now but I feel it's damaged and I'm not happy but what do you do, send it back cause the connector doesn't click? Sigh!