Opinions on qear quality

The mics are good for live but here is my question. In order of quality how would you rate the following brands in regards to power amps:

QSC, Mackie, Crown

Crown (By a long shot!)
QSC

Have never used a mackie Power amp.

ART, Alesis, Ashley

Based on my experience:

Ashly
ART
Alesis

But... as a followup... I haven't used every unit by every manufuacturer, the above is simply based on my experience(s) with the models I have used.

D.

For power amps:

I went with a QSC powerlight in my rig due to weight concerns. I went from a 60lb Crest amplifier to a 27lb QSC and increased my power output when I did it. Many other brands have jumped on the lightweight switching power supply systems, but QSC was one of the pioneers of them in the pro audio market (not including old Carver amps more targeted at the HiFi arena). Saving my back was my primary motivation.

I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference as far as performance and sound goes, and I haven't the experience to judge reliability. I know that neither my Crest or my QSC has ever failed after years of gigging in all kinds of conditions.

As for EQ... can't answer that one, I'd lean toward Ashley but can't really back that up.

I'm curious Donny why you put the art above the Alesis? Have you had a bad experience with Alesis EQ's or just better experiences with an ART? I've personally never used ART gear except for guitar, and then thought it was mediocre at best.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to ya on this...I was out of town for a week...

It's not that I really love ART stuff, it's because, by and large (and of course there are exceptions) I'm really not crazy about most Alesis processing gear. I thought the 1630 was perhaps the worst compressor I had ever worked with, The Mattica was a terrible amp that made everything sound as if I had thrown a wet sack over my monitors
(noiser than hell too!), and, having used The Masterlink (the fact that the first one I ordered was malfunctioning right out of the box brand new didn't help... and the replcement they sent me that did work didn't impress me much either), left me with a bad taste in my mouth for much of the Alesis product line.

That having been said, I must be honest and own up to the fact that I regularly use Monitor One's for referencing(along with JBL's and NS10's), so I'm not completely down on Alesis, but for the most part, they don't knock me out.

While I'm no expert on ART gear, the stuff that I have used has always left me with the feeling that, for the most part, it was solid gear for the money. In particular, I thought that their budget tube pre sounded great for the $$.

I don't hate Alesis, I own more than one piece of Alesis gear... I just don't love it.
For whatever it's worth...

D.

Crown used to be the "Amp". But their new stuff is not the quality of the DC-300 days.

I think John is right about this. Which is why when I bought new amps a few years back (Yes, I still have my Crown 300 but I was expanding and needed more) I went with
Hafler. At the time, I thought they were the closest thing, and gang, I'll tell ya... I tried a BUNCH!
I was fortunate enough at the time to have a good friend managing a local "pro" store and he let me take various amps home for a couple weeks. I tried so many.. QSC, Crown, an abortion from Alesis called "Mattica", a Yamaha or two, and ended up with the Haflers. Don't know currently what the "hot" amp is, but at the time the Hafler was certainly the best bang for the buck. Sounded like a Crown DC clone to me.
I also like Rane gear (EQ's, and I have a Rane Headphone amp) and I really like Ashly gates. Anyhooooo..... FWIW

D.