The mono mixer amp is portable, easy to operate, reasonably priced, and the concept is about as old as amplified music itself. Christopher Holder unearths the latest generation of this unfashionable but still highly popular item of on-stage PA gear.

In the world of PA gear, the mono mixer amplifier is a bit of a link with the past, back to the days when bands played concerts to pigtailed girls that clutched their faces and screamed louder than the PA. Of course, things have changed (for a start teenage girls look and dress like they're 30 and drink more beer in a night than you do in a week), but the mono PA amp head still has a lot of friends, despite the popularity of powered mixer consoles and the growing number of reasonably priced PA components. It seems that people still like the all-in-one simplicity of these mixer amps, the portability, and the ease of setting up... and why not.

This batch are all rated at around 300W into 4 Ohms, built with about six mic inputs in mind, and often include a spring reverb, a graphic EQ section, as well as tape send and returns. Other things to look out for is whether the on-board amp can handle a minimum impedance of 2 Ohms, as this can, depending on your speaker configuration, give you a little more welly for your money; also look out for on-board limiting and imminent melt-down warnings as you'll almost certainly be grateful for its protection at some stage.

Ross Systems are a Texan company, who make a range of PA and recording gear, including these PA heads. Due to their digital switch mode power supply, these mixer/amps are particularly lightweight and come with full protection circuitry and an internal signal limiter. The Ross units are a little dearer than the competition but well worth investigating.

John Hornby Skewes. (Contact Details)

With reverb, without reverb, with ART multi-effects or without, Dynamix have one of the more flexible ranges of mixer/amps around, with a good span of price ranges as well. In our table (opposite), we take a look at the Stage 360R ('R' denoting a integral spring reverb), but also on offer is the lower powered Stage 140, 250, and the more powerful Stage 660. The Stage PA Series features individual channel circuit boards for ease of servicing as well as DC and short circuit speaker protection.

Washburn UK. (Contact Details)

Peavey, in the XR 600E and the XR680E, offer a couple of well laid out units with a strong range of features. The graphic EQ has its own separate I/Os, allowing it to be patched elsewhere. The units feature dual 150 Watt amplification so you can assign 150 Watts to your on-stage monitors for example. There are two-track send and return I/Os, and the amps also feature Peavey's own DDT compression circuitry to minimise any audible distortion in the power amp when driven hard. If you're after on-board multi-effects and/or stereo amplification, Peavey can also accommodate you, see the various other models in their range.

Peavey. (Contact Details)

With their SR Series Fender offers a number of sturdy, eminently roadworthy amp heads. These feature Fender's Deltacomp active compressor circuitry, repatchable graphic EQ, and a serious cooling system, plus reinforced carry handles that seem to all but shout 'abuse me, I can take it'. Or am I reading too much into a box of electronics, metal, and plastic?

Arbiter. (Contact Details)

More Torque, more action. The T730PA offers a dedicated tape/CD channel with three-band EQ, and a good amount of flexibility, courtesy of its well-specified patchfield. It also features automatically switched twin cooling fans, and further assurance is provided via DC offset and thermal protection. Torque also offer more basic four, five, and six-channel PA mixer/amplifiers in their range, giving 100, 150, and 200 Watts of power respectively.

Barnes and Mullins Ltd. (Contact Details)

Marshall are, of course, best known for their guitar amplifiers, so it might come as a mild surprise to some that Marshall produce an amp head, primarily aimed at the amplification of the human voice, and not the stringed instrument of some lank-haired, scrunched-up eyeball, tongue hanging out guitarist (just joking guys). The PA 400 shows attention to detail, with "musical" limiting, dedicated tape send/return channel, and sports a typically roadworthy Marshall chassis. Not just for the Marshall fanatics.

Marshall Ltd. (Contact Details)

Brand spanking new are these first two units from the Carlsbro GR Series. Notable inclusions are the additional dedicated tape/CD channel and a 2 Ohm capacity for the GR3000, boosting its power rating to 450 Watts. This is all encased in a rugged chassis that is more than adequately fan-cooled.

Carlsbro Electronics Ltd. (Contact Details)