*Like these old school amp videos? Support me for more like this* Buy me a Coffee / Tea / lunch: paypal.me/BigDWiz www.patreon.com/OldSchoolStereo Shop for Down4Sound Amps: is.gd/D4Samps Shop on Amazon: amzn.to/3wNX6Fn Shop for Savard Hi-Q Subwoofers: amzn.to/2Nh1qcf *VIDEO INDEX* 0:00 Intro 1:34 Features and Specs 2:51 Amp Dyno Tests 6:43 Thermals and Internals 9:18 Old School Subwoofer Demo 9:54 Pros and Cons 11:12 Extra Bumpin' *VIDEO AND AUDIO GEAR* Camera - iPhone 13pro 1TB - amzn.to/3nCjGvc RODE Wireless Go II Microphones: amzn.to/3Q6NVHl Shure MV7 Microphone: amzn.to/3A4OICK Zoom H4n Audio Recorder: amzn.to/3BXjVsS 960 LED Panel: amzn.to/2Sxoq3S *TEST BENCH EQUIPMENT* SMD / D'Amore Engineering Amp Dyno: Currently Unavailable XS Power D1400 Batteries - amzn.to/2BPFCKW XS Power PSC60 Charger - amzn.to/2CHGcfs Fluke 1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter: amzn.to/2Rw5WDA Handheld Amp Dyno AMM-1: lddy.no/106tm My Favorite Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/2x0VzcE _DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases_
MTX. Is a very underrated car audio company. They’ve always made great equipment. I’ve had a lot of it over the years. I still have my first gen Blue Thunder 12’s. They were the 💩 back in the day. This amp was no different. As soon as I saw the thumb nail I knew it would surpass its ratings big time. Great vid Big D! Circuit City FTW!!!!!
That said, I agree MTX is the bomb diggity!! As far as amplifier design goes, they bucked most of the major trends. Nothing the end user would notice bit thosenof us repairing them are usually like "omg wow is that right?!" the first time diving in.
I remember the high school days hanging out at Circuit City and listening to entire albums before buying them lol. Hey does anyone remember they had free sub/amp/radio installation whenever you spent over 75 bucks? Ahhh the good days
I remember buying an Alpine CDA-9805 head unit at Circuit City back in 2003. I forget now exactly when they closed that store, but it wasn’t long after.
That was obviously after I was gone from there. Just about anything was $75, so I don't see how they made any money doing that. IIRC, a radio, amp, and four speakers was $149.95 and there is not enough margin there to justify it, especially on some products - there were some CD players (Pioneer was really bad like that when on sale) we sold below cost. Only real benefit would have been not taking as many returns and maybe the additional opportunity to upsell and sell accessories, like harnesses and cables. But, if the sales counselor was doing his or her job, that should have already been done. I guess that's why they are no more.
I bought a LANZAR Optidrive 300 with the analog needles. It came with a (cheese whiz) 12” pioneer 400watt. I installed it in my wife’s Dodge Neon in a 1.5 cubic ft sealed box. I also bought a Pioneer head unit, and got a set of free 6.5” door speakers. Pretty sure the speakers ended up in a ice truck I leased one summer😂
I worked at a Circuit City from 97 to 98, and the Blue Thunders each came with Dyno results. Never saw one that didn't exceed rated power by at least 10%.
I love the old school reviews--I understand it's a limited viewing market though so I feel extra spoiled when we get episodes like this! Thanks and Thumbs Up!
I'm still running a Thunder 2300 amp in my wife's car, and my home theater subwoofers are two 12" Road Thunder Pros (kevlar cone, red rubber surround) powered by a Crown DC-300A Series 2 in custom birch-plywood ported boxes.
@@administratorperson3272 Oof! those 2300's are the best. I'd take one off your hands if you're willing to part with one. I can never find them for sale.
The amps were not horrible. The subs were so sensitive back in the day it all worked out fine. They were just wicked expensive. A good deal was $1/watt.
Man its like the older guys are in a pissing match in who had it worst every generation has there own struggles its not a game of who had the worst stuff
Old school over this new stuff all day !!! American made greatness !! Love these videos !! I have a mint thunder 2300 never used , was a display . Sexy !! Compared to this class d stuff
If you had 50 clean watts back in the day, you was banging!! Amazing how many more watts we get these days for the money. Now if they could just keep the quality up.
Yep. I had a Sherwood "60x4" amp I would have described then as "blowing me out of the car". Then I got a Punch 40 for the front, put the Sherwood on Cerwin Vega sub duty and I was the envy of my neighborhood buddies. A 400 watt system at most.
Right! Heck IASCA classes in the 90's I think topped out at the 1000+ watts class for the entire system. Now "kids these days" complain if they "only" have 1000 watts per sub.
Circuit City was the best job I ever had and I got to work on my car in the install Bay and no one cared and I got all my subwoofers warrantied whenever I wanted for whatever reason the good old days
I had this amp & ended up upgrading to the 300x2. both were great at the time. was running the 3- 10" blue thunder sealed box. did well, esp with the 300x2. I think was getting 700w or so rms
Yup! Them little Blue Thunders were the shit back in the day. Very efficient for the $. I still have one in a old school bandpass box. They hum in a Hatchback! 🤙🏽💪🏽
I ran this with 2 JL 10W6D4s at 2x2 ohms and they were monsters. I swear you could turn off the engine and get propelled down the street by the subs alone.
I too worked at circuit city. Started with them the summer of 96. Number 87838. I had this amp running a pair of jbl 10s in a hotbox. Ran great. Later upped it to the pro3002. Miss these amps.
Yea the thunder 2300 was probably the ultimate sleeper amp of the 90's. That thing was bonkers. Have you seen Big D's dyno video on it? It's pretty crazy what it put out.
I was a sales and installation manager with CC for 16 years. Sold many of these. At our annual managers meetings MTX always gave us the most awesome merch to take home with us... All you old school CC guys get in touch..
You know you actually should want a 60% plus of viewers who are not subscribed. The reason is simple, it means YT is promoting your video to people who are not subscribed. That's how your audience grows.
The one thing about buying a quality amplifier all through the 90’s… Is that they ALL were underrated on the specifications. MTX, Rockford Fosgate, PPI, JL Audio. It was almost like a gentleman’s game of sandbagging the power output.
My first taste of MTX was a little Termintor amp pushing two Terminator 12s in a sealed enclosure, mounted in the cab of a '96 Ranger. Instantly fell in love. I have a similar setup now. Couldn't be happier 🙂🙂🙂
I remember the marketing hype that split bottom covers were to cut electrical noise. I never ran MTX amps but I was a huge fan of the Blue Thunder subs. I competed in USAC and always got excellent scores on SQ especially in the low end. Keep up the great work Big D!
not gonna lie, i cried a little when you cut the sticker..... I'm running 2 MTX Jackhammer 12's that I bought when Circuit City had their going out of business sale back in Jan 2009. The manager upgraded me to the upper end 1600 watt prefab enclosure/subs and a Terminator TN250 amp (tested by a buddy of mine at his shop at 568 watts) and i paid around $369 when all was said and done. I gave the amp to my nephew but the subs are still hitting hard in 2023. MTX was badass back in the day...Can't attest to their quality now, but I'd say they still have decent stuff (if I had to guess).
I used to have that amp, a couple years newer and in silver. I remember it being a brute of an amp, driving anything I threw at it. I also remember it being very hot.
Saw this video pop up in the notification, so i poured me a nice cup of coffee and grabbed a snack to get ready to see another interesting,nice and well made amp-dyno video👍 Greetings from a huge fan from Norway
Hey! Us old guys like to see the amps from our time on the Dyno. But that said, I knew it would so better than rated. Almost all of the old school MTX amps which I’ve used/owned always made my systems play louder than others.
Here from the UK. I remember seeing the MTX show van in the late 90s. I had never heard anything like it. Unbelievable bass and sound quality. This video triggered some good memories!
I had a sponsorship with circuit city. I built their custom boxes. I used to go to show. Ended up with 8 MTX btl 12s in a escort with JBL mids and highs. As a bass junkie the sponsorship helped feed the addiction lmao...
My first foray into real quality car audio was back in 83. Just purchased my Loaded 1983 Toyota SR5 4x4 long bed pickup. There was a new stereo shop in town (San Diego) called Dow Sound Stereo. I saved up a bundle that summer and purchased a Concord PL-515 (very best unit of the day) made in the U.S. Dolby B&C noise reduction Cassette deck with a great tuner and RCA outputs. I also purchased a Linear Power 100x100 watt amplifier which was basically an 8”x12”x2.5" (10x12x2.5 to the fins) inch 15 pound brushed aluminum amp with 2” heat sinks on either side. I purchased (Top of the line in the day) Phillips (Phillips Europe) 8inch woofers, paired with a 3” dome mid and the classic Phillips soft dome tweeters and home-made x-over’s from a design recommendation from the tech’s over at the local ADS speaker shop where we bought all the Phillips drivers). PC’s were not around yet and there was no internet to peruse for the latest design software, products or devices. All in all, after hooking that system up, was the talk of the town. OMG, it flat out stomped on everything, loud, SQ, nothing like it in my neighborhood - anywhere, for a little while anyway. I was hooked on Hi-fi from that moment on!
I was an installer at Circuit City Roadshop!! Introduced me to the my lifelong obsession!! Not that their equipment was striking, but I know about Ford Keys!!!
MTX speakers really woke me up to car audio way back... had a setup in my little '84 Isuzu P'up with no bump. Went to my audio place which also did automotive stuff and my guy slid a pair of MTX co-ax at me... someone had exchanged 'em because no highs on one side. They fixed the tweeter wire and they'd been hanging around, try these he said. I tried, I liked... good stuff. Thanks as always, I love your detailed and insightful reviews. Regards,
I remember being jealous of my older cousin he was 1 year older than me and got a set of mtx blue thunder 12s and a Rockford punch 75 amp for his Christmas present when he was 16 ...drove a little single cab Mazda mini truck and man did it pound the ground ....I mean loud ....he knew how much I liked them and bought me a set of 8in blue thunder truck boxes and a punch 45 for my graduation present when I was 18 ...I drove a 71 c10 and had a gas tank behind the seat so the truck boxes fit perfectly under each side of the bench seat....I really appreciated him doing that ....wish I had kept them ...but let them go with the truck....which I never should have sold either
Still have one of these Blue Thunder amps, used to be one of my favorite. I used this amp with a MTX Tri Thunder triple 10” sub box. It was sweet for back in the day, and I regretted swapping it out for a pair of 12” Hyphonics Zeus subs. Always been a huge triple 10” fan ever since.
The Boss is back !! I sold Blue Thunder speakers back in 1988-1992 We had some of there amplifiers The Red Terminator Amplifiers and the Red Terminator 2 ohm woofers The Blue Thunder was MTX attempt to go after the high end market The Blue Thunder Woofers had a rubber surround . The Blue Thunder had tighter bass .They didn’t have the boom the Terminators had Road Thunder was MTX entry level line.They weren’t bad .They were cost effective
Man, the nostalgia. My friend had the same sub, and some version of those amps. He let me borrow it in my 65 Mustang Coupe. That was my first taste of a subwoofer. Man time flies.
Nice work! Old school amplifier testing is a niche viewership IMHO. I like seeing these types of videos. I bet that amp sounds buttery vs Class D or digital amps. Heat is fine on these as long as it gets dissipated properly (and is mounted where it gets some airflow).
I still have my 1502 and the QA certificate that came with it. I remember it also came with a cloth to keep the gold badging nice and shiny. haha. Very good, VERY sturdy amp.
Had too watch this because I just picked up a blue thunder pro504 and only paid $60 for it and actually it's pretty nice condition. Everytime I pick up an old 90s or early 2000s amp I always go through your channel to see if you've covered it at some point and 95% of the time you don't let me down. 😊
The good ol' days!! They might have been able to cook on but boy did they bang! I miss mine, I had 2 running 2 12" directed subs and omg did they get down an dirty!
I worked as a Roadshop manager at Circuit City from 1990-2000. Still have the same blue thunder amp and a blue thunder subwoofer. They still work and sound great 20 yrs later.
I own the MTX 3002 Pro Blue Thunder amp. Bought from Circuit City in 1998. Mint condition never opened or serviced. Pounds hard. Also rocking the Pro Blue 504 for door panels
That's a nice amp. Totally representative of what we had back then. I need a refresher on bock rise to explain why we didn't need all the power back then.
I had this amp running 2 12 in blue thunder subs and it pounded!! Later on I sold the 12’s and upgraded to 2 15 inch JL Audio W1’s and holy cow!! It ran those 15’s without even flinching. In ‘99, I took second place with that set up at 142.7 db on a head unit with NO sub output, hooked into the rear output!!! 😮
I genuinely appreciate the classic car audio tests. Especially the stuff in couldn't afford and the stuff I owned. What I want to see though, is motorcycle and ATV stuff. Micro amps, that kind of stuff. I also appreciate when you suggest equipment.
WOW, Circuit City..😀 I bought a JVC head unit and a JVC 12 disk CD changer from Circuit City. Worked great, load up the CD’s and play them through the head unit.🤗😎👍❤️ I bought my first computer laptop at Circuit City in 1997. 32 megs of Ram 4 gig drive. Still have that laptop. Last time I fired it up about 10 years ago plugged in, still worked. Battery has been long dead.
Haha I did the same thing. The changer was silver with some pinstriping on it. I think I still have it somewhere. JVC made some good head units for a while.
*Like these old school amp videos? Support me for more like this*
Buy me a Coffee / Tea / lunch: paypal.me/BigDWiz
www.patreon.com/OldSchoolStereo
Shop for Down4Sound Amps: is.gd/D4Samps
Shop on Amazon: amzn.to/3wNX6Fn
Shop for Savard Hi-Q Subwoofers: amzn.to/2Nh1qcf
*VIDEO INDEX*
0:00 Intro
1:34 Features and Specs
2:51 Amp Dyno Tests
6:43 Thermals and Internals
9:18 Old School Subwoofer Demo
9:54 Pros and Cons
11:12 Extra Bumpin'
*VIDEO AND AUDIO GEAR*
Camera - iPhone 13pro 1TB - amzn.to/3nCjGvc
RODE Wireless Go II Microphones: amzn.to/3Q6NVHl
Shure MV7 Microphone: amzn.to/3A4OICK
Zoom H4n Audio Recorder: amzn.to/3BXjVsS
960 LED Panel: amzn.to/2Sxoq3S
*TEST BENCH EQUIPMENT*
SMD / D'Amore Engineering Amp Dyno: Currently Unavailable
XS Power D1400 Batteries - amzn.to/2BPFCKW
XS Power PSC60 Charger - amzn.to/2CHGcfs
Fluke 1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter: amzn.to/2Rw5WDA
Handheld Amp Dyno AMM-1: lddy.no/106tm
My Favorite Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/2x0VzcE
_DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases_
we want old school amps!! no more advertising amps!! lolol
@@sergiobisonte you gonna pay his bills? Lmao!
Love me some old school MTX. Brings me right back to high school.
I never see Hertz amps on your channel. Why is that?
@@marscounty cause it Hertz to take all of that money out of your pocket just to test one 🤣
@@AshyLarryTM what bills? he did a question and i gave my opinion... isn't this the ooooooooold school stereo channel? or am I wrong?
MTX. Is a very underrated car audio company. They’ve always made great equipment. I’ve had a lot of it over the years. I still have my first gen Blue Thunder 12’s. They were the 💩 back in the day. This amp was no different. As soon as I saw the thumb nail I knew it would surpass its ratings big time. Great vid Big D! Circuit City FTW!!!!!
I show a 10” MTX Blue Thunder at the very end!
I'm running MTX dual 12's this very moment in sealed box. *chefs kiss*
@@wal seen it my brother. I remember talking to you about my Blue Thunders a few years back and you told me you had one. Great sub for the time 👊🏽
@ashy Larry, as a former employee of CIrcuit shitty, no they didn't. They sucked major ass after they got rid of sales comissions.
That said, I agree MTX is the bomb diggity!! As far as amplifier design goes, they bucked most of the major trends. Nothing the end user would notice bit thosenof us repairing them are usually like "omg wow is that right?!" the first time diving in.
I remember the high school days hanging out at Circuit City and listening to entire albums before buying them lol. Hey does anyone remember they had free sub/amp/radio installation whenever you spent over 75 bucks? Ahhh the good days
I remember buying an Alpine CDA-9805 head unit at Circuit City back in 2003. I forget now exactly when they closed that store, but it wasn’t long after.
That was obviously after I was gone from there. Just about anything was $75, so I don't see how they made any money doing that. IIRC, a radio, amp, and four speakers was $149.95 and there is not enough margin there to justify it, especially on some products - there were some CD players (Pioneer was really bad like that when on sale) we sold below cost. Only real benefit would have been not taking as many returns and maybe the additional opportunity to upsell and sell accessories, like harnesses and cables. But, if the sales counselor was doing his or her job, that should have already been done. I guess that's why they are no more.
I bought a LANZAR Optidrive 300 with the analog needles. It came with a (cheese whiz) 12” pioneer 400watt. I installed it in my wife’s Dodge Neon in a 1.5 cubic ft sealed box.
I also bought a Pioneer head unit, and got a set of free 6.5” door speakers. Pretty sure the speakers ended up in a ice truck I leased one summer😂
I worked at a Circuit City from 97 to 98, and the Blue Thunders each came with Dyno results. Never saw one that didn't exceed rated power by at least 10%.
Heck yeah me and my buddies would spend hours there. I bought my system there. I had that MTX box and MTX subs.
I love the old school reviews--I understand it's a limited viewing market though so I feel extra spoiled when we get episodes like this! Thanks and Thumbs Up!
These young cats dont know old school cool!!!😂😂😂
Me too. I feel such nostalgia!
@@jasonhastings5538They'll die without knowing how it felt to listen to a quality sound system from those days! 😅
Late 90s will always be my favorite years of car audio. Ppi, rockford, jl, and kicker were just a high school kids dream.
I'm still running a Thunder 2300 amp in my wife's car, and my home theater subwoofers are two 12" Road Thunder Pros (kevlar cone, red rubber surround) powered by a Crown DC-300A Series 2 in custom birch-plywood ported boxes.
i have 2 2300's and a 3002
@@administratorperson3272 Oof! those 2300's are the best. I'd take one off your hands if you're willing to part with one. I can never find them for sale.
@@jodyzung6455 im using them. trying to find another 4320
We need to know what we were dealing with in the 90s! Show the kids how good they have it these days!
The amps were not horrible. The subs were so sensitive back in the day it all worked out fine. They were just wicked expensive. A good deal was $1/watt.
I remember in the late 80's having 250w was amazing.
Yeah when we find out our 400 watts amps are more like 45 watts 😆
Man its like the older guys are in a pissing match in who had it worst every generation has there own struggles its not a game of who had the worst stuff
Old school over this new stuff all day !!! American made greatness !! Love these videos !! I have a mint thunder 2300 never used , was a display . Sexy !! Compared to this class d stuff
If you had 50 clean watts back in the day, you was banging!! Amazing how many more watts we get these days for the money. Now if they could just keep the quality up.
Yep. I had a Sherwood "60x4" amp I would have described then as "blowing me out of the car". Then I got a Punch 40 for the front, put the Sherwood on Cerwin Vega sub duty and I was the envy of my neighborhood buddies. A 400 watt system at most.
Right! Heck IASCA classes in the 90's I think topped out at the 1000+ watts class for the entire system. Now "kids these days" complain if they "only" have 1000 watts per sub.
I had this amp! I was a car stereo manager at Circuit City! Loved this series of amps!
Circuit City was the best job I ever had and I got to work on my car in the install Bay and no one cared and I got all my subwoofers warrantied whenever I wanted for whatever reason the good old days
they were great amps
I had this amp & ended up upgrading to the 300x2. both were great at the time. was running the 3- 10" blue thunder sealed box. did well, esp with the 300x2. I think was getting 700w or so rms
Yo brian.. have you ever dated a girl named brooke by chance?
Circuit City Roadshop, how may I direct your call? Lol I worked there too in Houston
I had that amp in 1997 when I worked at Circuit City. I had it running (4) MTX Blue Thunder 10s wired to 4 Ohms total. It SLAMMED!
Yup! Them little Blue Thunders were the shit back in the day. Very efficient for the $. I still have one in a old school bandpass box. They hum in a Hatchback! 🤙🏽💪🏽
I ran this with 2 JL 10W6D4s at 2x2 ohms and they were monsters. I swear you could turn off the engine and get propelled down the street by the subs alone.
Do you remember the hot box
I too worked at circuit city. Started with them the summer of 96. Number 87838. I had this amp running a pair of jbl 10s in a hotbox. Ran great. Later upped it to the pro3002. Miss these amps.
I sold and installed tons of mtx amps and others at circuit city.
Ran a thunder 2300 and a 280 on highs back around 96. That 2300 would put the beat on my 3 jl12w6s. The good ole days
Yea the thunder 2300 was probably the ultimate sleeper amp of the 90's. That thing was bonkers. Have you seen Big D's dyno video on it? It's pretty crazy what it put out.
MTX was my brand in the 90s. All I ever ran. Subs and amp. Wish they were still in the game today. Thanks big d. Enjoy all the videos.
I was a sales and installation manager with CC for 16 years. Sold many of these. At our annual managers meetings MTX always gave us the most awesome merch to take home with us... All you old school CC guys get in touch..
I LOVE mtx. I had 2 15" thunder 5000 in a sealed box back in the day. The price for those amps are unreal 😳
The fact that you test all the amps the same way just adds to your credibilty.
You know you actually should want a 60% plus of viewers who are not subscribed. The reason is simple, it means YT is promoting your video to people who are not subscribed. That's how your audience grows.
I’m grateful for these oldies.
Nice work! I have this whole line up of Blue Thunder amps even the rare 754. Great amps. Keep the great videos coming.
Awesome! Old school ftw.
👊🏽
I had one of these when I worked at Circuit City back in the day. Hahaha
They powered my 6.5" Infinity Kappa perfect components.
I'm here for the old school stuff!
Great review thankyou. After 25 years that amp still rockin. I think more care and time was put into equipment back in the day .
Your channel is a true GEM. Makes me more excited to install my 752 and 504s this season. Thanks Big D!
The one thing about buying a quality amplifier all through the 90’s… Is that they ALL were underrated on the specifications.
MTX, Rockford Fosgate, PPI, JL Audio. It was almost like a gentleman’s game of sandbagging the power output.
My first taste of MTX was a little Termintor amp pushing two Terminator 12s in a sealed enclosure, mounted in the cab of a '96 Ranger. Instantly fell in love. I have a similar setup now. Couldn't be happier 🙂🙂🙂
Thank you for this video. Please keep the old-school amp tests coming.
I remember the marketing hype that split bottom covers were to cut electrical noise. I never ran MTX amps but I was a huge fan of the Blue Thunder subs. I competed in USAC and always got excellent scores on SQ especially in the low end. Keep up the great work Big D!
not gonna lie, i cried a little when you cut the sticker.....
I'm running 2 MTX Jackhammer 12's that I bought when Circuit City had their going out of business sale back in Jan 2009. The manager upgraded me to the upper end 1600 watt prefab enclosure/subs and a Terminator TN250 amp (tested by a buddy of mine at his shop at 568 watts) and i paid around $369 when all was said and done. I gave the amp to my nephew but the subs are still hitting hard in 2023. MTX was badass back in the day...Can't attest to their quality now, but I'd say they still have decent stuff (if I had to guess).
I used to have that amp, a couple years newer and in silver. I remember it being a brute of an amp, driving anything I threw at it. I also remember it being very hot.
Saw this video pop up in
the notification, so i poured me a nice cup of coffee and grabbed a snack to get ready to see another interesting,nice and well made amp-dyno video👍
Greetings from a huge fan from Norway
Thanks for bringing the old school. Remember testing these out at good guys back then.
My GUY... The Old School stuff is the REASON i watch ur channel!!!
Hey! Us old guys like to see the amps from our time on the Dyno.
But that said, I knew it would so better than rated. Almost all of the old school MTX amps which I’ve used/owned always made my systems play louder than others.
I installed a lot of these amps when I worked as a Roadshop installer from '96-'01. Great amps
Here from the UK. I remember seeing the MTX show van in the late 90s. I had never heard anything like it. Unbelievable bass and sound quality. This video triggered some good memories!
Can't say I've had bad experiences with MTX amps - I had an MTX MXA6001 mono block back in the mid 00's and that thing was super solid and reliable.
I had a sponsorship with circuit city. I built their custom boxes. I used to go to show. Ended up with 8 MTX btl 12s in a escort with JBL mids and highs. As a bass junkie the sponsorship helped feed the addiction lmao...
The old school mtx amps was always some my favorite they just sounded so good
We love the old school reviews and testing!! keep up the cool videos man!
Make sure to subscribe to my other channel Old School Stereo. I have dozens of old school amp tests there!
I used to be a CC Roadshop Manager for several years. I also did most of the custom installs. I have so many install pictures using these MTX amps.
My first foray into real quality car audio was back in 83. Just purchased my Loaded 1983 Toyota SR5 4x4 long bed pickup. There was a new stereo shop in town (San Diego) called Dow Sound Stereo. I saved up a bundle that summer and purchased a Concord PL-515 (very best unit of the day) made in the U.S. Dolby B&C noise reduction Cassette deck with a great tuner and RCA outputs. I also purchased a Linear Power 100x100 watt amplifier which was basically an 8”x12”x2.5" (10x12x2.5 to the fins) inch 15 pound brushed aluminum amp with 2” heat sinks on either side. I purchased (Top of the line in the day) Phillips (Phillips Europe) 8inch woofers, paired with a 3” dome mid and the classic Phillips soft dome tweeters and home-made x-over’s from a design recommendation from the tech’s over at the local ADS speaker shop where we bought all the Phillips drivers). PC’s were not around yet and there was no internet to peruse for the latest design software, products or devices. All in all, after hooking that system up, was the talk of the town. OMG, it flat out stomped on everything, loud, SQ, nothing like it in my neighborhood - anywhere, for a little while anyway. I was hooked on Hi-fi from that moment on!
I was an installer at Circuit City Roadshop!! Introduced me to the my lifelong obsession!! Not that their equipment was striking, but I know about Ford Keys!!!
MTX speakers really woke me up to car audio way back... had a setup in my little '84 Isuzu P'up with no bump. Went to my audio place which also did automotive stuff and my guy slid a pair of MTX co-ax at me... someone had exchanged 'em because no highs on one side. They fixed the tweeter wire and they'd been hanging around, try these he said.
I tried, I liked... good stuff. Thanks as always, I love your detailed and insightful reviews.
Regards,
I like seeing old school amps from back in the 90's. I'm also subscribed! Lol
This brought back some memories. 1502 was my first AMP in 1996 or 97. I upgraded to the 3002 soon after.
I remember being jealous of my older cousin he was 1 year older than me and got a set of mtx blue thunder 12s and a Rockford punch 75 amp for his Christmas present when he was 16 ...drove a little single cab Mazda mini truck and man did it pound the ground ....I mean loud ....he knew how much I liked them and bought me a set of 8in blue thunder truck boxes and a punch 45 for my graduation present when I was 18 ...I drove a 71 c10 and had a gas tank behind the seat so the truck boxes fit perfectly under each side of the bench seat....I really appreciated him doing that ....wish I had kept them ...but let them go with the truck....which I never should have sold either
Had this amp back in the day, loved it ! Wish I still had it.
Still have one of these Blue Thunder amps, used to be one of my favorite. I used this amp with a MTX Tri Thunder triple 10” sub box. It was sweet for back in the day, and I regretted swapping it out for a pair of 12” Hyphonics Zeus subs. Always been a huge triple 10” fan ever since.
I had that same amp in high school pushing (2) 10" old school Fosgate subs. I loved that amp. Definitely the old school amps were underrated.
I had one of these amps. Little thing would get so hot. Lol but then again. This was late 90’s early 2000’s. And 3/4 turned gain was LIFE!
Still have my Pro 1502 and the 3 10's I purchased at Circuit City. The car it was in is long gone but the Amp and speakers are still with me today :-)
The Boss is back !! I sold Blue Thunder speakers back in 1988-1992
We had some of there amplifiers
The Red Terminator Amplifiers and the Red Terminator 2 ohm woofers
The Blue Thunder was MTX attempt to go after the high end market
The Blue Thunder Woofers had a rubber surround .
The Blue Thunder had tighter bass .They didn’t have the boom the Terminators had
Road Thunder was MTX entry level line.They weren’t bad .They were cost effective
Man, the nostalgia. My friend had the same sub, and some version of those amps. He let me borrow it in my 65 Mustang Coupe. That was my first taste of a subwoofer. Man time flies.
Back in high school I had one of these running two JL Audio 10w0 8 ohm subs bridged and it absolutely hammered.
...love the old school amps
Nice work! Old school amplifier testing is a niche viewership IMHO. I like seeing these types of videos. I bet that amp sounds buttery vs Class D or digital amps. Heat is fine on these as long as it gets dissipated properly (and is mounted where it gets some airflow).
I still have my 1502 and the QA certificate that came with it. I remember it also came with a cloth to keep the gold badging nice and shiny. haha. Very good, VERY sturdy amp.
I was that high school kid working at a Circuit City warehouse in 1997. Took forever to save up and buy my first MTX amp and subs
I had that same amp. Back in the day. Loved it. Sucker really hits
These videos are what built this channel. Never forget where you're from.
I smoked One of those back in 99. Didn't know what I was doing back then. 😢
Had too watch this because I just picked up a blue thunder pro504 and only paid $60 for it and actually it's pretty nice condition. Everytime I pick up an old 90s or early 2000s amp I always go through your channel to see if you've covered it at some point and 95% of the time you don't let me down. 😊
Man, have a lot of memories with this amp.. had 2 of them powering 2 Orion 2 intense dvc 12s in a 88 Nissan pathfinder.. man them were the days
Holy smokes! MTX is where it all started for me in the mid 90's!
Sold, Installed and owned a few of this model and the four channel.. they were outstanding and powerful.
Awesome. Just picked one up for $25 in the box!! Loving it. Running it to 2 old school solo baric 8s
Just an FYI for the future: The labels on the back will typically peel off cleanly. Just peel half of the decal and slide the two halves apart.
Subscribed for years. Cheers
I'm subscribed.. have been for a while .. love what ya do
Greatly appreciated!!
I had a set of mtx blue thunder 10" subs. They were some of the best subs you could buy back in the 90s. Doesn't surprise me the Amp preformed well.
I still have a set of MTX Blue Thunders. The ones with the inverted cones, black and blue
I had this amp! Powering a 10in Fosgate hx2 dvc in a bandpass. I'd have to buy a box of fuses every other week I'd pop one st least once a week.
The good ol' days!! They might have been able to cook on but boy did they bang! I miss mine, I had 2 running 2 12" directed subs and omg did they get down an dirty!
I love the MTX logo on the subs with the aluminum cones. What a good looking subwoofer.
I still have one in my basement. Thunder 7500 12" in an mtx ported box. still in good shape.
@@bigassfordsd Lucky
Circuit city was mynfavorite store back in the day. I had the mix 4500 12s in the thunder box. Still some of my all time favorite subs
i love seeing these old amp videos. brings you back to the old days!
I remember this amp. Not bad for the day.
I should have kept all of my Car Audio & Electronics magazines
I worked as a Roadshop manager at Circuit City from 1990-2000. Still have the same blue thunder amp and a blue thunder subwoofer. They still work and sound great 20 yrs later.
I always loved MTX from the 90s. Probabaly because it was my first setuo
What you talmbout Willis!? You know that this MTX amp will outperform any modern day amp of it's rated output!
I'm subscribed and love the old school amps!!! I've owned so many of those amps it's not even funny
I had a blue thunder amp back then. It was a open box special and it was awesome
Old MTX amps all had a 110db signal to noise ratio, extremely clean amps.
Awesome old school amp! I like all the videos, new and old amps. Keep em coming man !
Oh i remember shopping in these days. Was so much cool stuff I wanted back then.
Damn Blue Thunder, OG OG.
I started as an installer in march of 2000 with circuit city. It was a great time and these amp were awesome
Yes more old school please
...great video , my Friend
The old MTX amps are killer. I always bought these at pawn shops, and they always did well for years of hot florida trunk abuse.
I own the MTX 3002 Pro Blue Thunder amp. Bought from Circuit City in 1998. Mint condition never opened or serviced. Pounds hard. Also rocking the Pro Blue 504 for door panels
Any MTX amp I used over the years, served me quite well. I don't have any experience with their newer amps.
That's a nice amp. Totally representative of what we had back then.
I need a refresher on bock rise to explain why we didn't need all the power back then.
MTX is what I used back when I was just starting to drive 20 years ago 😀. I remember starting with x2 10" 7500 then got a 12" 9500!
I’ve been a subscriber for 2 months and wish I had came across your channel long ago!
SUBSCRIBE DAMMIT!!
I appreciate it!
I had this amp running 2 12 in blue thunder subs and it pounded!! Later on I sold the 12’s and upgraded to 2 15 inch JL Audio W1’s and holy cow!! It ran those 15’s without even flinching. In ‘99, I took second place with that set up at 142.7 db on a head unit with NO sub output, hooked into the rear output!!! 😮
i can smell that bandpass box from here mmmmmmmm the 90's remember saying the 70'S smell well .......lol cheers!
HAD THAT AMP IN HIGH SCHOOL. GOOD OLE DAYS. CLEAN POWER WITH OTHERS
I genuinely appreciate the classic car audio tests. Especially the stuff in couldn't afford and the stuff I owned. What I want to see though, is motorcycle and ATV stuff. Micro amps, that kind of stuff. I also appreciate when you suggest equipment.
WOW, Circuit City..😀
I bought a JVC head unit and a JVC 12 disk CD changer from Circuit City. Worked great, load up the CD’s and play them through the head unit.🤗😎👍❤️
I bought my first computer laptop at Circuit City in 1997.
32 megs of Ram 4 gig drive.
Still have that laptop. Last time I fired it up about 10 years ago plugged in, still worked. Battery has been long dead.
Haha I did the same thing. The changer was silver with some pinstriping on it. I think I still have it somewhere. JVC made some good head units for a while.
@@CarsandCatsI had that xs changer and get never get it to skip. Loved it. Connected it with a tape deck to deter thieves looking for CD players