Which keyboard amps have you owned? Of those which have you loved and/or hated and why?

Since giving up Leslies I've owned a Peavey KBa300, A Toa, Roland KC500, a separate Peavey PA top with a Peavey 15" and then an 18" Bullfrog bass bin. Now I mostly run my keys straight thru the mains (Mackie 808s) or use a small Peavey Kba50.

I traded the Peavey for the Toa because I was then using Toa 380E 3-way PA speakers and wanted it to blend in. Bad move. I probably traded away my favorite amp for my worst. The Toa did not have the power or clarity to handle full keyboard and bass.

Cassp,

It sounds as if you ended up with all the stuff I got rid of as well. Liked the concept of the KB-300, but tipping the scales at nearly 100 pounds it was a hernia maker. Decided to go with the separate Peavey speakers and PA/Mixer, a pair of SP-5G's and a SFX-600 amp head--just as bad, took longer to hook-up, more trips to the van--bummer. Had several other systems as well, most were heavy, or just couldn't provide crisp, clean sounds, especially with the vocals.

Switched to a pair of Barbetta Sona 32-C's, much lighter, each is 450-watts biamped, 15-inch sub, 10-inch horn, built-in mixer. Much lighter (36.5-pounds), quick setup, plus having two provides a good back up if one happens to fail.

Since I rarely play for audiences of more than 125 anymore, the Barbettas spend most of their time in the music storage room and the Logitech Z-5500 system gets lots of use--love it. Lightweight, very compact, portable, inexpensive, and excellent sounds.

If I were 10 years younger, I would probably buy a pair of Bose PAS systems--they sound wonderful, relatively light, and from my perspective, outperforms everything available for OMB entertainers, especially those working the niteclub circuit.

Now, I'm thinking seriously about cutting back, might even buy a sailboat in the next couple weeks, and spend some time enjoying life more instead of working 7 days a week, 360 days a year (I get five days off). If the sail boat works out, I just might put up the main and spinaker and point the prow south to see what's over the horizon.

Cheers,

Gary

I did the same as Gary. I had two KB300's,but the weight and bulk was killing me. I now have one KB300,which I never use,and take my Z5500's everywhere. This is a much better sound with a fraction of the weight.
Bernie

Gary, if I was 10 years older..I would buy the Bose..

As for Keyboards amps..for those that I can remember with an off the cuff rating 0-100..
First the ones that I kept..
Roland Keyboard 100[still use them]...95[A]
Roland Keyboard 60[yep still have it]..88[B+]
Roland KB 100 [new style]............85[B]
Yorkville KB300 [Great stereo amp]...95
Gallien Kruger 200................75 [C]
Toa 1, 2 and 3....the 15"..80, the others..76

Now the ones I didn't keep very long..
Peavy KB 30 , 100, 300 ALL......75
Prime......68[C]

GARY,
I like your voice where its at now...
but how low was it before the hernia




FRAN
I'm not familiar with Yorkville KB300...
How big is it?
Would it make my PSR3000 sing nice?

Ed

For about 1/3 of my jobs, I use a Carvin full range unit with a acoustic/electric guitar in, a line in (keyboards) and an LXR.
It has a 12, on board dual effects and weighs about 35 lbs. I have two matching 12" cabinets. Carvin also has a unit with the same speaker and amp for $399.00 ($45.00 less) sold as a keyboard amp (three 1/4" inputs and an LXR, I think, and several larger keyboard amps.

The unit I have is great for jobs up to 150 people...convinient, since it is all one piece. Check out the Carvin site!

Russ

Russ,
Thats a size I would not mind carrying around... but I thought there were no effects on the Carvin, like reverb or chorus?

I'll have to take a closer look at them.

Ed

The model I have has two separate effects generators. It's not called a keyboard amp, but a full range system (instruments-bass keyboard-PA). Don't know the model, but it's covered in Green Vinyl...the only green one in the line.


Russ

GARY,
I like your voice where its at now...
but how low was it before the hernia?

It went up a little since the surgery. When I was a lot younger and performed with a 50's rock band, I would do all the low parts such as the words "Mother In Law" in a song by the same name, many of the Statler Brother's low vocal segments, and Elvira's oom pappa oom pappa oom pappa moow moow is still a piece of cake.

Cheers,

Gary