[quote=Fran Carango]Bill here is your review posted at Music 123....

5.0
Powerful keyboard amp/PA
By Bill Lewis
from New Jersey
For years I've been using a PA type setup(mixer w/15" cabinets) for my keyboards. To simplify my setups I tried the KX220 and it was so much better I bought a second one for the stereo effect. It has a much punchier and tighter sound for the keys. I do a 0ne-man-band type of performance for parties and with a 12" extension speaker on a stand it handles the bass, drums, keys, vocals, and DJ-ed CD's fine. I also have a Blues/RB trio where I play a Hammond XK3 w/bass pedals and a Roland piano. I usually use 1 KX220 with a stereo line out to the PA to spread the sound a bit. For larger rooms two KX's with no feed to the PA.The KX220 is compact in size, powerful and very versatile. Big wheels make it easy to move.
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Fran
I stand by my review "for that time" Things change and improve, lucky for us. The PA I was using before the KX220's was also Crate with 12" / Piezo tweeter cabinets, Not nearly the quality of something like todays Yamaha DXRs. If I was in a band situation where there was a "pole pa" for the vocals I could be happy with the KX220 again. But working solo and wanting the easiest in/outs they wouldn't do it.

The reason is - they didn't KNOW any better. It was the best they could do with what they had at the time. Sure, there's a mass value to a cabinet design, but the ratio of how good it sounds to how HEAVY it is, is shrinking every day. 15's are in no way "needed" to produce the best lows, or the punchiest tone, in fact - many smaller cabinets (if designed, and ported right) have a tighter, more defined bass response that I, personally, prefer. (the SVt 8-10 cabinet was the BEST bass tone EVER!)
I know how you love your old Roland Cubes, but they are so much more directional than the line array speakers. Being on the floor adds bass, but looses highs as the sound tries to pass through the audience. If you still had all your high frequency hearing range intact, you'd realize that. (*** I can say that to him, without a smily face - we're friends a LONG time)
The optimum speaker arrangement, regardless of size, or power is to have bass on the floor, and mids/higs raised up over head. (unless you're playing arenas, which I sure don't - and they STILL use this method pretty often) This is why the line array portables are my choice. I get the bass on the floor, and the rest throws over the heads of my audience. The coverage is better, the reflections are reduced, and the boominess is eliminated. I know bass makes you move, but most acts I see, pump way too much bass for my taste. I think they use the bass as a crutch to compensate for technique. Just my opinion. There are plenty of great performers, with great technique that choose this method, as well. If the sound person isn't on the ball, or the act is mixing from stage - this is an easy problem to miss, because bass increases as you get farther from the source. (everyone knows that, right?)

So Fran - yes, your cubes sound terrific. They're loud, and full of deep, powerful tone, but make sure you put price tags on them for your kids, so they can sell them (cheap) when you die. (again - friends a long, long time) No one I know will use them after your Roland personal museum is silenced. I might be interested in the G-70 ... my son has a mustang, and it's awful on snowy roads. He can carry it in the trunk in the winter for traction.
( ... ok, THAT one deserves a smily face)

That's what I thought myself. They sound too thin for me for the full range of a keyboard. I use EV's.......great for voice, but I prefer my small GK bass amp to play my Roland through.



So, then, what's hot in the keyboard amp arena in your opinion, Fran?