i play in band that plays entirely too loud. that being said, i do enjoy the volume because im still at that young age where volume is almost more important than quality. im using an alesis ion, an ms2000b from korg and a hammond xk2 with a boss leslie simulater. any good ideas for amp set ups? im using two yorkville amps (one 300 watt and one 200 watt, 2x10 speakers and 1x15) which are good, but not loud or crisp enough. you really can't push yorks too much or they clip out, so instead of 500 watts, its more like a really inefficiant 250. i've looked at the roland kc550 and considered two of those, or the carvin amp and head. i know PA's are the way to go, but i can't always be sure that there will be a good PA at the show.

I haven't used the Roland KC550 but a while back I did try a KC300 from the same series and decided not to keep it. And it wasn't because of the quality of the amplification or distortion. It was simply because the amp enclosure buzzed badly through the bass port when I put any signal with a strong low frequency content through it. I have always liked Roland gear so I went back to the store and changed it for another thinking it was just a freak occurance. To my surprise the second did exactly the same thing. When I took it back to the store they tried to imply I was running the amp too hard for what I was wanting to do. But I don't think running the volume at 4 out of 10 is "too hard". So I returned it and ended up with a powered PA cabinet they had because they'd only give me store credit. So naturally I'd avoid the Roland KC series after that experience. Hey the KC550 might be completely different but I'm not about to test that theory.

I'd seriously consider the Carvin because I like Carvin gear. I haven't tried out their keyboard amp but it looks like it would handle some serious power.

But try not to play so loud you damage your hearing. I'm sure you still want to be playing music 20 years from now even though that probably seems a long time off now. Also playing too loud makes it hard to hear all the other parts clearly which makes it hard for a band to be tight. Often when you hear a live pro band playing loud it is actually coming through the PA rather than off the stage, so the band isn't subjected to as much of the volume as the audience is. Also playing too loud on stage can make it impossible for the Front-Of-House audio engineer to have good control of the sound through the PA. Having played loud myself in bands when it was younger ( playing guitar through Marshall amps ) I am not being judgemental at all but just want to point out the technical difficulties that I ended up learning over time. Nowadays I prefer a comfortable balance in a band because we tend to play better that way. I do understand the band has to ramp up the volume for certain styles of music ( even the band I play in pushes the volume up if we play AC/DC, Chili Peppers etc ) but we still try to make it not be painful.

You could also check out the General Arranger Forum at http://www.synthzone.com/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Forum&number=37 Even though I realize that it isn't the sort of music you are playing there are many there who are using live amplification systems and you can search for info there to read about some of the systems they are using including Mackie, JBL and Barbetta plus others. It may just give you some more info.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 07-02-2006).]

[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 07-02-2006).]

Nigel, I've been using Carvin gear since 1962.

Inexpensice and works for me. Both my small and mid-size PA's are Carvin, as well as a bass rig, the neat little three channel all purpose unit with a 12", and numerous instrumwents, including the first, a 1962 double-neck.


Works for me...


Russ

I have been using the original Roland Keyboard Cube 100's for the last 21 years..

Roland did it right back then..A 3 way system in a closed insulated wood cabinet with bass response of 38...

I would never trade this pair for anything new..

The new Roland's like many other new keyboard amps..lack something to me.
Maybe a warmth like we use to get with the old tube amps [like my old Sano]..
My old Roland's remind me of the tube amps[although they are tubeless].

That being said, I would not rule out the Roland 550...Test it out for yourself..

i'll try to look into getting one of the kc's into the store i work at, and if not, i'll probably try to hit up the carvin gear. thanks for the info, guys! i didn't expect this nice of a response! and yeah, i know that either running D.I. into the PA or atleast mic-ing everything is the way to go (i run sound on the side to pay for gas), but as im sure you guys can relate to, being the keyboard player means you have about as much weight to throw around as the roadies as far as making decisions. (i wish we had roadies...) anyway, thanks again, guys!

I've been using an old Rickenbacker TR35B for I don't know how many years now.
Single 15", no toys, just volume, and three tone attenuators (low, mid & high). It also has a line out for connecting with a front end.

------------------
...shboom

Like you said, you should use the PA with a monitor system.
But IF there's no PA AND I know I need a lot of volume I pull my old Peavey's KB300 from the closet.
You blow any marshall stack away with two of those and IF equalised well, they sound terrific on loud volumes.

Downer is the weight, but I have them in flightcases on wheels, so no issue.

You can find them very cheap used (around euro 200,-- in europe so I guess in USA they do even less.)

Because you find them cheap you can easily sell them for the same price IF it doesn't work for you.

Fred

If you are looking at amps similar to the size/weight/price of the Rolands, give the new(er) Behringer Ultratone K3000 a try.
http://www.behringer.com/K3000FX/index.cfm?lang=ENG
Its 300 watts with lots of good features like 4-channel mixer with left/right inputs, vol and fx levels on each channel, 100 fx, 7-band graphic equalizer, sub-out(sneak a connection into your bass man's amp )
This amp is cheaper than the others (Roland Peavey Yorkville)

I've tried the Rolands and the Peaveys, did not find them good enough (to my ears) to buy one. I have a Yorkville KB200 that (to my ears) is not good enough to use on an outing. I played an outdoor party couple of weeks ago using just the 1 Behringer K3000 at and a musician friend of mine, who was in a big tent about 100-120ft away told me the amp sounded good but told me it wouldn't hurt to turn the volume down a bit. My settings then were master-vol at 7 on 1-10 scale and the channel-vol at 5 on a 1-10.

2 non-keyboard musicians in the audience took a liking to the amp, asking me questions about it.

Its not what I would consider to be my idea of the ideal sound system for my keyboard, especially since i've heard band/performances with the Bose L1/PAS setup, but the K3000 is very acceptable for the price ($350-$400 range)


[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 07-21-2006).]