From dsurkin@optonline.net Mon Mar 06 14:37:12 2006
Subject:Re: bass amps for keyboards?

Historically, bass amps have always worked better for electronic
keyboards. Before Leslie made the Combo Pre-amp, and long before I got
my first Hammond, I played my Farfisa Combo Compact through a series
of bass amps, including a Fender Bassman (2 12" speakers, 40 watt
head, piggyback), Ampeg B-15, and eventually the very reliable and
clean sounding Standel Super Imperial 15. Most of my friends used one
of these amps, or a Kustom bass amp, or a Sound bass amp (a local Long
Island company that was a big competitor to Kustom at one time).

An Hommond tone wheel organ only produces sound up to around 6 kHz or
8 kHz, but the bass pedals theoretically go down to 32 Hz (16 foot
draw bar on the low C). A Leslie reproduces the range from about 40 Hz
to about 10 kHz (that's what my ears say; I've never measured one).
The typical bass amp from the 1960s reproduced frequencies from about
50 Hz to about 5 kHz, so was a better match for an organ than a guitar
amp, which would reproduce about 100 Hz to about 5 kHz.

--Dean L. Surkin