From bw@ashbysolutions.com Mon Jan 12 13:51:16 2015
Subject:Re: Mini Vent and VR09

[I was waiting for someone to bring up that comment!]

The Roland keyboard amps are from the earlier school of thought which
said (paraphrasing), "A keyboard amp is a bass amp -- 'cause they need
lots of bass -- with four channels and a tweeter." Unfortunately, while
all of that is true, it doesn't paint the entire picture. Most modern
keyboards benefit from a very rugged, powerful, neutral, 'open' sounding
amplifier. The Roland KB-series are beasts, but they aren't most of the
other things on that list. The same is true for Peavey 'keyboard' amps.

IMHO:

* If you aren't pushing your system hard, there are a number of
powered speakers that will provide a good sound from Alto (SXM),
Electro-Voice (ELX, VLX), JBL (PRX, EON), Mackie (SRM), Peavey
(PVXp), QSC (K-series), Yorkville (NX, Elite, Unity) and others.
Even studio monitors with 8" or larger woofers are candidates for
decent sound; I have a pair of Prodipe Pro-8 Ribbons in my practice
space that sound great.
* Most of them will need a small mixer to handle more than 1-2 keyboards.
* If you need to push them hard, most of them except the EV, QSC, and
maybe the PRX and the Yorkvilles quickly start to show weak points.
Even those speakers will begin to sound 'boxy' if driven really
hard. It takes a surprising amount of power (>> 500W) to allow most
powered speakers to keep up with a guitar amp on full tilt.

Regards,

-BW

Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com™
bw@ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)

On 1/12/2015 4:29 PM, jukefox@jukejoynt.com [CloneWheel] wrote: