Nord User Forum

I have a Piano 88 that I bought a year ago, and I'm looking to upgrade my amp. Currently, I have a Peavey KB3, but am not pleased at all with the sound- it gets very muddy, especially at higher volumes.

Right now, I'm looking at a Motion Sound KP-100s and a Roland KC-150 or -350. I play mostly jazz in small groups (trio, quartet, quintet; occasionally larger groups) in small to medium-sized venues, and sometimes outdoors. I'm open to suggestions of other amps, but I have a (somewhat) limited budget - I'm trying to stay under $800.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Quentin

Hi Quentin,

For a decent piano sound I would try to avoid the Roland KCx50 series (On some other forum there is guy famous for his signature involving a chainsaw and a K350 Amp...).
For clear, i.e., uncoloured amplification I would include on my shortlist the
- Motion Sound KP series you mentioned (a bit heavy, but has this nice stereo effect, might be great with the Nord Piano samples, and a Hammond (for which you don't care...yet?), a bit pricey)
- QSC K8/10 is considered probably the clearest sound for keyboards, also a bit pricey but should be well in your range at least the 8 inch version.
- Yamaha StagePAs are less expensive but still decent PAs with quite flexible mixing consoles built-in.
- Traynor K4 is a nice Keyboard Amp especially for colouring your Rhodes/Wurly/Clav sound, not so much for AP.

There are Behringers, RCFs, Mackies and more, so this ist just my 0.02$.
In particular the K8 (or K10 if you need more bass) get a whole lotta love at the keyboard community and I think for a good reason. (Just checked, it is now just below you 800$ ball park price: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K10)

Hello Quentin,
I have a Roland KC 350 and Motion Sound KP 200 S my opinion is KP series. Big the difference it in favour of MS.

Hi. The key to successful amplification of any digital piano is . . . stereo! Your piano has stereo outputs for a reason -- use them!

Run your piano through one Roland KC amp and it will sound like crap -- boxy, barky, distant, ugly. Run it through two and it might sound ok.

I've got the Nord Piano 88, which, for gigging, I with a small stereo mixer (by ART) and a paid of JBL Eon 510s, and it sounds quite lovely. At home, I run the piano through a pair of small Tapco studio monitors -- 5 inch woofer, tiny tweeter -- and it also sound lovely, though not loud. A pair of JBLs is likely to be out of your price range, but any pair of decent powered speakers, with 8 or 10 inch woofers, will sound way better than even the best mono amp. Check our powered speakers by Yamaha, Peavy, Samson, even Behringer and you should be ok.

I've also got a Motion KP 500SN -- a 500 watt stereo amp in a single cabinet -- which I use with my Nord C1 organ. Love it -- loud, clean, small-ish. However, I've yet to be able to get the Piano 88 to sound good through it. Don't know why . . . maybe insufficient stereo separation. I'd stick with a pair of powered speakers.

jamienewman wrote:...The key to successful amplification of any digital piano is . . . stereo!

+1

Piano sounds require good quality, clear and uncolored amplification. There is no shortcut here. Nord piano sounds especially have a reputation for needing the best quality sound reproduction possible. No keyboard amp is of sufficiently good sound quality to do this, only a powered PA speaker (such as any of those suggested above by Johannes) will do the job.

Electric pianos and organs can sound good with lower quality amplification because that's how they were amplified traditionally, and a grittier, lo-fi sound can really work well for these.

I agree that stereo is better than mono - a lot better - but it is not the answer by itself. A rubbish stereo amp is still rubbish. A good quality powered speaker in mono is far better than a poor quality amp in stereo. If money is limited, I would suggest buying one powered speaker of the best quality you can afford, and later on you could buy a second one to get your stereo sound.

I am a huge fan of the qsc k-10. Especially if you can afford two of them. They sound amazing, they get crazy loud without breaking up, have tones of clarity, and they are small and not too heavy. They also seem to have a very balanced eq. No unnatural frequency pushes.