What do you use for keyboard amplification Stage/Practice

[JayDee]

Wondering what you are using for sound reinforcement for your keyboard(s) on stage if you gig, or for home practice. i used to gig a lot of years ago (OK, the late 70's early 80's) around the Bay Area and used a Crown Power amp and small mixer, and a EV 3 way cab with an 18", 6" and horn. Fender Rhodes Mk 1 with a Sequential Circuits Pro One on top. These days I rarely get out but still practice, write, and record at home. I had a keyboard amp for awhile, but it never sounded good to me.. I have a single Yamaha DBR 12 powered monitor since I don't really need stereo at the moment , and that seems an improvement. Just wondering what folks are using for amplification home or stage these days.

[cphollis]

I'd suggest you might want to review the many dozen similar threads on this topic here, and also on Keyboard Corner.

[JayDee]

Sorry for the stupid question. Old guy, to be honest not real technologically savvy, decent on guitar, fairly crappy on keys. All the best

[e8ndave]

I picked up a QSC 10" . Works great for stage sound, nice little PA speaker when needed and really great for practice. I have a 12" EV self powered that I use in my practice space which I also like a lot. The EV seems to be a bit more generic and has less tweaking to do. The QSC cuts through the mix a bit better and has less deep low end

[Quai34]

Just use the search box, type Cphollis and you will get the best/most accurate reviews on keys amplification ever.... From little cheap $ to high end $$$$$ speakers and even to IEM....

[JayDee]

Thank you, that's what i was looking for. if anyone else has any opinions, they are welcome. Cheers!

[sweelinck]

For home studio use, studio monitors are more accurate than performance amplification. While one might need higher end monitors to do mixdowns for recordings well, moderately priced monitors will work fine for keyboard monitoring. JBL LSR305 (now replaced with 305P) would work well. It will get into more cost if you also want or need a subwoofer.

For performance, you may just want a powered floor monitor to use for band practice, small venues, and floor monitoring with large installations where you may just run the keyboard through a house or band PA. For your own amplification, powered PAs from Yamaha, Electrovoice, JBL, or QSC would work. Stereo is not generally needed.

Peavey keyboard amps are pretty good. They have better tweeters than the piezos used in Roland keyboard amps. Piezos have problematic high end peaks that will distort some register of the keyboard with a noticeably offensive shrill sound from accentuating the harmonic partials excessively. I’ve heard this consistently with acoustic piano patches. Otherwise, the smaller Roland keyboard amps are very convenient as practice amps.

If you have a performance monitor or PA and your emphasis is performance, not recording, just using the performance equipment for home monitoring is probably ideal so you develop the nuances of playing by practicing through the system you will perform with.

My $.02 worth anyway. I’m sure others have other good ideas. There is no 1-size-fits-all solution.

[NoDirection]

I guessed you found plenty for PA with a search on the forum, but for home practice I enjoy my Yamaha HS7 - nice cheap monitors with good sound and they do not disturb my family to much when they are placed in ear height right in front of my NordStage2.

[CountFosco]

+1 on sweelinck's post. I have a pair of JBL LSR305's for home studio, lovely sound for the price, I never felt like I needed a subwoofer. Live I'm direct to our PA, with floor monitors, but I'm moving towards IEM.

[sweelinck]

I find a subwoofer is only needed when using JBL LSR305’s as keyboard monitors and playing in the lowest octave of a 16’ pedal stop on a Nord organ, and not even the full octave. The fundamental frequency gets noticeably weak at the G or Gb of that octave. The lowest notes of an acoustic piano patch would be improved with a subwoofer, but are ok without it given the rapid decay of a piano tone in comparison to an organ.

I use a JBL LSR2310sp subwoofer I picked up used. In a small space, a subwoofer can create more problems than it solves from boominess at frequencies reinforced by room resonance, leading one down the rabbit hole of acoustic treatment of the space. Monitors with 8” drivers such as JBL LSR308 would also work and provide a little bit more bass. But they are much larger and much less convenient to place in small home studio.