pa speaker or keyboard amp for c1, any recommendation?

[robnuckels]

The mackie 802vlz or the 402vlz is very good. The peavey amps may be a trifle coarse. I use an old one, however, as my home amp. Ti's a KB60 . The only reason i don't sell it is that i know it won't bring much dinero. I will say one thing , though : at 45 watts, this thing is LOUD ! i HAVE A ROLAND KC 350 which i use for recording monitor . It does sound nice, especially wen i hook it up to my KCW1 Sub woofer . Not very practical , though, for hand-carrying in Boston : especially this time of year.

[Mooser]

"The peavey amps may be a trifle coarse."

That's a nice way of putting it.I was using a KBA-100 (or two) as a "bottom" for my Pro-3x. That's handling the 800hz. and down, with sim from the Pro-3x. Just the 800hz and down. I switched to a powered speaker (Alto 15"+horn) and the sound changed completely, and not for the worse. Now it is actually close to the sound of my A-100 + Leslie 45. Well, closer. But yeah, "coarse" would be one way to describe the Peavey. (Not to mention being just the wrong size and weight to get along with one top handle. Always a struggle to handle)

[flmc59]

I use an old Roland Cube 60 with my pro3x. Gives me light and small rig

[kshim]

Mooser, Thanks for the tip. I'm thinking to buy Pro-3x + PA speaker, or Neo Ventilator + PA speaker.

flmc59, you mean bass amp or guitar amp? I googled it and there are two version of it.

[Mr_-G-]

I use an old Roland Cube 60 with my pro3x. Gives me light and small rig

I also use a Keyboard Cube 60 but with an NS2, for my own monitoring.
I like playing stereo through the main PA (it makes a huge difference, or so I want to think ). I send one channel directly from the NS2 to the mixer, and the other to the cube (monitoring) and from there, using the a "record out" (it has 2), to other mixer channel. Monitoring only one channel is not ideal, but has not been a problem so far. Ideally it would be better to get a stereo direct box, but they are not particularly cheap and this set up worked OK so far.
The only issue is balancing the two channels (in the PA mixer) due to the difference in gain in the cube, but it is just a matter of trying when setting up.
There is also an "effect send" output in the cube, that I could use, not sure if that would make a difference or it is just the same level signal.

[kshim]

Thanks for tips guys!
I just ordered Neo Ventilator, was 425$ for brand new. I'll keep the peavey amp for most of the keyboard gigs, and will buy pa system soon for C1.

I haven't have that much experience with Leslie speaker, (maybe 10 times) but listening lots of jimmy smith and larry goldings, especially larry with peter and bill trio.

I'll post short quote about Ventilator and try to upload compare sample between Neo and C1 sims.

Thanks a lot!

[flmc59]

If yoy can buy a Leslie - do it.
A beat up 760 will sound better than any sim in a room.
A sim in a PA will most likely sound better that a badly miked Lelsie.
The only drawback of a Lelsie is its size.

[thedberg]

I'm very happy with my HK Lucas Nano 300. It's especially nice for organ because it handles surprisingly low frequencys. I put the two small speakers on mic stands on either side of the Nord pointing towards me, I have never had sound this good on stage. But beware: for gigs with a band it is only good for monitor, it has no chance of reaching out to an audience.

[Mooser]

The advantages to using a powered PA speaker with a Pro3x or Vent+Nord instead of a keyboard amp are, first, you don't need the pre-amp and eq, all that is on your organ, 3X and controls on the Vent. In fact, I have always plugged the output from the 3X into the "main amp in" jack on the peavey and skipped the awful-sounding pre-amp, useless eq and compression. Both the Nord and the 3X have an output which is hot enough to drive any main amp, and needs no further pre-amp.
Also, powered speakers tend to have very powerful Class D amps, and be much lighter then keyboard amps (unless you must have a Baltic birch-ply cabinet and 2- 15"s, those get heavy!) Make sure the inputs are combo-plugs or 1/4' unbalanced inputs are available, or you'll need adapters. And the powered speaker can be used as a "bottom" for a Pro3X, which is 800hz and down (it'll x-over about 2k, and probably be bi-amped) and then it's full range can be used for piano, synth.

BTW, the Peavey powered speaker I tried (115D) had the same coarse sound as the KBA-100. To me, it doesn't seem to work well for the organ, and it doesn't do good things for the Leslie sim. I would look for something smoother-sounding

[Mooser]

I just ran into this site, and want to make it known to other board members. Besides being a useful source of info, wow, if you've been around these things most of your life, the memories they dredge up. Why did I ever let my Vox Jaguar go? Oh, for the days of orange day-glo Kustom amps! Where have they gone?

http://www.combo-organ.com/

BTW, there's a gazillion powered speakers out there, under various brands, many put together from contract components or stock parts. Quality, and sound can differ a lot, even to different units of the same model. Try to hear them before you accept them, or make sure you can bring it back and exchange it. And in my opinion, those "800 watt, class D" amplifiers will quickly overpower the cabinet in many cases, if they're used on the floor. And it's not unknown to blow speakers, or get non-working units (I got 2!) The high-quality brands are correspondingly more expensive, of course.