Purchasing an Electro - what else should I consider?

[jfenton]

Regarding Monitors, Yamaha HS8 is awesome but pretty expensive unless you find a deal on eBay.
Regarding Kraft. I approached them on several of my purchases but found out either Guitar Center or Musicians Friends could always produce a better price (prior to my NS2EX. I would stay away from bundles though. Kraft had the best deal on NS2EX but not on their web site. I found B stock on eBay and am happy with it . Always check eBay and a few music site sellers to shop around for the best deal. I find that Guitar Center periodically has deals at 50-20% off of street price. Everyone usually sells below list (stupid) price.

[Stranger]

Thanks all for your input. So with much deliberation, based on my needs, where I want to be and what's on the market, I'm deciding between the yamaha hs8 and JBL LSR308. The reason I decided against the pa speakers is because at this point, I don't need loud as much as clarity.

So, with speakers being narrowed to two, next will bring my attention to pedals and cabling.....

[jfenton]

You can't go wrong with the Yamaha HS8. I hear good things about the JBL LSR308 as well. So maybe some good comparative pricing.

For pedals, not sure I could make a good recommendations. People are pretty polar on what is out there. I use FCB-1010 which has 2 midi programmable expression type. I'm not crazy about it but the advantage is it has 100 programmable footswitches (10 banks of 10 programs). That way I have one pedalboard that controls everything. I put in a 3rd party chip (UNO) that provides additional functionality and I also run in through my PC and run a program called Bome midi translater. With this, I can pretty much program any pedal to control any (or all) of my midi attached devices.

For sustain/damper pedal I just got low cost one on Amazon (about 20USD). It has a polarity switch so that I can use it on other keyboards. However I just programmed one of my other switches on my FCB to handle sustain as well.

[NoDirection]

You should read this article as well... http://chucksblog.typepad.com/late_bloo ... .html#more

Its a follow up of the one emartin149 posted above.

Good luck ...

[emartin149]

I saw that article, but I'm going to wait...any speaker that calls itself a "space station" is a little suspect for me. And it sure ain't cheap for an 8 inch woofer. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Spacestation3

Amplifying your keyboard in a band situation is a perennial curse. The big boys in the money bands just pump into the house, let their personal hired sound managers handle the balance, and use expensive wireless in-ears to monitor themselves and everyone else.

We mere mortals don't have an audio staff, and likely no fabulous wireless in-ear setup...we are at the mercy of our monitors, and of sound guys in bars who very often struggle with our low level line outs and our own notions of what we need to be heard.

Very few house guys are happy when I trundle in my own set of speakers, poles and mixer. They want me in some beat-to-sh*T DI box to their board, and then keep asking me to turn my master and gain up past 11. In those times I've brought in an amp, like the venerable Peavey KB300, which is sitll a great keyboard amp, they've freaked out and wanted me to turn it around, or they've tried to mike it like a guitar amp instead of using the out...etc.

Our band has been doing its own sound for most of our gigs lately, so we have things under control. But when I hear that the House is providing the sound, I cringe...because even though it means I get to haul less equipment, it also means I'll fight to be properly mixed.

[mheim]

I saw that article, but I'm going to wait...any speaker that calls itself a "space station" is a little suspect for me. And it sure ain't cheap for an 8 inch woofer. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Spacestation3...

...But when I hear that the House is providing the sound, I cringe...because even though it means I get to haul less equipment, it also means I'll fight to be properly mixed.

...and also fight to be properly monitored.

At the risk of repeating myself, for 25+ years I've been saying that I've never met a keyboard amp that I liked. Then Aspen called me one day (my first time meeting him), asking to place one or more of his SpaceStation kbd amps in the Nord booth at NAMM for demo purposes. Well, that didn't happen (for reasons which had nothing to do with the quality of the amp), but he did send one to my home for me to check out. This resulted in two things: 1) I can no longer say that I've never met a kbd amp that I like, and 2) my credit card got dented. After test-driving it on one gig I had to call him up and let him know that he was never getting it back from me.

Perhaps the name invokes images of Sputnik and asteroids, which might understandably make someone mistrust the thing without ever hearing it, but I suspect that it was derived from the sense of SPACE which the amp creates and had nothing to with leaving orbit. Whatever...this thing is pretty darned amazing. For a compact package, it's quite a load, weighing roughly the same as an 88-note Nord. I have not tried pairing it with a sub yet, but have no doubts that this is a really good idea. Sounds phreaking awesome just the way it is!

Certainly for most of my musical life that price tag would have kept me away, and it might be understandable that many others will feel the same way, but I did eventually figure out that buying reduced quality gear in order to scrimp on money was a lose-lose proposition. Using the example of a Peavey kbd amp I owned in the late 80's, it sounded like crap, couldn't compete with the guitarists' Fender amps, and I was out a sizable piece of change. In the long run it's better to do without for a while until you build up your bank for the RIGHT tool instead of wasting money on wrong tools along the way.

Bless, Pablo

PS -- to the OP, get a gig bag or hard case, according to need. Protect your bright red baby.

[MEL868]

I use Yamaha dxr 10 powered speaker its compact yet enough power for home and as monitor for out when going thru pa. I don't want to lug around anything heavier and most importantly, this speaker give true sound and justification to the nord. in other words a nice little Roland K series just won't bring out the synth sounds, or make the organ rock. I place it on a small floor stand.

[MEL868]

Pablo- can u have him send one to my home? this way we can get a female perspective...try anything...can't hurt to ask?
which model spacestation do u have?

[MEL868]

I see it now- wow
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Spacestation3

[afroskully]

Pablo, I recently saw another keys player at a gig using one of these. Hard to tell what it sounded like as all I heard was FOH, but does this have stereo outs? I thought I read just one mono line out but wasn't sure.