Acoustic Amps

[Kevmc]

Hi all, I'm new to the nord forum and have a question about amplification. My wife has a nord stage 2. Mostly she plays at home, but there could be the occasional small gig. I've read on the forum here to avoid keyboard amps as they don't suit the nord so well. She plays a mix of styles, some classical, blues, soul, reggae. So it would mostly be piano, organ type stuff.

Her birthday is coming up, and one of the things she mentioned she wants is a good quality keyboard amp with multiple inputs (she also plays guitar and sings). Id like to buy her a good amp and had looked at things like roland kc's, but after reading this forum I think it's not the best option. Im pretty sure she won't want a PA type setup (which seems to be the suggestion here for certain situations), just because i think she just wants something she can plug into and off she goes, with minimal fuss, and easily movable too as we might have jam sessions.

I wondered about acoustic amps, such as the Hughes & Kettner Era 2. Does anyone have any clue if that would be a good choice? I couldn't find any mention of them on here, but I read elsewhere that they reproduce the natural sound of the instrument, rather than colour it like some amps would. I realise they're not specifically designed for keyboard though. They are mono too so I'm not sure a great choice for nord.

Apologies I'm not so clued in about this stuff, and i can't ask her as i want it to be a surprise.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated

Thanks,
Kev

[cphollis]

Welcome to the forum!

Most of us avoid "keyboard amps" like the plague. They tend to be bulky and heavy, as well as sounding like cr*p. The "acoustic" instrument amps are aimed at singing guitar players, and not keyboard players.

The most popular gigging rig is two 8" powered speaker on short poles with a small mixer. If you want to travel light, use a single speaker.
There's an extended FAQ I wrote on the topic elsewhere here.

Then again, if she's looking for something aesthetically pleasing and doesn't care about sound etc. the acoustic amps do look lovely.

[Kevmc]

Thanks for the rapid response CP. Aesthetically pleasing would be great of course, the ERA2 does look nice but i think she'll prefer better sound quality in the long run. Yes i see that the era2 is more aimed at guitarists. The description of the amp mentions keys too but maybe that's a sales tactic. I read your extended FAQ and it was very helpful but i didn't see anything specifically about acoustic amps on it, hence my question here. I'll check out the 2 speaker setup you mentioned. She has a small mixer already so that could be the job. Much appreciated.

[Tasten-Bert]

Hi Kev

and a very warm welcome to this great forum of nord enthusiasts. I can recommend a column speaker with a small mixer onboard. A female singer I sometimes play weddings with has this one:
https://www.thomann.de/ie/ld_systems_ma ... 9&reload=1
which is easy to carry and nice to look at. There’s also a battery model available.

I myself have this one:
https://www.musicstore.com/en_IE/EUR/Fa ... _source=na
which I love for piano as well as organ sounds. It’s only some kilos heavier than the Maui.

General advantage of the columns vs. standard speakers is that their internal mixer handles the stereo piano quite good.

Good luck making your wife happy and cheers from Germany

[cphollis]

I'm also a big fan of column speakers, especially for small informal gigs. You''ll be playing in mono, but the sound fills the room nicely and the APs sound lovely. The smaller, low-end models will struggle, but most of the mid-range models do quite well in that format.

The downside is that they usually can't keep up with a full band, so that's where the dual 8" units work best.

[Kevmc]

Magic, thanks Bert, I'll also check them out. Great to get advice from those in the know.

Cheers
Kev

[cgrafx]

I use a pair of TurboSound iQ8s for small gigs.

Mine travel in a road case designed to hold two of the speakers and most of the time I just set them on top of the case, but they can easily be used on speakers stands.

https://www.audiopile.net/QSC-K8-Drop-I ... _7188.html

There are also speaker bags available.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... r-tote-bag

There is a small two input mixer on each speaker that I plug my NP5 and NS3 into so I don't need to bring a separate mixer, just a couple of stereo cables (one for each keyboard). There is also XLR output on each speaker that I use as a feed to the FOH sound system when needed (so I don't need a direct box either).

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ed-speaker

[Kevmc]

Thanks cgrafx!