Keyboard amp position

[Gratwhol]

Hey,

My keyboard amplifier is the Roland KC-550. As you may know, this amp is kind of big. Whenever I go to band practices, I load my stuff into a car. The case is that the only place I have left for my amp, is in the front seat of the car. And I have to place the amp on it's side if I want it to fit in the front seat.

So I was wondering, could this damage the amp in the long run? Should I find a way to transport it while it's standing upright? Or doesn't it really matter whether it's standing, or lying down?

<<Gratwhol>>

 

[b3maniac]

Gratwhol, I would think that ROland would recommend transporting the amp in
the upright position. However, being a musician and sometimes subject to the same transportation problems as you, I also place my Peavy amp in the car on it's side.
My amp is pretty old now (about 20 years), has never been repaired, and it still works. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I do always try to avoid dropping it, or treating it
roughly. I think that handling it with care is probably the most important thing to
keep it working.

 

[Gratwhol]

Yeah, I'm pretty careful with my amp too, let's just hope it is as durable as your amp . Thanks for the answer, this has been on mind for a while now

<<Gratwhol>>

 

[Mark W]

If you don't drop em and take care of them, you can put them in any position. Tube amps tend to need more maintenance as the tubes burn out or jiggle loose sometimes.

 

[b3maniac]

That's a good point about tube amps Mark. I've had a couple of older leslie's with tubes and checked the tubes routinely to make sure they stayed seated. Fortunately my old Peavy amp is solid state.
Come to think of it, my old B3 also had tubes to worry about.

 

[GigMan]

Hey,

My keyboard amplifier is the Roland KC-550. As you may know, this amp is kind of big. Whenever I go to band practices, I load my stuff into a car. The case is that the only place I have left for my amp, is in the front seat of the car. And I have to place the amp on it's side if I want it to fit in the front seat.

So I was wondering, could this damage the amp in the long run? Should I find a way to transport it while it's standing upright? Or doesn't it really matter whether it's standing, or lying down?

<<Gratwhol>>

Why even bother bringing your amp to band practices - doesn't the band have a PA, that you put vocals through? Most kybd. players just put themselves thru that - for practice and onstage... it'd be less aggravation for you (you don't have to drag your amp around w/you to rehearsals any more) and probably sounds better anyway - unless you have a crappy PA.

Just use the amp for gigs - even then, you should be putting your keys thru the PA & just using the amp as a stage monitor.

 

[Gratwhol]

Why even bother bringing your amp to band practices - doesn't the band have a PA, that you put vocals through? Most kybd. players just put themselves thru that - for practice and onstage... it'd be less aggravation for you (you don't have to drag your amp around w/you to rehearsals any more) and probably sounds better anyway - unless you have a crappy PA.

Just use the amp for gigs - even then, you should be putting your keys thru the PA & just using the amp as a stage monitor.

Our current PA monitor sucks, the vocals actually sound better when we put them through the keyboard amp But we're planning going to get a new PA as soon as we get some money.

<<Gratwhol>>

 

[GigMan]

Our current PA monitor sucks, the vocals actually sound better when we put them through the keyboard amp But we're planning going to get a new PA as soon as we get some money.

<<Gratwhol>>

Ah - I see. Carry on, then... I agree w/previous poster - I don't think it matters how you position your KC550 for transport as long as you are careful w/it in picking it up, putting it down, making sure it's secured in transit, etc... I have a $900 Motion-Sound KP200S kybd. amp that I use on some gigs & I sometimes have it on its side in the car, still works fine many gigs later...

BTW, Gratwhole - your Avatar scares me...

 

[Gratwhol]

I am being pretty careful with it, I wouldn't want it to get damaged, so I hope it'll survive as long as your amps.

The avatar was pretty random, it's the mascot of the band Disturbed. Maybe I should switch it to something more appropriate, but you have already taken the dibs on simpsons characters, what to do? ... xD

<<Gratwhol>>

 

[b3maniac]

Our current PA monitor sucks, the vocals actually sound better when we put them through the keyboard amp But we're planning going to get a new PA as soon as we get some money.

<<Gratwhol>>

Gratwhol, I think most performing musicians have been through the same problems with PA equipment at some point in their playing career. IF you're going to invest in a new PA how about getting them to include
a new stage monitor for the keyboards? Then maybe you can leave your amp at home!!

 

[GigMan]

Gratwhol, I think most performing musicians have been through the same problems with PA equipment at some point in their playing career. IF you're going to invest in a new PA how about getting them to include
a new stage monitor for the keyboards? Then maybe you can leave your amp at home!!

Aye - but that would only work if the mixer has enough Aux. Sends to provide a unique mix for him where the keys are prominent... ie, the other stage monitors will have vocals and maybe a touch of keys but if Gratwhol is to have his own PA stage monitor for it would be having more keys and less vocals, which is only possible by sending a different mix to his stage monitor from a separate Aux. send.

Unless, of course - he sings... in which case it'd be convenient to have the one cabinet to monitor both vox and keys on equal levels (though his bandmates may still want more vox and less keys from their monitor mixes) - only placement of his stage monitor becomes crucial: if it were only keys coming out it could go behind him but w/vocals too it would have to go on side or in front of him.

 

[Gratwhol]

Gratwhol, I think most performing musicians have been through the same problems with PA equipment at some point in their playing career. IF you're going to invest in a new PA how about getting them to include
a new stage monitor for the keyboards? Then maybe you can leave your amp at home!!

Which is going to cost even more? My wallet is rather thin at the moment.. xD And no, I'm not much of a singer

<<Gratwhol>>

 

[old season dermod]

re

My amp has been put in all sorts of positions in my car for many years with no adverse effects. Probably more important to prevent it from shock impact such as dropping or rattling such as wheeling it over cobblelock.
Regarding the PA/amp issue, I reckon you must have your own amp both for jamming and gigs. Whenever I've had to share a PA with a vocalist, my volume took a dip every time the singing came in. We tend to play nice and loud but I'd imagine the same issue would arise regardless. Onstage, take a line out of your board and into the DI box for the PA, then out of the DI box and into your amp. That way you can adjust the onstage volume of your amp without messing up the sound out front.

 

[b3maniac]

Which is going to cost even more? My wallet is rather thin at the moment.. xD And no, I'm not much of a singer
<<Gratwhol>>

Yes, I understand about having a thin wallet. And, I'm not much of
a singer either

 

[b3maniac]

Onstage, take a line out of your board and into the DI box for the PA, then out of the DI box and into your amp. That way you can adjust the onstage volume of your amp without messing up the sound out front.

I've always had a keyboard amp, even if only for practice. But when playing on the road, I sent all keyboard channels to the main PA, and split them into my own keyboard mixer for my stage mix. For years I used a
power amp and floor monitor to hear myself on stage. But in recent years of playing live I just used an in-ear monitor. (It worked great too.)

 

[old season dermod]

re

I'm intrigued by the possibility of not having to drag an amp around with me all the time for gigs B3. This in-ear monitor is a new thing to me so sorry if I'm being pedantic... but could you tell me the exact sequence of connections (from board to PA to earpiece) for using an in-ear monitor? Also, can you maintain local control of your volume without affecting the front-of-house balance?
Cheers,
Dermod.

 

[b3maniac]

Dermod, In my case I was sending eight channels of keys to the front.
I had a set-up in my stage rack which was basically like eight direct boxes in one case. The audio signal from each keyboard went into the direct box, with a low impedience output going to the main PA, and a high impediance output going to my seperate on-stage keyboard mixer (also in the rack).

The sound engineer split the monitor return to the stage and was able to give me two seperate monitor signals, one for vocals and one for the other instruments. These were also routed into my keyboard mixer. Then the output form my keyboard mixer was the signal source for my monitor.
That gave me a good bit of control and I could just adjust levels in my monitor from my keyboard mixer. One negative might be the initial cost of an in-ear system though.