Keyboard Amp Recommendation please

[MrWriter]

Keyboard Amp Recommendation please.

I’m looking to spend about £400 ($400) on a new keyboard amp to use with a Nord Lead A1.

It’s only for home use (will never leave the house) in a small home recording studio so basically for monitoring/listening purposes. I don’t need mega volume, but I would like something that has decent deep bass that you can feel.

The two (after looking around and doing a tad of research) that keep coming up are the Roland KC-80 and the Peavey KB-2. Or I suppose I could just buy a pair of Yamaha HS-8 active monitors and plug the synth into those.

Whatever I go for it will be perminanly installed in my small home recording studio. I even thought of just putting the synth through a regular Hi-Fi amp and a pair fo regular Hi-Fi speakers, but not convinced about this.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated as I really don’t know anything about keyboard amps.

 

[happyrat1]

Forget about keyboard amps.

You're far better off with a couple of Nearfield Studio Monitors.

Sound quality comparisons are like night and day.

Depending on the size of the space a couple of 100 watt 5 inch monitors will do, along with a 100 watt 8 inch subwoofer.

I can highly recommend the Presonus Eris E5's, or whatever has replaced them in the last three years.

The bass is over the top on these guys already and I feel no need for a subwoofer.

If I hit the lowest two octaves on a piano voice it's already enough to rattle my teeth. Some basic EQ adjustments might be necessary to tune them to your liking.

That's my recommendation. Buy the E5's and add a sub later on if you feel the need.

Gary

 

[Biggles]

The Eris 5 Ex that Gary suggests will be c£220 for a pair or c£300 for the E7 EX, I used a pair of the Eris 4.5 for a while, pretty good sound but a bit lacking in bass.

You may also like to research a Korg Konnect, it is a single stereo PA with 180W and is about £380. Not tried one myself but they get good reports over on the Korg Forum.

 

[MrWriter]

Thanks for the heads up on near field monitors. That's what I suspected, actually. I also suspect the Korg Connect (interesting a product as it is) will be closer in sound quality to a keyboard amp and still not as good as studio near field monitors.

The PreSonos E7 look good, the E8 might be better for bass with the bigger bass driver and I suspect they won't need a sub.

Only slight issue I can see with near field monitors is, plugged directly into Nord Lead A1, there is no way of adjusting any basic EQ such as bass, mid, treble.

 

[Biggles]

You will find that on the rear of various powered monitors there is frequently tonal adjustments and in the case of the Eris 7 there is individual adjustment of mid range and high frequencies as well as an overall gain control.

Feeding via a mixer will give individual low, mid and high frequency adjustments Hence a £100 mixer and Eris7’s at £300 and you are within your £400 budget.

Feeding via a Parametric mixer will give you very fine control of frequencies and the centre point of each adjustment band

 

[MrWriter]

Biggles, I just looked over them and the specs, see what you mean about tonal adjustments. Not sure whether to go for the 8's or the 5's with a sub. Latter comes in cheaper and I know the bass will go deeper and I suspect the 5's will sound about the same as 8's by the time high-pass has been applied to the 8s when using a sub with them.

 

[happyrat1]

I'd suggest visiting a music store and auditioning them for yourselves.

My living/dining area is about 300 sq ft and the E5's are more than bassy enough.

Acoustic engineering has come a hell of a long way since the old days of acoustic suspension speakers.

Modern ported designs can deliver a hell of a lot of bass with minimal drivers.

As for using a mixer to control EQ and FX? That's pretty much a given and should be factored into your budget.

Gary

 

[Biggles]

I have no idea where in the UK you live but I currently live a short drive from about 20 sizeable Music Stores, including:- A&C Hamilton, Music Matter, Rimmer's, Dawson’s and the biggest of all PMT in Manchester.

I appreciate Gary’s suggestion of trying in-store however I tried to do just that at Music Matter a couple of weeks ago and I did not get into the store for nobody is now allowed to go into the store.

Last time I was in PMT there vast keyboard area had everything connected to local systems so they may be a good place to start although what their Covid restrictions are I have no idea, they have branches throughout the Country.

Rimmer‘s are by appointment only if you want to try kit.

Hence if you do want to try do give ythem a call first.

 

[MrWriter]

Biggles, I'm Cambridge and PMT here is quite small and they don't have much on display. Few keyboard, few speakers, nothing really. I figured I'd just buy a few different makes/models from Amazon and return the ones I don't want. Going to shops is a royal pain in the arse at the moment so I don't bother, not for a few more years anyway.

 

[happyrat1]

I figured I'd just buy a few different makes/models from Amazon and return the ones I don't want.

You wouldn't be the first one here to have done that

@Kaneda has made it a bloody art form

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

One question though?

You try out speaker brands A, B and C in that order...

Then you find out after C that A was the best of the bunch....

How do you proceed from there?

Do you (1) order item A again after you've returned it? or (2) order in all 3 at once and test them side by side?

I don't even think @Kaneda had the stones to try option (2)

Gary