Hello! Looking for keyboard amp recommendations

[paul s.]

I recently purchased a clean Fender Rhodes 73 keyboard that is begging for an amp. I'd love to hear any of your suggestions as to an amp. I've been reading up on Peavey kb3 and Behringer k1800fx - lots of mixed reviews both positive and negative.

thanks!

-Paul

 

[delaware dave]

The best keyboard amps are no longer keyboard amps! The world has moved on to better sound reproduction equipment for keyboards and the best thing for keyboards are powered speakers....

not recommending, just providing an example: http://www.amazon.com/QSC-K10-Powered-10-Inch-Speaker/dp/9792372326

Frankly, they sound better than traditional k/b amps, are more powerful, and most now weigh in the 30-40 pound range so they are not back breakers.

However, in your particular case since you are talking about Fender Rhodes 73 (sounds like the Mark 1 I use to own) I would actually recommend something with a tube in it. Back in the day they were actually played through guitar amps (like a Fender Twin or a Fender bassman to give it that grit that it deserves. You might want to look for something like that to get that classic Rhodes sound that you can remember. If not, I would go with a powered speaker above but put a tube pre-amp on it, something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TUBE-WORKS-...210?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item20d929a3a2

That will get you sound I think that you are looking for

 

[paul s.]

Thanks for the great info, Dave! Really appreciate it your thoughts. For home rehearsal what do you all think about the two amps I mentioned (Peavey kb3 and Behringer k1800fx)?

 

[delaware dave]

I still own two Peavey KB300's (predecessor line to the KB2/3/5 series) but no longer use them since they don't sound nearly as good as a powered speaker and weigh more than 2x the powered speaker. As compared to a powered speaker the Peavey (and the Behringer which is worse) sound as though they have a blanket thrown over them, i.e. they are muffled as compared to my EV ELX112P powered speaker, therefore I could not recommend them to you. For home rehearsal you may not need the 1000 watt amp that the others I mentioned have, I would go perhaps with this speaker; absolutely excellent reviews, 19 pounds, sounds awesome and could be used in rehearsal as well as gigging:

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/...ign=googleps&gclid=CJaKpN2NvLoCFQGe4Aod0FgAwg

Since you are using the Fender Rhodes (love that keyboard) I would still consider a pre-amp that I previously mentioned even if you decided to go with a keyboard amp. The fender rhodes were traditionally gigged through guitar/bass amps and those amps were 'tube' amps with a 'tube' pre-amp. The Blue Tube pre-amp pedal (I owned one and used it for a hammond clone and also with my Stage 73) is an excellent old school tube pre-amp. If I remember correctly it comes with a 12AX7 tube. The tube also can be changed out to give it a different coloring tone. I tried a 12AU7, 12AX7EX and a Jan 5751 tube. I like the Jan 5751 the best for the Rhodes but used the 12AX7EX for my Hammond Clone.

 

[b3maniac]

Dave is right on the money with his responses. When I gigged a real Rhodes I used (at different times) both the Fender Twin and Bassman. I think that is the true vintage combo from that era. Don

 

[paul s.]

Thank you for the great information - much appreciated! So, here's a real newbie question and please forgive me ahead of time for not being very technical: I have a small mixer (Behringer Xenyx 1002). Can the Rhodes be plugged into the mixer directly and output sound to my speakers? (Geeshh ... what a newbie . Reading your responses triggered me to think that I don't have to go to a powered amp/speaker and can possibly go straight to the mixer? Not sure if I'm the right path in my thinking and do realize that the keyboard needs power.

Be gentle.

-Paul

 

[happyrat1]

The mixer is NOT a power amp. The signal output from the mixer either goes to a keyboard amp or powered speakers or headphones.

You still need some kind of amplifier to drive a set of speakers.

Gary

 

[paul s.]

Gary,

thanks - that makes perfectly good sense. It just so happens that I *do* have a set of powered speakers hooked to my mixer. The Rhodes only has one 1/4" jack that is labeled "Input" -- again, I'm not technical when it comes to this type of hardware, but couldn't I just plug a 1/4" cable from the "Input" jack to my mixer? I think I would need two jacks to have stereo output but I'm thinking the mixer has to have a 1/4" jack to plug in to ... the question is which one. I don't want to blow anything up!

Thanks again for the help!!

-Paul

 

[happyrat1]

I dunno a Rhodes from a bacon sandwich as far as the jacks go, but if it's labelled "input" then it goes to a pedal input or a mic or an audio input to either control the sustain or to feed a signal into the keyboard for processing by the keyboard's effects.

If you have the manual refer to it for how to properly hook it up and proper use of the jacks.

If you don't have a manual, google "fender rhodes manual" and find one ASAP.

What should be connected are the two 1/4" Mono Outputs labelled L/Mono and R and THOSE two get hooked to the inputs on your mixer.

Remember, outputs connect to inputs and inputs connect to outputs.

As a rule of thumb that pretty much always applies in the audio world. However, always make sure that impedances and signal levels are compatible.

The Line Outputs on your keyboard are line level voltages. They are safe to drive a Line Level Input like a mixer.

The Line level outputs on your mixer are safe to drive the Line Level Inputs on your amp or powered speakers.

The Speaker Out Connections on an amp are high powered outputs and should only be connected to a proper high level load like a set of speakers.

Basically it's like hooking up your home stereo. If you hooked your CD player to the speaker outputs you'd blow it out in a heartbeat.

Home stereos are clearly labelled and use different types of connectors for low and high powered loads.

Professional PAs though, can be somewhat ambiguous in labelling and tend to use the 1/4" mono connector cables a LOT! So always be careful and read your manuals whenever you are unsure about hooking stuff up.

Check the Rhodes manual to find out exactly what sort of input that jack is before you start randomly plugging stuff into it.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

I dunno exactly which model Rhodes you have but here's a site with free copies of the users and service manuals.

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/service/guides.html

Take at careful look at the one you own and see exactly what kind of speaker/mixer hookups it's expecting.

 

[happyrat1]

Oh hell. I just took a look at the diagrams on the first one. It uses the input jack for the input of an effects processor (don't ask me how?) and uses a 5 pin DIN cable for the output to the power amp.

I have no ideas if those levels are even compatible with modern amp levels if it's a vaccuum tube based circuit and at the very least you will need some sort of specialized custom DIN to 1/4" Y-adapter/cable which may or may not need some built in impedance matching.

My advice would be to look up your local ham radio club in your area and ask nicely if one of their geeks would take a look at it and if he'd very kindly help you to hook up to a mixer and amp setup.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

Here's a useful article describing the pinouts of the various types of amplifier systems Rhodes has used over the years.

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/service/amp-diffs.html

Exactly what kind of adapter cable you're going to need depends on which system your model used.

Yours must use either the 4 Pin

http://kenrichsounds.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=73

or the 5 Pin output connector

or if there's a headphone jack you may be able to rig a cable from the headphones to the mixer.

Either way there's a million people asking what's the best way to hook up a Rhodes to a modern amp and Google gives a lot of unique and sometimes conflicting answers.

https://www.google.ca/search?num=10....3.0....0...1c.1.30.serp..1.2.188.jH7QCcxIU08

If yer not a techie type then my suggestion stands about enlisting the aid of a ham radio geek to help you find the best solution.

They have a lot of spare time on their hands and they love a good technical challenge.

Gary