Amps For Synths?

[kosta]

Which amps are you folks using for analog synths? I had to take my Pro One into the shop this week, so I finally got to play it through some kinda Peavey bass or keyboard amp there (and not even a very good one) and it sounded MASSIVE compared to how it sounds through my Fender Blues Deluxe and weirdo film projector PA amp.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

i used to use an old cheapy bass amp, like de'armond or something like that.

now i sometimes run them thru a sunn concert bass, and i couldn't agree with u more...!

[delaydecay]

keyboard (derp) or bass amps are good. I play mine through a mixer/tube preamp and a powered JBL with a 15" and tweeter and the ground shakes.

[modernage]

Yeah, I'll third what already has been said. I've heard a lot of people use bass amps with success.

[01010111]

Well I can't speak for analog synths, but I love my peavey tko for synth stuff. I'm fixing up an old bruce amp that I'm thinking will sound massive with keys. And where it's just a powered speaker cabinet I'm thinking about just sending the headphone out to it from a guitar amp for a tighter high-end response and let the bruce keep the lows.

I've always thought some kind of small pa would work well as a synth amp as well.

[kosta]

So basically - keyboard amps and bass amps. Go figure!. Yeah, this is kind of a dumb-ass question I guess. Ha.

Thanks for the input dudes.

[BlindtoFaith]

Get an olf Peavey Nashville 400

[Muff Wiggler]

You have to be careful as a lot of analogs (and pretty much all modulars) can kick out enough bass to hurt a guitar amp, and enough treble to hurt a bass amp. Feedback and self-osillating filters can blow the tweeters in your monitor speakers too.

A lot of people put bandpass filters and/or limiters at the end of their chain to protect the speaks.

I never bother but I do try to be careful.

A guitar or bass amp is by design frequency-limited. Running your synth through these will change the sound of your synth - this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Running through an amp adds some 'air' and reality to the artificial sound coming from a synthesizer.

I run my synths through my Swart AST's quite a lot - I go through a ReAmp v2 to get the impedance correct. It sounds *fantastic*

That said for a dedicated solution, as you've just experienced, a purpose-designed keyboard amp is probably your best bet.

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

"artificial sound coming from a synthesizer"? huh? i guess if you're using a DX-7 or something, but an analog synth is pretty much like a bad ass pedal board on acid.

i think the only thing the frequencies from a synth will hurt by going into a guitar or bass amp will be the speakers.
it kind of depends on your needs, really. if you want your synth to pump out massive synth bass lines, then maybe a big ampeg head and 8x10 cab will be what you need... in my experience, bass amps seem to work better for general synth stuff because of their low end response and the amount of headroom they have. gritty guitar amps (marshall, etc) can sound really nice in that they'll add some tube dirt, but they typically don't have enough headroom to get cleaner synth sounds. keyboard amps usually aren't powerful enough and can be a bit boring.

sunn shit would probably be

[kosta]

The thought of owning a Sunn bass rig is certainly intriguing...

[Muff Wiggler]

"artificial sound coming from a synthesizer"? huh? i guess if you're using a DX-7 or something, but an analog synth is pretty much like a bad ass pedal board on acid.

yeah but typically people record synths direct into a console, and there's no natural effect playing into how they are recorded. sticking a mic in front of an amp adds a bit of 'space' into the recording that isn't there otherwise and makes the synthesizer more 'real' sounding

in my personal, humble opinion.

[Mudfuzz]

I just use one of my bass amps.

[kaeth]

I use a bass amp, so I end up tweaking the patches to sound good on that. The problem comes when I try to direct-in record the nice glassy sounds of my Evolver and DX7, and they end up sounding shrill because all the high frequencies come out that were subdued when using the amp.

If you have a dedicated bass amp, you can EQ it to taste and it should work well, but I also use mine for my bass guitar and drum machines, so I don't like to mess with the settings too much.

Eventually, I plan on doing away with all of my amps and getting a PA.

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

"artificial sound coming from a synthesizer"? huh? i guess if you're using a DX-7 or something, but an analog synth is pretty much like a bad ass pedal board on acid.

yeah but typically people record synths direct into a console, and there's no natural effect playing into how they are recorded. sticking a mic in front of an amp adds a bit of 'space' into the recording that isn't there otherwise and makes the synthesizer more 'real' sounding

in my personal, humble opinion.

i agree completely... the language had me confused.
i guess i feel like it's a given when recording synths direct to eq, reverb, whatever to make that 'space'. unless you don't want it. which is cool too. lol

[bigchiefbc]

Like everyone else here apparently, I've always just used my bass amp and cab. But my bass cab has a tweeter, so it can at least reproduce some of the highs, as well.