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What should I be looking for in a keyboard amp? GF wants one and I've never needed to know anything about them

Wattage mostly. Depends on how loud you need it. Full band, big wattage. Messin at home while you play acoustic, lower.

Number of inputs. Just stereo or do you need more inputs?

I have a Hartke KM60 that I used when I was still messing with synths. Four inputs, loud enough for home, not so for full band. Sounded fine.

And then if you wanna get real fancy, rotary fucking speaker. yep.

It would be stereo only, would need to go over a loud band if need be, so what would be "big wattage" at that point?

We started with a Roland combo with a 15" but ended up on basically a full PA. The Roland was good for practice but it wasn't very durable or loud enough (I want to say it was like 50 watts or 150 watts). Something in the preamp broke twice and we switched to the pa.

Rack power amp, mixer, and two monitors worked well. As did ampeg bass cabs.

For solid state, I would think at least 200. Anything less and you will certainly get lost in the mix of a loud band swirling around. Keyboard amps are really like powered PA systems except in one cab so think of it like how much wattage in a PA system would you need for a vocalist to be heard over a loud band.

If your keyboard is a synth, mind the speaker-blowing low frequencies. Use an EQ pedal, or crossover to send lows to a subwoofer, or Thumpinator pedal, etc.

Seconding the bass amp suggestion. The cab should have a tweeter (modern, full range bass cab, not vintage style for bass plunkers).

is that draco malfoy

but for real what keyboard is she using ?

when it comes to key amplification you'll probably either want to represent the full bandwidth of your output (make it as huge and attention-encompassing as possible, like giant massive synths where synths are the chief instruments being used) or color it significantly so that it sits in with whatever else you're playing with (like a Rhodes run through a Fender amp in an R&B ensemble. If she wants the first, get some kind of DI and just go right into the PA. If you want the second, try the guitar amps she may already have and see from there if she likes how they sound with the keyboard or not.

Most keyboard amps aren't great. I was really disappointed with the Roland keyboard amps, they're heavy, noisy, and not very loud. You're usually better off with a powered PA speaker.

Here's a thread on muffwiggler from ages ago that I started: https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=93280 It's posed as modular-specific, but it applies to any synth or keyboard.

I ended up with a ELX-112P, which I still use.

friendship wrote:but for real what keyboard is she using ?

when it comes to key amplification you'll probably either want to represent the full bandwidth of your output (make it as huge and attention-encompassing as possible, like giant massive synths where synths are the chief instruments being used) or color it significantly so that it sits in with whatever else you're playing with (like a Rhodes run through a Fender amp in an R&B ensemble. If she wants the first, get some kind of DI and just go right into the PA. If you want the second, try the guitar amps she may already have and see from there if she likes how they sound with the keyboard or not.

A Yamaha electric piano or a Roland Juno 106 depending. The DI is a great idea, except in situations where I don't take a pa and the sound guys are questionable.

maybe just look into some powered PA speakers/subs?

"Keyboard amps" marketed as such are usually a fail.

If you want full range (piano, synth, misc pre-recorded inputs), go powered PA. The EV ZLX are well received on a cost/performance basis. I use the smaller ZXA 1 and it's plenty loud. Depending on the particular input, you may need a preamp (e.g., mixer) to get the most out of it.

If you are doing stuff like rhodes, clav, organ, even dirty synth, etc., a guitar amp with decent headroom will probably make you happier. Adjust headroom to taste. I use a 50w fender with my rhodes & clav and it's more than loud/clean enough.

I work a lot with John Medeski and he uses all guitar amps - vintage Fenders really - for all his non-organ keyboards.

My V4 into a Delta loaded 215 does really really well for synth as does my plexi? Anything loud and clean should do well.