best 500-700 $$ amp buy

aznxtasy341 · August 10th, 2006, 01:31 PM

hey, i was wondering what you guys think would be the best amp within a 500 dollar range, i play blues, jazz and the only important factor is that this amp needs to hold its own if i plug a keyboard in it too.

swooda · August 10th, 2006, 02:04 PM

You really can't go wrong with a Fender DRRI as far as a guitar amp. I've never played a keyboard thru one though. Another amp in my arsenal is a Peavey Delta Blues with a 15" speaker. An excellent value in the 300 dollar range. The 15" speaker may be better suited for keyboard.

FatTeleTom · August 10th, 2006, 02:17 PM

Also check out Traynor YCV 40 (and YCV40WR). Great cleans, good dirt channel. No idea about running keys through them though. I'd have to agree that a 15" speaker might be helpful.

aznxtasy341 · August 10th, 2006, 03:21 PM

so, the bigger the speaker the more suitable it may be to keyboards?

what about lets say 2x12 like in the blues custom?

FatTeleTom · August 10th, 2006, 03:40 PM

For me at least, the "bigger speaker" thing is just an educated guess, based on the idea that a bigger speaker might cope better with the lower notes available on a keyboard.

I doubt any standard electric guitar amp is going to be a particularly "good" choice for keyboards, as I would assume in most cases a keyboard player would want a much flatter EQ response from their amp than most guitar amps will provide.

I'm not a keyboard player though, so, again, that's just an educated guess.

Of course, a guitar amp is always better than no amp at all!

FMA · August 10th, 2006, 03:53 PM

FatTeleTom gets to the crux of the biscuit, as FZ used to say.
I'm not sure you'll get a good keyboard sound out of a guitar amp and an amp geared toward keys would probably not be your best choice for a guitar amp.
Maybe some modeling deal or something loud and clean, like a JC-120 or something like that, would work...
But I think you'd be compromising both tones...
How about getting a good guitar amp and running keys through the PA?

WickedGTR · August 10th, 2006, 04:13 PM

Used silverface twin reverb.

aznxtasy341 · August 10th, 2006, 04:37 PM

alot of people are telling me to get a reverb and that they work out well with keys, should i look into one of those?

whats the main reason guitar amps cant handle keyboards as well, the low/high keys?

Chris S. · August 10th, 2006, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aznxtasy341

whats the main reason guitar amps cant handle keyboards as well, the low/high keys?

That's part of it, that keyboards have a much wider frequency range. But for keys, you'll also likely want an amp that can produce pristine clean sounds at a reasonable volume, i.e., almost zero distortion. Consequently, most keyboard amps tend to be solid state and fairly high-powered.

For guitar, you usually want warmer sounds, and a certain amount of power tube distortion. So most guitarists tend to prefer lower-wattage tube amps that they can overdrive.

So generally speaking, guitar through a keyboard amp will sound "sterile," and keyboards through a guitar amp will sound too distorted. Not a good match. :-( As suggested above, you're probably better off getting separate amps, or running the keyboards through the p.a. Hope it helps, CS :-)

Guitarzan · August 10th, 2006, 05:46 PM

Good recommendations above.

As far as an EL84 power tube unit goes, the H&K Tube 20 is one of the best small tube amp values out there.

http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/pr...ode=prod&id=93

aznxtasy341 · August 10th, 2006, 06:19 PM

thanks chris

okay but what about bass amps then ? maybe solid state maybe tube,

lets say like the 59 bassman
im really trying to just buy an amp that will be great for my tele and my keyboard

edit- im also looking at the 06 frontline mag. and the acoustasonic really seems sounds like what i want.

TC7 · August 10th, 2006, 06:51 PM

Ya know... If you run an old Wurlitzer electric piano through a guitar amp like a DRRI, the distortion is just ice cream on top of the pie.

FatTeleTom · August 10th, 2006, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC7

Ya know... If you run an old Wurlitzer electric piano through a guitar amp like a DRRI, the distortion is just ice cream on top of the pie.

Yep. On his last CD, Robben Ford ran a Wurly through a wah pedal and (IIRC) into a DRRI (albeit not heavily overdriven). Very tasty. I've heard the same trick elsewhere too.

If you're going to do it all with one amp, you probably need to do some serious field testing, and then decide which compromise works best for the type of guitar *and* keyboard sounds you want to get. For example, I kinda doubt an Acoustisonic is going to give you a great electric blues guitar sound?

I'd find a store that will let you try both guitar and keyboard through the amps you are considering.

Aen · August 10th, 2006, 10:15 PM

SFTR!

Tim Griffin · August 10th, 2006, 10:18 PM

Maybe an older, bigger Peavey of some sort. I've seen Redd use something like that. Big and clean with 2-12' s or 1-15" maybe? Sorry I don't know a model # but they made a few in the past.

Sarge · August 11th, 2006, 08:15 AM

Soldano.

franchelB · August 11th, 2006, 09:00 AM

the manual of my Peavey Delta Blues states that since it has a 15" speaker, I can also plug in a bass or acoustic guitar. With the amp's range that WIDE, I guess the amp CAN be used for keyboards too.
But really, one's better off using a bass amp when using a keyboard.

aznxtasy341 · August 11th, 2006, 02:35 PM

does a bassman sound right in this situation?

lets say like the 59 ri, or maybe even a silver face from the 70's?

sorry i dont know crap about crap on amps.

slack · August 11th, 2006, 03:14 PM

What kind of keyboards?

If you are talking vintage Rhodes and Wurly then yes, some guitar amps make excellent keyboard amps. A BF Bassman setup or BF/SF Twin Reverb with a Rhodes is the classic sound. Rhodes were setup and tested on Twins during manufacture.

However, if you are referring to any modern synthesizer keyboard I have always been advised to not use them with any traditional guitar amp because damage to the amp may result.

drjordan · August 11th, 2006, 08:20 PM

Why the desire to have only one amp? Convenience? Ease of setup? Trying to conserve stage space? All of which are valid concerns/needs/desires (and believe you me, I've thought about a similar set up myself; I play acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro, and harmonica), but if you're thinking about a '59 Bassman RI, price is obviously not the concern. For that price you could get 2 amps: a keyboard amp and a guitar amp. So...

I've seen it several times on these forums where someone's asked about an amp for acoustic guitar and electric guitar. I think you'll run into the same problem with an electric guitar/keyboard amp as you would trying to get an amp for both acoustic and electric guitar. The acoustic amp and keyboard amp are both designed to reproduce a sound. The electric guitar amp is designed to create a tone. The tubes, the type of speaker, the aforementioned frequency range, etc. all are designed to create a different type of tone. Plug a keyboard into an electric guitar amp, and it's going to try to create the same tone with your keyboard, and that's not very likely to sound very good. Plug an electric guitar into a keyboard amp, and it will not sound very lively or full because the amp is only reproducing what the guitar pickups are sending and it's adding no color/tone to the sound.

You might try an SWR California Blonde. It might be able to do it all on it's own. You might also try a Roland KC-550 keyboard amp and an amp modeler. The amp has a 15" speaker that should sound nice, and the modeler will create your electric guitar tone.

As a matter of fact, if it the latter works for you, let me know. I might dump my HRDlx, Roland AC-60, and my 3-ft. long pedalboard and get the Roland keyboard amp and a Vox Tone Lab SE.

Good luck.

aznxtasy341 · August 11th, 2006, 11:38 PM

thanks jordan, price was hte only factor i wanted something about 600$ so those sound nice. but im not completly shut off on using a fender amp for my keyboard cause.. i dont know i jsut WANT a fender.

i also believe billy preston used a Twin Reverb on let it be recordings with his.. rhodes?? as well as on the roof top. (though it was also on a PA)

onstage76 · August 13th, 2006, 09:01 AM

The keys player in my band has a rhodes sound which goes via a silverface bassman 100 into a 15 inch speaker - pulled a couple of tubes and got some beautiful break-up on the rhodes sound.

Bluesbob · August 13th, 2006, 11:37 AM

with a 15".

pick & 2 fingers · August 13th, 2006, 12:28 PM

At a practice recently, our piano player plugged into the bass player's Behringer 120 watt amp. Everyone was stunned. It handled the low keys well (duh...it's a bass amp), but the entire frequency of the keyboard just jumped out of the spkr, and this is a 1 x 12 amp....granted, that 12" is a bass spkr.

Some folks won't use Behringer stuff because of how they "mimic" (blatantly copy?) other brands. I don't even pause to think about that. If it works, if I can get cheaper, and it sounds good, I'll get it.

This is the bass amp I'm referring to:
http://www.behringer.com/BX1200/index.cfm?lang=ENG

If you check this page:
http://www.behringer.com/02_products...x.cfm?lang=ENG

...there's also a list of keyboard amps as well.

tbp0701 · August 13th, 2006, 04:47 PM

I don't some people avoid Behringer because it copies others' designs so much as it copies them and then finds the cheapest components and labor to make them. So buyers shouldn't expect any kind of durability or warranty support, but if it works for you, have fun.

Anyway, I'm not surprised the piano worked well through a bass amp. They're both designed to reproduce the signal without inducing distortion.

pick & 2 fingers · August 14th, 2006, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbp0701

I don't some people avoid Behringer because it copies others' designs so much as it copies them and then finds the cheapest components and labor to make them. So buyers shouldn't expect any kind of durability or warranty support, but if it works for you, have fun.

Anyway, I'm not surprised the piano worked well through a bass amp. They're both designed to reproduce the signal without inducing distortion.

I've heard that too. Guess I've been pretty lucky. This is the 2nd band I've been in that had a Behringer board & not one prob yet.

wilerty · August 15th, 2006, 09:14 AM

How about a used Hot Rod Deluxe for the guitar and a used solid state amp for the keyboard. You can probably do that within your $500 budget and have everything you want.

If you use any distortion and you want to buy just one amp you are going to have to use a distortion pedal. Otherwise you'll be distorting the keyboard as well if you use the amps drive.

Using the HRDX as an example, I would buy the amp and pedal and try both through the amp and if you like it, you're all done. If not, by the solid state amp for the keyboard.

August 10th, 2006, 01:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
aznxtasy341 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2006 Location: chicago Posts: 485	best 500-700 $$ amp buy hey, i was wondering what you guys think would be the best amp within a 500 dollar range, i play blues, jazz and the only important factor is that this amp needs to hold its own if i plug a keyboard in it too.

August 10th, 2006, 02:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
swooda Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New Orleans, LA Age: 53 Posts: 692	You really can't go wrong with a Fender DRRI as far as a guitar amp. I've never played a keyboard thru one though. Another amp in my arsenal is a Peavey Delta Blues with a 15" speaker. An excellent value in the 300 dollar range. The 15" speaker may be better suited for keyboard. __________________ Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back.

August 10th, 2006, 04:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
WickedGTR Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Hillbilly Hollywood Posts: 2,150 4 Photos	Used silverface twin reverb. __________________ http://www.myspace.com/jameswilsey

August 10th, 2006, 05:46 PM	#10 (permalink)
Guitarzan Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Hotlanta, GA Posts: 931	Good recommendations above. As far as an EL84 power tube unit goes, the H&K Tube 20 is one of the best small tube amp values out there. http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/pr...ode=prod&id=93 __________________ Set an eye on 'em Amos. Make it count, son.

August 10th, 2006, 10:15 PM	#14 (permalink)
Aen Tele-Holic Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eau Claire, WI Posts: 942	SFTR! __________________ Alt-country and psych-rock-tronica! Hey, be happy you can choose one genre for yourself! http://www.myspace.com/aenpage

August 10th, 2006, 02:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
FatTeleTom Tele-Meister Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Evanston Age: 41 Posts: 196 3 Photos	Also check out Traynor YCV 40 (and YCV40WR). Great cleans, good dirt channel. No idea about running keys through them though. I'd have to agree that a 15" speaker might be helpful.

August 10th, 2006, 03:21 PM	#4 (permalink)
aznxtasy341 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2006 Location: chicago Posts: 485	so, the bigger the speaker the more suitable it may be to keyboards? what about lets say 2x12 like in the blues custom?

August 10th, 2006, 03:40 PM	#5 (permalink)
FatTeleTom Tele-Meister Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Evanston Age: 41 Posts: 196 3 Photos	For me at least, the "bigger speaker" thing is just an educated guess, based on the idea that a bigger speaker might cope better with the lower notes available on a keyboard. I doubt any standard electric guitar amp is going to be a particularly "good" choice for keyboards, as I would assume in most cases a keyboard player would want a much flatter EQ response from their amp than most guitar amps will provide. I'm not a keyboard player though, so, again, that's just an educated guess. Of course, a guitar amp is always better than no amp at all!

August 10th, 2006, 03:53 PM	#6 (permalink)
FMA Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 1,174	FatTeleTom gets to the crux of the biscuit, as FZ used to say. I'm not sure you'll get a good keyboard sound out of a guitar amp and an amp geared toward keys would probably not be your best choice for a guitar amp. Maybe some modeling deal or something loud and clean, like a JC-120 or something like that, would work... But I think you'd be compromising both tones... How about getting a good guitar amp and running keys through the PA?

August 10th, 2006, 04:37 PM	#8 (permalink)
aznxtasy341 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2006 Location: chicago Posts: 485	alot of people are telling me to get a reverb and that they work out well with keys, should i look into one of those? whats the main reason guitar amps cant handle keyboards as well, the low/high keys?

August 10th, 2006, 06:19 PM	#11 (permalink)
aznxtasy341 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2006 Location: chicago Posts: 485	thanks chris okay but what about bass amps then ? maybe solid state maybe tube, lets say like the 59 bassman im really trying to just buy an amp that will be great for my tele and my keyboard edit- im also looking at the 06 frontline mag. and the acoustasonic really seems sounds like what i want.

August 10th, 2006, 06:51 PM	#12 (permalink)
TC7 Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Dallas Posts: 146	Ya know... If you run an old Wurlitzer electric piano through a guitar amp like a DRRI, the distortion is just ice cream on top of the pie.

August 10th, 2006, 10:18 PM	#15 (permalink)
Tim Griffin TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 81	Maybe an older, bigger Peavey of some sort. I've seen Redd use something like that. Big and clean with 2-12' s or 1-15" maybe? Sorry I don't know a model # but they made a few in the past.

August 11th, 2006, 08:15 AM	#16 (permalink)
Sarge Friend of Leo's Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pgh,Pa Age: 53 Posts: 3,549	Soldano.

August 11th, 2006, 09:00 AM	#17 (permalink)
franchelB Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Irving, United States of Texas! Age: 43 Posts: 1,897	Well, the manual of my Peavey Delta Blues states that since it has a 15" speaker, I can also plug in a bass or acoustic guitar. With the amp's range that WIDE, I guess the amp CAN be used for keyboards too. But really, one's better off using a bass amp when using a keyboard.

August 11th, 2006, 02:35 PM	#18 (permalink)
aznxtasy341 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2006 Location: chicago Posts: 485	does a bassman sound right in this situation? lets say like the 59 ri, or maybe even a silver face from the 70's? sorry i dont know crap about crap on amps.

August 11th, 2006, 03:14 PM	#19 (permalink)
slack Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 1,938	What kind of keyboards? If you are talking vintage Rhodes and Wurly then yes, some guitar amps make excellent keyboard amps. A BF Bassman setup or BF/SF Twin Reverb with a Rhodes is the classic sound. Rhodes were setup and tested on Twins during manufacture. However, if you are referring to any modern synthesizer keyboard I have always been advised to not use them with any traditional guitar amp because damage to the amp may result.

August 11th, 2006, 08:20 PM	#20 (permalink)
drjordan Tele-Meister Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Oxford, GA Age: 27 Posts: 154	Why the desire to have only one amp? Convenience? Ease of setup? Trying to conserve stage space? All of which are valid concerns/needs/desires (and believe you me, I've thought about a similar set up myself; I play acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro, and harmonica), but if you're thinking about a '59 Bassman RI, price is obviously not the concern. For that price you could get 2 amps: a keyboard amp and a guitar amp. So... I've seen it several times on these forums where someone's asked about an amp for acoustic guitar and electric guitar. I think you'll run into the same problem with an electric guitar/keyboard amp as you would trying to get an amp for both acoustic and electric guitar. The acoustic amp and keyboard amp are both designed to reproduce a sound. The electric guitar amp is designed to create a tone. The tubes, the type of speaker, the aforementioned frequency range, etc. all are designed to create a different type of tone. Plug a keyboard into an electric guitar amp, and it's going to try to create the same tone with your keyboard, and that's not very likely to sound very good. Plug an electric guitar into a keyboard amp, and it will not sound very lively or full because the amp is only reproducing what the guitar pickups are sending and it's adding no color/tone to the sound. You might try an SWR California Blonde. It might be able to do it all on it's own. You might also try a Roland KC-550 keyboard amp and an amp modeler. The amp has a 15" speaker that should sound nice, and the modeler will create your electric guitar tone. As a matter of fact, if it the latter works for you, let me know. I might dump my HRDlx, Roland AC-60, and my 3-ft. long pedalboard and get the Roland keyboard amp and a Vox Tone Lab SE. Good luck.

August 11th, 2006, 11:38 PM	#21 (permalink)
aznxtasy341 Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2006 Location: chicago Posts: 485	thanks jordan, price was hte only factor i wanted something about 600$ so those sound nice. but im not completly shut off on using a fender amp for my keyboard cause.. i dont know i jsut WANT a fender. i also believe billy preston used a Twin Reverb on let it be recordings with his.. rhodes?? as well as on the roof top. (though it was also on a PA)

August 13th, 2006, 09:01 AM	#22 (permalink)
onstage76 TDPRI Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: melbourne australia Posts: 34	The keys player in my band has a rhodes sound which goes via a silverface bassman 100 into a 15 inch speaker - pulled a couple of tubes and got some beautiful break-up on the rhodes sound.

August 13th, 2006, 11:37 AM	#23 (permalink)
Bluesbob Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: East Suffolk L.I. Posts: 1,073 20 Photos	SFBandmaster... with a 15". __________________ What, me worry?

August 13th, 2006, 12:28 PM	#24 (permalink)
pick & 2 fingers Tele-Meister Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Jeff City Mo Age: 43 Posts: 239	the dreaded "B" word........ At a practice recently, our piano player plugged into the bass player's Behringer 120 watt amp. Everyone was stunned. It handled the low keys well (duh...it's a bass amp), but the entire frequency of the keyboard just jumped out of the spkr, and this is a 1 x 12 amp....granted, that 12" is a bass spkr. Some folks won't use Behringer stuff because of how they "mimic" (blatantly copy?) other brands. I don't even pause to think about that. If it works, if I can get cheaper, and it sounds good, I'll get it. This is the bass amp I'm referring to: http://www.behringer.com/BX1200/index.cfm?lang=ENG If you check this page: http://www.behringer.com/02_products...x.cfm?lang=ENG ...there's also a list of keyboard amps as well.

August 13th, 2006, 04:47 PM	#25 (permalink)
tbp0701 Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 494	I don't some people avoid Behringer because it copies others' designs so much as it copies them and then finds the cheapest components and labor to make them. So buyers shouldn't expect any kind of durability or warranty support, but if it works for you, have fun. Anyway, I'm not surprised the piano worked well through a bass amp. They're both designed to reproduce the signal without inducing distortion.

August 15th, 2006, 09:14 AM	#27 (permalink)
wilerty TDPRI Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Syracuse, NY Age: 62 Posts: 71	How about a used Hot Rod Deluxe for the guitar and a used solid state amp for the keyboard. You can probably do that within your $500 budget and have everything you want. If you use any distortion and you want to buy just one amp you are going to have to use a distortion pedal. Otherwise you'll be distorting the keyboard as well if you use the amps drive. Using the HRDX as an example, I would buy the amp and pedal and try both through the amp and if you like it, you're all done. If not, by the solid state amp for the keyboard.

August 15th, 2006, 01:16 PM	#28 (permalink)
reverbbb Friend of Leo's Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Just Plano, Texas Age: 50 Posts: 3,733