Since I no longer own an actual guitar amp, I was thinking I might buy a mid-priced keyboard amp for my living room so that I will be motivated to practice more. My goal would be to have a rather characterless amp that would respond well to being fed amp-simulated guitar and bass signals from real instruments. So I'd either be using a Boss GT-8 effects unit (which does cab and amp sims) and sometimes a laptop with Amplitube and other VST sims. I also have a few drum machines that would be sitting there ready to go, using a second input into the same amp (is that bad?)
Any thoughts on this idea? Lots of these keyboard amps seem to have a better variety of tonal control and come with lots of input options (XLR and mic).
Here's one I was thinking of trying out:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--HTKKM60
Roland probably has some nice ones in the less-than-$350 range, too.
advice on using a KB amp for guitars and bass guitars
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- KVRAF
- 4176 posts since 10 Oct, 2002 from Nashville, TN USA
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- KVRAF
- 7217 posts since 21 Aug, 2004 from Trondheim, Norway
btw, I had the BIG (4x10") Roland Jazz Chorus for many years, and the clean sound (and chorused) was insane, it just doesn't do distortion well. So with good plugs it's not a bad idea.
Rakkervoksen
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Chuck E. Jesus Chuck E. Jesus https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=108246
- R.I.P.
- 7301 posts since 23 May, 2006 from in between a cornfield and a river
seems like a good idea, but maybe a little loud...a boom box and a small mixer would do similar, but the keys amp could give you a good mobile live setup...
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- KVRian
- 1219 posts since 12 Aug, 2002
Shane...I can't vouch much for playing *real* guitars through keyboard amps, but my experience with most amp sims, in particular the SansAmp PS-1 boxes, is that they sound much better (to my ears, anyroad) through a full range system than they do through normal guitar rigs.
Personally, I would prefer to play a sim through a full range rig even when having regular guitar amps/cabs at my disposal. And, as you pointed out, those extra patching options are a bonus that is hard to pass on.
Personally, I would prefer to play a sim through a full range rig even when having regular guitar amps/cabs at my disposal. And, as you pointed out, those extra patching options are a bonus that is hard to pass on.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders - Lao Tzu
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4176 posts since 10 Oct, 2002 from Nashville, TN USA
Cool. Thanks for the input.
I thought about it quite a bit and I don't see how it can be a bad thing. If the freqs are there, then it will produce them, if they are not there, then it'll not produce them. So a full range speaker is kinda like a near-field monitor, only a little more squiggly around the edges--and I like the guitar sounds I get with amp sims through near-fields, more or less. So it'll probably be lots of fun.
The thing that got me thinking along these lines was the open forum session with Johnny A.
He starts talking about how he does his live rig at some point. I forget which vid it was, but the whole series is interesting--and he's a monster player, and he does little vignettes throughout the talk.
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/V ... n%20Forum/
I thought about it quite a bit and I don't see how it can be a bad thing. If the freqs are there, then it will produce them, if they are not there, then it'll not produce them. So a full range speaker is kinda like a near-field monitor, only a little more squiggly around the edges--and I like the guitar sounds I get with amp sims through near-fields, more or less. So it'll probably be lots of fun.
The thing that got me thinking along these lines was the open forum session with Johnny A.
He starts talking about how he does his live rig at some point. I forget which vid it was, but the whole series is interesting--and he's a monster player, and he does little vignettes throughout the talk.
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/V ... n%20Forum/