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Post by tim on Sept 24, 2009 20:19:24 GMT -5
OK, my son lives in Tennessee, and has a limited budget. He has a nice Clavinova, and was wanting a small PA rig to have in his basement that he could run the keyboard though and also maybe a mic or so.
He went to a local shop and they had a used Pig Nose head and speakers for about $150.00 anyhow, it was about 75w.
the price wasn't bad IF it would ahve worked out. but when he plugged a keyboard into it, he couldn't get a good "sweet spot" tone. It buzzed pretty hard especially on lower notes.
I really don't know if the electric keyboard was sending a powered signal to the PA head? or what.
I really thought it wold have been ok, but i don't really know how he was testing.
anybody have any better thoughts?
i can easily find out what the Keyboard was, PA model number and how it was hooked up, but at the moment I'd kind of in the dark.
Thanks for any input!
Tim
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Post by tim on Sept 24, 2009 20:28:47 GMT -5
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Post by Blues Dues on Sept 24, 2009 20:48:24 GMT -5
OK, my son lives in Tennessee, and has a limited budget. He has a nice Clavinova, and was wanting a small PA rig to have in his basement that he could run the keyboard though and also maybe a mic or so. He went to a local shop and they had a used Pig Nose head and speakers for about $150.00 anyhow, it was about 75w. the price wasn't bad IF it would ahve worked out. but when he plugged a keyboard into it, he couldn't get a good "sweet spot" tone. It buzzed pretty hard especially on lower notes. I really don't know if the electric keyboard was sending a powered signal to the PA head? or what. I really thought it wold have been ok, but i don't really know how he was testing. anybody have any better thoughts? i can easily find out what the Keyboard was, PA model number and how it was hooked up, but at the moment I'd kind of in the dark. Thanks for any input! Tim I am not familiar with the Pig Nose amp head he is using, but is it a guitar amp or a keyboard amp? They make both. The fixed, line output of a keyboard is way too much for the input of a guitar amp which is designed for the much lower output voltage of magnetic guitar pickups. He really needs a keyboard amp. He could try connecting the amp to the headphone jack instead of the fixed line output and turn the master volume of the keyboard down and see if the sound cleans up. The other issue though will be matching the output and input impedences. If it is indeed a guitar amp, they won't be matched and tonal quality will suffer. RCE |
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Post by tim on Sept 24, 2009 21:03:46 GMT -5
thanks Rich. Actually it is a Pignose PA 75W PA system. I couldn't find much on the net abotu them but they're China made and I did find a pic of the head www.chautauquaamp.com/picturepage.php?filenamer=pignose%2075.jpgI take it that it has 2-10" speaker cabinets but really don't know that much about them. I'm going to send a copy of this thread to him and see what he says. Thanks!! |
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Rat
Junior Member
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Post by Rat on Sept 25, 2009 10:36:09 GMT -5
The fixed, line output of a keyboard is way too much for the input of a guitar amp which is designed for the much lower output voltage of magnetic guitar pickups. He really needs a keyboard amp. He could try connecting the amp to the headphone jack instead of the fixed line output and turn the master volume of the keyboard down and see if the sound cleans up. The other issue though will be matching the output and input impedences. If it is indeed a guitar amp, they won't be matched and tonal quality will suffer. RCE If he's running a direct out from the keyboard into the PA, he might need a Direct Input Box to go from the low impedance output of the keyboard to the high impedance 1/4" input on the PA. If the keyboard has XLR out, then he should go XLR on the keyboard to XLR on the PA for the correct impedance match. I would not recommend running from a headphone jack, that is a lot lower impedance than the XLR output, it's designed as a driver circuit and it's essentially a low powered amplifier itself. You can run keys thru a guitar amp and have it sound SWEET! I work with one gentleman that runs a Hammond into a 65 Twin Reverb Reissue and it sounds fantastic!!! On Fender style guitar amps, you would use Input 2 for a low impedance source since it lacks the 1Meg resistor to ground that the 1st input has. Hope that helps... |
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Post by Blues Dues on Sept 25, 2009 14:09:53 GMT -5
Thanks Rat. That's a lot better advice than I gave, that's for sure.
RCE
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Post by papajohn on Sept 27, 2009 9:39:21 GMT -5
I'm not a pro keyboard player but I've done a lot of keys in different bands over the years. Keys through a guitar amp just isn't going to work. You'll overdrive it and it'll sound very distorted. They really need to be played through a keyboard amp or a bass amp or direct into a decent PA. If he's looking for something to play and sing through, look for an old Peavey KB300 or equivalent. I have one and they come with an XLR or mike input. Great for small gigs or rehearsal. I see them on eBay frequently for short money. I currently run my boards through a mixer into a powered speaker. I use a JBL EON 10" or a Behringer 12". Hope this helps.
Papa John
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Rat
Junior Member
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Post by Rat on Sept 28, 2009 19:10:46 GMT -5
Keys through a guitar amp just isn't going to work. You'll overdrive it and it'll sound very distorted. It sure does work and to great effect... It's all about the gain structure through the signal path. www.rane.com/note135.html |
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Post by teletristan on Oct 9, 2009 9:42:49 GMT -5
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