Members GCDEF Posted September 28, 2009 Members Share Posted September 28, 2009 Don't get overly hung up on wattage. The K4 will get stupidly loud and stay clean. The Traynor is stereo. Even though you can't really hear the stereo effect from such a small box, it maintains the stereo signal so you can pass it through to the PA, and you have to compromise some of your sounds by running in mono. I didn't find a whole lot of use for the tube preamp, but the mixer section, and for what I was doing, having channel 4 work as a monitor without passing the signal back to the outputs was handy too. The QSC may be louder, but the Traynor is already as loud as you could possibly want. That's the way I'd go. www.ProAudioStar has the best prices on Traynor stuff and is a great place to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GigMan Posted September 28, 2009 Members Share Posted September 28, 2009 There are some advantages, spec wise, that I can see with a Traynor K4 vs. a active speaker: A) Most keyboard amps, including the Traynor, come with a mixer section. Active speakers typically do not. Therefore, without a keyboard amp, lugging around a small mixer may become necessary. (But lugging around a small mixer is helpful at gigs, anyways. The variety of configurations at bars is amazing -- some are DI box, some are straight into a mic channel, some are line level, etc. -- and a tiny Mackie is a good swiss-army solution to deal with this and other problems.) B) The Traynor and some other keyboard amps do allow for stereo. I am personally not fond of stereo at a show -- I don't feel its too useful. But I have wondered whether something like the Traynor's configuration would improve the *spread* of the sound -- the Mackie SRM 450 I currently use can be a little directional. C) The Traynor offers a tube channel. Might be good for warmth. (Might not be, either. ) Tube channel might be a standout feature of the Traynor but "stereo" is not - even though it accepts stereo inputs, it is not a stereo amp, it is summed mono... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted September 29, 2009 Members Share Posted September 29, 2009 Tube channel might be a standout feature of the Traynor but "stereo" is not - even though it accepts stereo inputs, it is not a stereo amp, it is summed mono... No it's not. The 12" woofer is summed mono, but the mids and highs remain stereo as do the outputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted September 29, 2009 Members Share Posted September 29, 2009 I'm not sure "lugging" and "small mixer" belong in the same sentence! Lugging is more like a big 88 note controller or a Leslie or a big rack! Now, if you want to say "hassle with a small mixer" then I'd agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GigMan Posted September 29, 2009 Members Share Posted September 29, 2009 I'm not sure "lugging" and "small mixer" belong in the same sentence! Lugging is more like a big 88 note controller or a Leslie or a big rack! Now, if you want to say "hassle with a small mixer" then I'd agree! Good call, Dan... "lugging" Dragging your giant 88 weighted key Yamaha S90ES up and down your bsmt. stairs & hoisting it up to carry down from your nice wooden deck you just had powerwashed and sealed "hassling" What you do w/your small mixer onstage in dim lighting when you can't remember the settings you carefully created at home and everything sounds different in the bar/club/whatever [insert venue here ________] and your flashlight's batteries are dead and there's only 12 minutes to show time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 I never touch my mixer so it's not a hassle, but I do lug it in a way because it's in a 10 space rack that weighs more than any piece of gear I carry. I agree- normalizing your patches, and normalizing your levels between boards is the way to go. I use the volume controls on my boards for the minor adjustments I might need to make during a song. I was thinking more along the lines of someone who is using some powered speakers and needs a small mixer that would most likely not be a rack mount type- having to plug in everything every time you use it gets old. Knobs get moved around when you pack it away so you always have to go over your settings and stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted September 30, 2009 Members Share Posted September 30, 2009 I was thinking more along the lines of someone who is using some powered speakers and needs a small mixer that would most likely not be a rack mount type- having to plug in everything every time you use it gets old. Knobs get moved around when you pack it away so you always have to go over your settings and stuff. I don't really need too many settings -- volumes always at the middle detent, EQ is flat (except on rare occasions). Yeah, there is the plugging in and out aspect, but it's not that bad. I still set up faster than the drummer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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