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good small-ish KB amp/powered speaker?


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I am looking for a small-ish, lightweight keyboard amp or powered speaker, mainly to use to monitor myself at gigs, and use occasionally at band practice.

 

Right now, I"m considering:

 

Roland CM30

Mackie SRM 350

Roland KC 150 or 350

Roland PM10 (this may be a stretch, don't know how it would sound for keys)

 

Pretty much every gig I play with my 2 bands has a house PA, so the keys going through the FOH is no problem, I don't need tons of power.

 

I always seem to have problems hearing myself with house monitors, so I would like to have my own little amp just for the purpose of monitoring keys. I also play guitar in both bands and have to bring a full guitar rig, so something on the smaller side for a KB amp would be ideal.

 

The Roland CM30 seems like it would be ideal (although I have not heard one yet, and don't know if it would have enough power for onstage use), since it's tiny, and I could position it at around face level (I sit when I play) to hear my keys.

 

I mentioned the ROland PM10, a V-Drum monitor, just because its a wedge design, which seems like it would be handy, but I don't know if a V-Drum amp could handle synth sounds.

 

The Mackie also seems good, but it's a bit bigger and pricier than I would like. Also, I used a Roland KC amp at a gig (it was the soundguy's, I'm not sure which model, but I believe it was the KC 150) and it sounded good and seemed plenty loud, but again, it's a bit bulkier and pricier than I'm looking for.

 

Any recommendations? Think the CM30 would work for me?

 

PS- I use a Yamaha S80 (also far bulkier than I should have gotten), and use piano, EP, organ and synth patches about equally

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And just in case anyone was wondering, at band practice I run keys thru the PA.

 

Occasionally, we practice at the bassist's house, and he doesn't have a PA, we run vocals thru headphones, and I have been running keys through the headphones too. Obviously, this sucks, and I was wondering if the CM30 would work in this situation as a keyboard amplifier. We are not terribly loud at practice (I use a 15 watt Fender Blues Jr for guitar and it's more than adequate), but we are a rock band, so there's some cymbal crashing going on.

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I own and still love my ElectroVoice SXA 360. 36lbs, 600W of power, can serve as a PA in a pinch. We ran lead vocals through it in our loud rock band and we were able to keep the vox clean as well as loud enough to be heard over the drums and guitars.

 

You'll need an outboard mixer though.

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