Keyboard amp for an electric acoustic?

[tryinghard]

My daughter sings and plays the blues with her guitar. She's been depending on house amps since her band parted ways and the other band members (all in the same family) kept the equipment.
She needs an amp for solo performances that works for both her elec/acoustic guitar and voice.
Her guitar has piezo pickups under the bridge and no preamp.
I have a lead on a VERY good price on a Peavey Keyboard amp.
I'm told she'd need a preamp or a modeler to connect the guitar to the amp.
Does anyone have a good idea which one would be best for this situation?

[newey]

Keyboard amps are very versatile. All the Peaveys I've seen have 1/4" instrument inputs, some of the bigger/better ones also have XLR jacks on one or more channels so they can be used for vocals as well. They have full-range speakers (and often a tweeter to boot), I've seen bass players use them as they're not really all that different than bass amps.

I've played an electric through a Roland Keyboard amp, and while I would definitely want some pedals or a preamp to color up the sound as they're very sterile sounding, I didn't have any and plugged right into the amp. Your daughter can do the same with her acoustic/electric, no preamp or processor required.

Dedicated acoustic amps generally have a woofer and tweeter setup like a keyboard amp, although I suspect the crossover cut-off frequencies are set differently. The tone stack may also not be optimal for guitar, as it may be biased towards keyboard needs. But other than that, the amps are very similar "under the hood".

So, if it's a deal, I'd say grab it, see what it sounds like for your daughter's purposes, maybe flavor with a pedal to her taste. If she hates it, but you really got a deal, you may be able to unload it for more than you paid anyway!

Heck, I might buy it off of you!

Lots of bands will haul an extra keyboard amp as a spare because, in a pinch, anyone in the band can use it.

EDIT:And, my apologies, I forgot:

Hello and Welcome!

[JohnH]

newey - do you think that a keyboard amp woule handle a raw piezo pickup that has no ptreamp of its own?

I have not tried this with a purpose made piezo pup, but I would have guessed that a purpose-made preamp would be desirable to eq and boost the piezo up to general line levels to go into the keyboard amp. But I'd say that if the keyboard amp would be good, so long as it can also take a vocal mic.

John

[sumgai]

John,

Your average (if there is such a thing) keyboard amp is an extended range bass amp. That means that it has a tweeter (usually a piezo horn) to handle the highs, in complement to the lows it was already able to handle. For your purposes, if your piezo setup can put out a signal comparable to either a mag pickup, then chances are good that the keyboard amp can use it, without having to turn up all the way just to hear your axe. OTOH, if you piezo puts out at the level of a microphone, then you'll likely need a pre-amp to provide some drive to the keyboard amp, so that you don't have to turn it up to the point where you also hear the transistor noise coming out the speakers.


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newey,

You got cash to burn? Have I got a deal for you! ;D


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TH,

Hi, and to the NutzHouse!

Peavey is a good brand, no doubt. But here's my take:

A) No matter what model, it'll be heavy, as in, it'll weigh a lot. Not to be discourteous towards your offspring, but unless she has roadies trailing after her, then she better be looking to build up some muscles. 'Nuff said 'bout that.

B) Peaveys have been around forever, which means that the value for used gear has stabilized. If you'rer looking at "a real deal", then you may want to do some comparison shopping, just to be sure. If it's from a private party, do you have recourse if something goes wrong? Unless you know the party is financially hurting, or extemely dumb about things like this, then I'd bet you're not really getting such a good deal after all. But don't let me interrupt you, if your mind is already made up.

C) I'd scrap the idea of a keyboard amp altogether. You don't need such a thing, you need a good mixer amp that has built-in speaker set. Peavey makes such a thing, I believe the old KB-300 qualifies for this one. But again, it takes two men and a small boy to haul thing outta the vehicle and into the stage.....

D) If you're asking for recommendations "from the front lines", I'd say that your daughter would benefit most from a Roland Cube. Small, solid as a rock, has great tone, and has a variety of inputs already on board - mic, guitar, acoustic guitar, you name it, the Roland can handle it without undue stress. Some models of the Cube come with onboard effects, that might help make or break the deal for you (or rather, for her). Of course, it has outputs so if she hits a venue that's too big for the Cube by itself, then she can plug directly into the house gear without changing any of her settings. What's not to love here? ;D

E) The downside? Roland starts and ends being more expensive than most other amps of equivalent size, sorry to say. That's because they are in high demand, and once you play through one, particularly a Cube, you'll understand why.

F) No, I dont' work for Roland (nor for Boss), but I own a lot of their gear. In fact, as a former professional technician, I can honestly say that in all my years on the bench, the only time I ever saw a Roland come in for repair was when a switch got broken during a fall from a truck - not even the knobs were bent! (That's the "chorus" switch, which early models had ones that were direct replacements for a Fender Strat/Tele 3-way selector.) These things can out-Timex a Timex watch, I swear.

HTH



sumgai

[newey]

Good point, John, I sort of assumed the piezo had an onboard preamp already. But we do need clarification on that.