Roland Keyboard Amplifiers

The whole amp is only around 10lbs and has a solid feel (wooden cabinet) to it to with a metal grille in front. Tough stuff. As opposed to the BA330 which is 20lbs heavier and looks more fragile and is $200 more - for what, exactly? UTILIZATION With the AA batteries, the KC110 will output at 20 watts max. And so I keep the channel gain and master volume at 100% and control my volume from the Fishman preamp. With the unit up on a speaker stand, it is clearly audible above civilized chit-chat at well dressed affairs. It couldn't compete with a rowdy bar crowd, however. Use it accordingly. I use reverb sparingly. At about 25% applied, I find it to be pleasant sounding. Bear in mind that you'll need a speaker stand with a 1 1/2" inch diameter. If you have a speaker stand with a 1 3/8" diameter you'll need an adapter. Another nice feature of this unit is the mic input on Channel 1. It's not phantom powered and so you'll need to use a dynamic mic. I highly recommend the Shure PG48. It has an on/off switch and comes with an XLR-XLR cable. Useful for those situations when I need to make an announcement while playing. The unit also has auxiliary inputs (RCA and mini) so that I can plug in my iPod to keep music going during breaks. OVERALL OPINION Previously I had the street cube which I thought was a little 'nasally' in sound, but this one is much better. I think the street cube is probably more orientated to guitars but this little chap sounds good with every input thrown at it so far! Believe me, for the money I don't think it cant be beaten, It's one of those pieces of gear that you'll have for years as opposed to other stuff that gets swapped and changed.

I have this amp for a few months now, and I don't regret getting this one. It's sound is just amazing and it has enough power to get me heard over my band mates (they have a nag to play somewhat loud). I use the KC 550 with a Yamaha NP-30 and an old PSR-220 for the moment UTILIZATION Great! This amp reproduces the sound as it should. It has a rich bass response, which I like very much about this amp. Though I got to be careful not to drown the bassist sometimes. (Can be solved with the EQ). Vocals sound very good as well. To prevent 'howling' when using a mic, try to lower the High range by about a fifth. In most cases it solves it for me I've ran a electric guitar trough it a few times, it sounds very clean and almost acoustic. This amp is great for small to medium-large sized gigs, and has enough power to be heard over the guitars. It does need some tweaking when in larger areas. (I have to give the high-mid range a small boost for better sound.) The four (or five) inputs are good for me, I only use three at the moment. OVERALL OPINION I like that the KC 550 has four (Stereo) inputs and an extra AUX input, making a total of five inputs. I use it as a monitor and mixer when we record our songs by ourself. The sound output, when all channels are mixed, is very good. A great plus to this amp. There are casters attached to this unit, which can be taken off. This is a good thing, since it's not that light (~27 kg) and somewhat bulky. The KC 550 has a Stereo Link ability; you can link it with an extra KC 550/350. Combined you can have ten inputs (eight without AUX), though on two different outputs. This unit features a three band EQ, which is all I need actually.

The Roland KC-500 is an 150 watt keyboard amplifier that is perfect for live shows. I don't own this keyboard amplifier, as I really don't have a use for something like this at home, but the keyboard player that I've played with most uses this for all of the live shows we play together. I've always been very happy with the sound we get from it, as is he. The amp has a four channel mixer, that can support either four stereo channels or eight mono ones, which is really more than enough but it's definitely nice to have the option if you are working with a few different keyboards or other instruments. UTILIZATION The configuration of the Roland KC-500 isn't anything too hard to figure out how to use. To me there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about it, as everything is generally self explanatory. Some of the parameters the KC-500 has include those for volume for each of the channels, as well as a three band equalizer. Users will be able to catch on quickly without the assistance of a manual, but if you are new with amplifiers it might be a good idea to have it around anyway. OVERALL OPINION From my experience using the Roland KC-500, it definitely seems to be the perfect keyboard amp for live shows. I can't really see any other scenario where this amp would be necessary, but it shines for live shows. I guess you could use it as a practice amp, but it's definitely got more power and volume than you'd ever need in a practice situation, not to mention that it is extremely heavy. There are a number of different Roland keyboard amplifiers out there that are very similar to this one, but since they are no longer making the KC-500 it can probably be had a cheaper price than it would be to get a newer similar model. I've got nothing bad to say about the Roland KC-500 as I think it's an awesome keyboard amplifier for live shows.