Roland KC-350 keyboard amplifier

Costs are rising and times are tough.
Please consider a donation to keep this
place going.

Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.

We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.

Update cookies preferences

You are logged in as Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >>Discussions >>Product Reviews >>

Page: [1]

Message

<< Newer Topic Older Topic >>

James Ashley Mayer

Posts: 115
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

Roland KC-350 keyboard amplifier

I've tried several acoustic amps and haven't found them to be great for flamenco. The 1/4" inputs are tuned for boomy piezo pickups and the XLR ins feel more like afterthoughts. I used to own a Ultrasound 50 watt amp and it simply didn't cut it for flamenco. Not enough volume and an increasingly brittle sound as the volume is turned up. I have not tried the Roland AC60 that is also being reviewed in the forum.

My roommate has a Roland KC-350 Keyboard amp and I tried it out with a mic and piezo pickup just to see what would happen. It turns out that keyboard amps are basically flat response combo amps with mixers. They've become popular with electric guitarists as a way to amplify emp/effects modelers. So, the Roland is a compact combo with a 4 channel mixer. Some of the channels are stereo 1/4" and one of them is XLR. Several other bells and whistles are there like RCA in and several different output options. It's 120 watts, has two horns and a 12" speaker.

I got a pretty decent and full sound with both mic and piezo and was able to crank it pretty loud with no feedback. Some amps are definitely more feedback resistant than others. The EQ works well. I was impressed. I haven't tried it in a gig situation or dance class.

There are a lot of these keyboard amps out there and they seem like a cheaper (albeit, mono) and easier to set-up alternative to the portable PA options. This one runs around $500 new, but I'm sure you could grab one for a lot cheaper used.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 2 2010 15:52:09