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James Ashley Mayer -> Roland KC-350 keyboard amplifier (Sep. 2 2010 15:52:09)
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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.
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