Tode as Keyboard Amp?

[travisty]

Greetings,

I am looking for a keyboard amp (self-powered monitor) for a digital keyboard. This would be for my living room and for light amplification in small areas. This is not for performing on stage or in big rooms.

Would the Tode work?

I am assuming the best setting would be full feedback. I'm a bit concerned that the bottom end would be a little light at 50Hz.

If Tode is not suggested, can anyone recommend a tube amp which is appropriate for keyboard amplification?

Thanks

 

[Doc B]

We did a show at Bottleheadquarters in September. I ran a midi keyboard thru a Mac mini and into our main system. We ended up using an electric piano sample, and it worked really well. We also had a Tode at the show, but just for guitar. Tode could probably work well for keys with a bigger speaker plugged into the auxilary speaker jack. You might not need the feedback turned up all the way, just depends on what sound you like.

 

[Bonzo]

Did you mean, HAMMOND amp? 

(I'm a BIG Deep Purple fan!)

Ciao!

 

[johnsonad]

Dan, how wide is the frequency response output of the Tode?

 

[Doc B]

[No message]

 

[travisty]

If I had a Hammond I'd play it. But I think I will go for a 'fake' Hammond. Easier to carry around.
The Nord keyboards with the organ sections in them are very nice. Tooled around on one of those last weekend.
And the Nord Grand Piano is REALLY a nice-sounding piano.

My question on the frequency response is this... if the Tode only goes to 50Hz, does one just lose the last octave on an 88-key keyboard?
Two Cs below MiddleC is 65Hz. C1 is 32-odd Hz and the last octave starts at 55Hz and goes to half that.

Any thoughts on how one would run a subwoofer in a setup like this? (KB+Tode+SW)

 

[Bonzo]

Yes, fake hammond is the way to go if you are a touring musician! I played drums in a Deep Purple cover band for years and our keyboard player used to be amplified throught a fender twin reverb: no real lack of bass, but for a real piano sound I tink you'll need an active sub.
It's always tricky to integrate a sub in a good sounding setup, but it could be easier due to the limited power of the Tode.
I think you can use the jack output (if it's not a shorting one) to pass the signal to the sub, but I don't know if I'm wrong.

Ciao

 

[Doc B]

The best answer is use a keyboard amp for a keyboard, and a guitar amp for a guitar. If you want a setup that is optimal for keyboard bass notes you want a 15" speaker and an amp that is more of a wideband hi fi design. A bass amp might work better than a guitar amp. If you want to emulate a grand piano well, you want to go a step further to a real high fidelity audio system. But even then it still won't sound exactly like a grand piano. I think that if you want a great grand piano sound you probably want a grand piano. People's are fairly well accustomed to the sound of a real piano in a room and that makes it harder to fool the brain. I do think that with a little bit different speaker the Tode makes a great harmonica amp too. But going beyond guitar and harp and you are in uncharted territory.

My bro Art Khu was here a few weeks ago and he thought the midi KB setup I put together using a Fender Rhodes emulator thru our main system was better than his Nord. But it was playing thru my big system, so that probably influenced his opinion. Interestingly the Rhodes had been sampled both DI and thru a speaker/amp. The DI sample sounded great, but the sample from the speaker sounded broken to me. Obviously whoever put out the software thought the speaker sample had merit. So when it comes down to it, each player has to decide what sound they want.

As for Hammonds, I hear everyone about the hassles of moving one around. The samples I tried thru the Midi keyboard were very poor compared to my modded Model E with a Leslie 31H. Presumably there are better emulators, or I am just a hammond tone snob. No way I was moving half a ton of organ gear to our upstairs listening room. So we stuck with the Rhodes sound for the evening.