I am looking for some good amplification for my Little Phatty.
As a bassplayer I already have a bass stack (410+115), but is quite big to use at home.
What do you guys use at home and on the stage?
Can I just use a pair of (active) monitors when I play at home, a keyboard amp, PA, or just my bass amp?
2) I stumbled on a Moog amplifier with speaker, but is really big:
From what you’re saying, and the photos, you’re talking about the Moog Music of yesteryears. They’ve stopped making amps quite a while back…
A pair of quality active monitors should do nicely when at home, or even in small venues. I use a pair of SRM450 when doing jams or parties with my Minimoog D (from about the same era as the Moog amp )
Haha yeah I figured that out. Do you think it is worth checking it out (the price is ±1300$), or is there something better on the market these days?
Why did they stop making them?
I’ve read a topic here about keyboard amps, but didn’t get much wiser. What is important to look at?
A friend has two KRK RP8 RoKit monitors in his home studio, my LP sounds good with that. But I am still new to the synth world so I don’t know much about what else is out there to use.
That amp head appears to be a Moog Synamp (less the speakers.)
As I recall, it was about 400 watts.
It was VERY expensive too. (something like $4K in its day.)
I use(d) basically a high powered stereo.
Carver CT-23 preamp
Carver M-400T “Cube” amp (a very unique amp- tiny, with 400-500 watts depending on bridged vs stereo mode)
Carvin 15" speakers with mid/high horns.
They’re all for sale too, but these speakers are kinda big to ship.
As for mono vs stereo, live it might not make too much of a difference.
But for recording, stereo allows for some better reverb, delay and chorusing making even a mono synth a lot more spacious.
Kevin’s right, that’s a Synamp. With associated speaker set. Nice system but very heavy. While it has a pair of 200w power amplifiers (for biamping the speaker set), the mixer is mono. I own and gig with a Synamp but I do not have the speaker set. Synamp was one of the first amplifiers designed specifically for keyboards in the late 1970s and they were very expensive. Note I did not say lightweight
If you are doing home recording, you probably need studio monitors. The PA system or bass amps are cool for live stuff, but for recording it will sound much different on regular speakers. For live stuff I use just a nice mono bass amp (live sound is almost always mono) with a big speaker, but for recording, monitors are pretty necessary for accuracy.
I used to use a subwoofer along with my studio monitors, but even that turned out not to work well for getting accuracy and a good mix. I found out that in order for subwoofers to translate well, you have to have a super well treated acoustic room, otherwise the low end will take over and you will overcompensate by turning the bass down and get a thin mix.
Or you could get a decent pair of headphones for mixing, but that usually doesn’t work too well.
I currently have a QSC GX-3 amplifier…and my speaker, once complete, will be bigger than your bass speakers…I just play at home, but I’m always trying to push my limits as to what I can do with soundwaves…
Yeah I don’t think people realize when they go to a concert, that the same source is being played on all the speakers in mono. Stereo is really just an effect created to get more realism in reproduction of acoustic sources. And it can be used when mixing to get over frequency masking when multiple sources in the same frequency ranges are being played.
When talking about “stereo” with respect to synths, all it means is two different signals, usually from the same synth. If you only had one ear and placed it between two speakers each with a different synth signal, it would be the same as with two ears, because there is no real stereo image. Which is why it makes sense to get stereo monitors when mixing on a mixer with pan controls, but not for just amplification or live sound reinforcement.
Anyone who has ever heard a panned patch on an Oberheim 8 voice through a real stereo PA system will tell you the difference between mono played on two speakers and real stereo sound !
First it is not “real” stereo, it is panned mono sources. But unless the speakers are studio monitors designed for imaging, there is nothing special about having 2 speakers versus more, anyone positioned a foot to the left or right would just be hearing mono anyway, and having 2 ears doesn’t help that vs just one. So the two ears, two speakers argument is thin when talking about sound reinforcement.
To me, stereo sound simply means different, separate, audio content being played in two separate dedicated left and right channels and speakers. And, yes, technically the Oberheim 8 voice patch is the left/right panning of 8 mono sound sources, and not the meticulous audio field positioning of instruments of the early years of stereo vinyl records.
But the fact remains that you could not enjoy, to its full extent, the shear auditory satisfaction this kind of patch might bring listening to it standing in front of a pair of separate channels speakers, compared to a mixdown-to-mono version of this when played on a single, or even two speakers !
But I “hear” what your probably saying though. It’s true that in a large room, or worst a concert hall, the width and depth of the stereo field will get blurry, especially depending on your positioning in the room relative to the speakers. I’ll give you that.
I don’t disagree, especially if you are just playing synths and not mixing down a whole band. If you are in a room and you have one synth for each speaker especially with multiple speakers and synths, you could do cool things, especially if you could modulate the pan controls. I was just commenting on the “I have two ears” claim, which is only relevant when considering true stereophonic sound.
I actually saw a herbie hancock concert in surround sound, which was nothing special except when he (or his engineer)actually started messing with the pans and you could hear his synths moving around the room.
Another thing I have found is that mono, even if you are using stereo, is a good tool to mix with, because when people listen to music, unless they have a perfectly aligned stereo setup and positioned in the dead center, are effectively listening in mono anyway, so good mono compatibility is needed or else the mix will sound bad when not in stereo position.
)
Conflicting logic you have.
