Synamp Modern Equivalent???

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:16 pm

Friends,
Okay, so we own Moog gear. We discovered these super lows courtesy of Low Pass Filters. We have discovered these super highs, and LFO's that go from one extreme to the other. We have heard of the venerable SYNAMP.

WHat is someone to do for a decent equivalent? Do we have to go out and buy a PA System or a friggin excellent keyboard amp?

What is a Mooger to do?

Now some of you are familiar with the setup that Im working on
Voyager, Micro Theremin Taurus III with a rack Cab on both sides with modules.

Some of you are also familiar with Herbie's Setup on the back of that album cover

What are some of your solutions?

What do you do when you gig? Mic the amp or run a mixer to the house PA?

Thanks,
Eric

peterkadar · Post by **peterkadar** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:37 pm

Depending on the size of the rig, get a little Mackie mixer, and sub mix your keys to the FOH. That way, you can run as big a rig as you like and not take up a zillion channels and have to run a zillion DI's either (simplifying set up time). It'll also help you to make sure all of your levels are balanced.

I play with a Sony/BMG artist and both myself and the other keyboard player submix our keys with mackie 1202 VLZ-Pro 3's. I run 3 keyboards in stereo, and an electronic hand drum in mono. The other guy is running 2 synths and a laptop with a ton of stuff on it. Everything is balanced, and it's very quick to set up and it's reliable too.

For speakers, the best sound I've had is by a company called Mark Audio. They have these litlle self powered 6" speaker cabinets that weigh 26lbs, they're 600watts, and they sound amazing. I can't remember the model number off the top of my head. They're pretty new.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 12:10 am

Thanks for the info.

Im really wanting a rackmountable mixer since I have a mixer rack cabinet with my Foogers in it.

MC · Post by MC » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:18 pm

I own a Synamp. Trust me, you don't want to wish for a modern equivalent.

The Synamp is an integrated mixer and dual 200W power amp. First off the thing is HEAVY (150 lbs). It is so heavy that it cannot be secured by rack screws alone. You MUST secure the chassis to the bottom of the rack using the six mounting screwholes in the bottom of the Synamp. If you do not use these, the Synamp will twist your rackrail into spaghetti during transit.

The mixer has nice semi-parametric EQ but the frequency response tops out at 15K. Despite the appearance of stereo input jacks, the mixer channel is mono. Output impedance of the FX send is so high that you can't get a good hot level.

The dual 200W power amp contributes to the bulk of the Synamp and is its saving grace. It is tough, loud, and indestructable. Bob designed the Synamp and put a lot of protection devices in it to prevent it from blowing up. Unlike the mixer, the power amp is full bandwidth. There is a generous patchbay system on the back of the Synamp where you can patch in your own mixer to the Synamp power amp, which is what I have been doing.

The reason for dual power amp with mono mixer was that Moog offered an optional companion speaker system. This was more like a PA with a 2x15 bass cab and mid/high driver cabs with integrated passive crossover. The dual power amp was designed to push the bass cab and mid/high cab. They were equally massive. Remember this was in the 1970s when there was no such thing as a keyboard amp and keyboard players had to compete with Marshall full stacks.

Venerable? I have to disagree. Today a system like this is overkill.

When playing just keyboards, I gig with my Barbetta 31C. The only time I need the brawn of the Synamp, Peavey 2x15 cab, and Bose 802 is if I am playing bass guitar, LH bass, and keys. On one occasion I even pumped the drummer's drum brain through it and the Synamp never complained (the drummer liked it too).

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:17 pm

After all is said and done and my rig is complete, I figure I'll need four or five stereo channels and three mono channels.

I'm thinking two powered mixers and four speakers will be needed.

peterkadar · Post by **peterkadar** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:53 pm

The mackie stuff can be rackmounted, and trust me, these Mark Audio speakers I'm talking about are amazing, and they only weigh 26lbs. I'm doing a gig with the marketing rep. tonight, I'll see what he says about their status and availability.

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:06 pm

peterkadar wrote:The mackie stuff can be rackmounted, and trust me, these Mark Audio speakers I'm talking about are amazing, and they only weigh 26lbs. I'm doing a gig with the marketing rep. tonight, I'll see what he says about their status and availability.

Do they make anything larger, though? I like the look and sound of 2x15 cabinets. Especially since Kustom reissued their tuck and roll cabs.

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:15 pm

I use an Alesis Studio 32 mixer and run it through a Peavey Combo 300 with a 15" Black Widow and a Yamaha BR10 speaker cabinet for the top end. I've also got compressors, delays, reverbs, limiters, noise gates and other sundry effects in the rack.

I can reach out and touch someone with that.

peterkadar · Post by **peterkadar** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:03 am

Guys, trust me, no peavey, alesis, yamaha, yorkville, bose,motion sound or Mackies have ever touched the sound quality I have gotten from a pair of these bad boys:

http://www.markaudio.it/products.php?la ... &id_prod=2

I've done some pretty high profile stuff all over north America, and I've never had monitors make my keys sound as good as these. I believe they are coming out with a 10" version of them soon as well, which would be insane.

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:20 am

The 129 dB SPL kinda speaks for itself. I'd like to see the 10" model. If the six is rated at 58Hz-20k, the tens would probably make it down to 40Hz.

EDIT-Their subwoofers only go down to 41Hz.

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:09 am

peterkadar wrote:Guys, trust me, no peavey, alesis, yamaha, yorkville, bose,motion sound or Mackies have ever touched the sound quality I have gotten from a pair of these bad boys:

http://www.markaudio.it/products.php?la ... &id_prod=2

I've done some pretty high profile stuff all over north America, and I've never had monitors make my keys sound as good as these. I believe they are coming out with a 10" version of them soon as well, which would be insane.

Are you a distributor or own stock in the company?

What I've got works very well for me and I'm not going to replace it anytime soon. (Except I am converting a Leslie 710 for single channel operation and am adding it into the system.)
I'd like to hear these Markaudio speakers, but doubt they are SO good I would change what I've already got. Now If I didn't have anything to start with.....

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:22 am

Just Me wrote: Now If I didn't have anything to start with.....

This is me. The old KB/A-60 will be obsolete in about a year. I have too many synth rig plans for it to keep up. Plus, it's only monophonic. If Mark Audio's subs were a bit better/lower, I might have considered them. They are also most likely very expensive. A 2x15 cabinet from Kustom goes almost as low as Mark Audio's subs, except without the subs. 2 cabinets is always better than 4, which is always better than 8.

Unfortunately, with all the gear I plan on buying, I may need four Kustom 2x15 cabinets to go along with two powered mixers.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Kustom-Tuck ... 1276342.gc

peterkadar · Post by **peterkadar** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:46 am

No, I don't have stock in the company... my buddy is the bass player in a band I play with, and he was telling me about these speakers he had. He's a marketing director for Mark Audio in Canada. He said he'd bring them to a gig... When he told me they were 6" speakers, I said nevermind. He insisted I try them out, so I brought my trusty Yorkville Block 100K keyboard amp along just in case.

I thought the bottom end was going to suck, and I thought they wouldn't be loud enough. I used them with my Mackie 1202-VLZ3 mixer, put them on stands... and I was honestly blown away by the quality of the sound. What freaks me out is the amount of bottom they put out, the overall sound quality, and the weight. My Block 100k weighs about 65lb. These things combined take up about the same amount of room and weigh 26lbs each...

After that, I was like "dude, I HAVE to get a set of these". They were the best live sound I've ever had, period. Even when I do shows with label artists or high profile TV appearances with major backline... none of the monitors I've ever had were as good. So that's why I get so excited about them. I just wish the distributor would get off its collective backside and start bringing them into the country. I was looking into a pair of new Mackie SRM 450's, but decided to wait to see what my buddy said about the status of the Mark stuff.

So while I do know a guy at the company here in Canada, I don't own stock. However, I may try to get some kind of an artist endorsement with them if I can. But that's only because of how impressed I am with the product... not so I can get some free or discounted stuff.

van · Post by **van** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:27 pm

Hopefully Long and McQuade brings them in. I called them yesterday and they only had the MarkBass available so they may be the main distributor in Canada. If these have a great sound with a lightweight my back may be interested as right now I use a Bryston and different JBL speaker combos depending on the situation. My only concern with this product and the lightweight must mean their using switching power supplies which generally in my experience have more problems unless their using high quality components. My backup Ampeg B2R weighs more than one of these cabinets and very close to two...amazing

acorkos · Post by **acorkos** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:14 pm

for light weight and super-high efficiency, you guys need to check these designs out...

http://billfitzmaurice.com/

they changed everything I believed about cabinets and power requirements