Bass Amps

[DT4L]

hey yall, what do you all think about using a bass amp as a keyboard amp? as far as i know it cant damage the amp like you can damage guitar amps with keyboards, but what about the sound? does it really make any difference between using a proper keyboard amp?
the other thing i thought id ask is about using two amps - I'd say just go for the biggest most powerful Roland KC you can afford to get 2 of. For keyboards, stereo sound is pretty much crucial to get a really nice, open sound. is that true? when ive been playing live with my band i usually just go through the house P.A and im probably going to start using my amp as foldback just to hear myself a bit better. what do you guys think? cheers.

[Grey Loki]

I would say that bass amps are useable as a replacement keys amp for the short term, but I wouldn't want to try and solo through one for any great length of time.

Open sound is all very well and good, and I agree with Omega Monkey, but price is always a consideration, and so is space - sometimes it's just not practical to set up a pair of massive amps like headphones in your rig.

[RobD]

Bass amp speakers are generally tailored to play lower frequencies, so really it might sound incredibly muddy and not as much clarity as a keyboard amp/DI

[Grey Loki]

I've tried it myself - bass amps have okish frequency response across mid and high range too.

[Omega Monkey]

A good quality bass amp should be ok as long as it has some kind of tweeter at least. The main difference between high quality keyboard and bass amps usually has to do with number of inputs and stuff like that more than anything else. And some of the smaller and/or cheaper bass amps forego having a tweeter. But for general keyboard sounds, you definitely want one. For just organ and electric piano stuff you can probably get by without it.

As far as having 2 amps as compared to one, for me, I REALLY prefer hearing what Im playing in stereo. I guess if you are running a stereo signal to a PA its not THAT big a deal. But you will hear it a lot better anyway being in stereo. Things separate out more.

[tufif]

If you already have a powerful bass amp, you might try getting a small keyboard amp to give you more high frequencies and play them at the same time. The problem with playing in a band with a bass amp is that your low frequencies are overpowering the guitars, so everybody wants you to turn down, but you can't really make out what you're playing so you want to turn up. Getting a little extra high end from a smaller keyboard amp shoud help clear things up without cluttering up the mix.

Another thing I've done in the past is just plugged in some earbud style headphones (with an extension cord) to the keyboard so I can hear myself fine and then adjust the amp to whatever the rest of the band is happy with.