Alto Kick15 amp opinions?

[raffkey]

Anyone have any experience with the Alto line of keyboard amps? In particular, the Kick15?

 

Im looking to replace my Behringer mixer/monitor setup,(still getting rid of the Behringer junk), for my setup consisting of PX5, VR 09, Juno Di, and Micro sampler.

 

Thanks.

[mate stubb]

AFAIK, isn't Alto a cheap store brand?

[stillplaying]

Which Behringer are you looking rid of? I'm getting a great run from a single Behringer B210D - light, loud and inexpensive (but only one input - won't do you without a little line mixer or a desk).

 

Alto is not a "high end" brand - it may be fine for your purposes - are you through the PA and it's just for a personal monitor?

 

(EDIT: See Sound On Sound review - they don't say it's a budget brand - seems I'm wrong)

 

Nice set-up btw - do you gig with all three keyboards and the sampler?

[B. J. Love]

I bought an Alto mixer recently for use with a PX-5, Hammond SK1 and sometimes vocal, just because it was the only small mixer I could find with the exact feature set I needed. Seems to work fine in the live setting I bought it for. It's reasonably quiet and the line inputs don't seem to add much coloration. The Mic preamps are junk but no worse than I expected. I'd put it on par or slightly below most Behringer stuff I've seen. A step or two below Samson.

[raffkey]

Thanks for the replies, guys..I was thinking Alto was more top end! I don't need more Behringer level stuff..

 

I'm replacing a Behringer line mixer and Behringer 15" monitor.

I'm hearing a little too much noise when I turn it up, but mostly trying to be pro-active here.

 

So far I've had one Behringer monitor volume control separate from the circuit board; one Behringer keyboard amp blow a channel; One Behringer mixer loose one side of the outputs! I'm crying 'uncle'!

[raffkey]

..and yes to answer your question stillghouling, I'm gigging with all those boards..and this would be for my personal monitoring.

 

This is my rock band, gigging set-up. The PX5 is actually filling in for my cheaper Yamaha PV80 piano which I took out of my set up for awhile. I usually use the PX5 for my church band set-up (that doesn't have to be taken down or setup each week) along with my Roland VR700.

 

In these setup, the VR 09 is great because it's so easy to carry and doesn't do too bad of a job. The Di is my swiss army knife-it's got a little of everything-horns, synths, etc. The sampler I use for hits, gun shots, claps, odd little recordings that fit in nicely with all the classic rock crap we do..

 

[Ken Beaumont]

I have an Alto L22 16 channel mixer and its been working flawlessly for about 7 years. Unlike my Mackie that has 2 dead channels!

[smanzella]

The Alto stuff is on par with Behringer, Roland, and most other "keyboard" amps. You might want to consider something similar to this;

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DXR15

 

Plus

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ZED10FX/

 

YMMV

[Werno]

I've been playing my Kurz PC3 through an Alto powered speaker for a few months (the 10" woofer version) and it's been great, though by itself not equal to the challenge of the two guitarists in my band when they get excited. I have it paired with an M-Audio GSR-10 for stereo, and the sound's similar enough to work together and inspire that frustrated look guitarists get when they can actually hear you.

 

The GSR series seems to have had enough QC issues that it's been discontinued; one of the two I bought went belly-up after a year, no repair offered but they did swap me the Alto. Is any of this relevant to consideration of their 'Keyboard Amp'? Maybe not.

 

As far as it being a 'cheap store brand', here's SOS's review of the 15" Alto 'Truesonic' powered speaker:

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec11/articles/ato-truesonic-115a.htm

[Jazzmammal]

Read this:

 

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2521372/Just_Got_a_Pair_of_ElectroVoic#Post2521372

 

I have the EV ELX112P and love it. These new ones are from China but seem to be good quality. Several critical pro level players have them now and report they're very good and also very affordable.

 

As an aside, I did a blues/rock bar gig this past Friday and the Carvin mixer for their sound system blew up and the vocalist didn't bring her PA. We were stuck until I plugged her mic into my EV. It's just an XLR input, no tone controls, reverb or anything except a mic switch. I had to adjust the placement so it wouldn't feed back and it sounded excellent with both her voice and me playing pretty strong organ and piano stuff through it. We did hold it down a bit because then the sax player didn't have a mic. He's got strong lungs so he was still heard pretty well. It was his 80th birthday and has a resume from the 50's and 60's as long as your arm. His name is Lucky Wright and is a pretty strong player even now, I can only imagine what he sounded like 30 years ago.

 

Bob