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1,001 uses for a Roland KC keyboard amplifier


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  • TV stand
  • Replace missing stepstones in the creek
  • Jacks to prop up the car while you change the oil
  • Doorstop
  • Target practice
  • Birdhouse
  • Stack them for sound absorbent in your studio
  • DIY bookshelf with boards for shelves
  • Weight training aerobics (we will pump you up...)
  • Testing the chainsaw after you sharpen the blades
  • Man-made reefs
  • Remember snow forts when you were a kid? Build a KC fort...
  • Boat anchor
  • Scratching posts for cats
  • Line them along the sidewalk and install lighting for night lights
  • Windbreakers during winter snowy weather
  • Build a drum riser using plywood on top of KC stacks

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Back in the day, I started playing stage keys through pair of KC amps (stereo!) and thought I'd be pretty cool. It sounded like an angry mob. I was able to give one away to my youngest nephew. The other one still is waiting for a victim. Right now, it's propping up a big stack of ancient music books.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

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  • skin grafts for burned muppets
  • make up present for the girl you're really still pissed at
  • guitar amp for truly tone deaf guitarists
  • audiophile powered speaker (just add this power cable)
  • ankle bracelet for the musician who don't pay the juice
  • trebuchet munitions
  • studio monitor for sketchy studios
  • padding for list of assets for impending divorce
  • bequeath to the neighbor's kids garage band of the neighbor who won't return your lawn mower
  • sales comparison device to demonstrate how much better the speaker you're selling sounds than the "standard"
  • de facto benchmark amp for our next KC piano shootout

..
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All I have to do to appreciate the KC series, is think back to the dark days of playing through a Peavey KB100. And also to a more recent time when my fancy powered speaker would not quit buzzing in a older venue with dodgy electricity, the band dug a KC350 (?) out from the back of the trailer and it handled it like a champ. Big full sound and under the circumstances I could overlook that it didn't reproduce ac. piano sounds with the best fidelity. Something to be said for gear you can depend on!
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My KC350 retired to our home dance/yoga studio (converted 2 car attached garage) when I upgraded to powered speakers. With the RCA input my wife and daughter run their audio through it for dance practice and my teenage sons also run music through it if they are hanging out in there. For those purposes it's great.
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Even with their horrible boxy sound for keys, they are pretty indestructible (well without loading it into a trebuchet). My KC350 replaced an 80s vintage Peavy KB-300 so the sound was on par. It served me well for self monitoring through many gigs before I knew better and I would mix out of the amp and take the line out through a direct box to FOH. After it's gig retirement it's lived a second life. My sister-in-law used to host backyard movie nights that she made me responsible for running the AV. The KC350 worked great to throw the movie audio out to the crowd, it can get pretty boomy on bass. My son uses it now as a monitor for his V-Drums kit if he gigs what that.

 

It also served the purpose when some relative or friend, who doesn't understand sound reinforcement, ask you to borrow a mic. What they really mean is they want a whole PA, thinking the microphone itself will just magically create amplified audio into the air. Package up an SM-58, XLR cable, amp stand and that KC350. Voila, pretty idiot proof PA for a single mic and I wouldn't have minded so much if something happened to the amp, but it always came back perfectly fine.

Mills Dude -- Lefty Hack
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Stack them on top of warped lumber to straighten out the wood.

 

Use one to smash a stack of Behringer amps.

 

List one on craigslist for $4500 and keep posting it for 10 years.

 

Build a large, cube shaped submarine out of dozens of them and charge your enemies $15 each to ride on the maiden voyage out in the ocean.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Play Highway to Hell through it for 48 hours to get Noriega to surrender.

 

Also, I really liked my pair of KB100"s.

Kawai KG-2C, Nord Stage 3 73, Electro 4D, 5D and Lead 2x, Moog Voyager and Little Phatty Stage II, Slim Phatty, Roland Lucina AX-09, Hohner Piano Melodica, Spacestation V3, pair of QSC 8.2s.

 

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I never really had an issue with it (the KC Amp when I had one), apart from weight haha!

 

I had the KB300 years ago and it "ate" the Rolands at the time. I used it for many a year running a rhodes/jx-3p combo :)

There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence...

 

Time is the final arbiter for all things

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I believe that four of them might support a CS-80's weight, but certainly not its sound. There's a corollary of some kind in here, along the lines of "Playing a ROMpler orchestra patch through a guitar amp equals twenty feet of Suck." Put on safety goggles, plug a Moog into a Pignose and capture the event as you hit a big bass note. Kablooey!

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Could someone explain to me what's so bad about 'em?

 

My former church in Virginia has been using one (KC300 I think) for worship music for perhaps 20 years. It's a tank. I was always fascinated by (but never really checked out) the stereo bus capability.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Could someone explain to me what's so bad about 'em?

 

My former church in Virginia has been using one (KC300 I think) for worship music for perhaps 20 years. It's a tank. I was always fascinated by (but never really checked out) the stereo bus capability.

 

Yes, they are built like a tank. I've tried the stereo mode, it works as advertised. And I think we have fun here on the forum, ragging on this amp.

 

Compared to other choices, a mid-range KC (not the 550 for example) is, errr, problematic. My comments are based on the previous KC300, of which I had two. I also had an earlier KC500, which I unloaded as fast as possible.

 

The mid-range KCs are heavy. It doesn't easily go on a speaker pole. It has a nasty mid-range peak, just like a guitar amp. If you're going for that 60's keyboard sound (gritty, smoky, boxy), it can fit right in, much like a Fender guitar amp fits in. And that's all the nice things I can say about it.

 

Quality APs sound like cardboard. A lot of high end is missing from synths, organs, etc. The sound projects like a flashlight beam, choose your target.

 

Sweetwater wants around $650 for a new KC350. While the mini-mixer might look appealing to some, you'd do far better with most of the 8" PA units frequently discussed here for the same money or considerably less. A new QSC CP8 is $400 and a lot more pleasant to play through.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

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I've used KC550's several times on backline. Heavy and terrible sounding. My KB300 actually sounds better (and that's not saying alot). My KB300 is also built like a tank; had it for over 30 years; not one issue other than being heavy and sound being underwhelming.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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Could someone explain to me what's so bad about 'em?

 

My former church in Virginia has been using one (KC300 I think) for worship music for perhaps 20 years. It's a tank. I was always fascinated by (but never really checked out) the stereo bus capability.

 

Hey Tom,

 

Part of it is that they are a long-standing fixture at music stores like Guitar Center. So they sort of became the "de facto" keyboard amp for a lot of players - we always saw them at the store, so we just assumed that was what all keyboard players used.

 

They are solidly built, seldom break or fry up, and will take all sorts of abuse. And they can be loud (at least the larger models). They have built in mixers. Some have stereo chaining and other cool features.

 

The only major problem with the KC series is that they are horribly and irredeemably colored in their sound. You can't get them to deliver a reasonably full-range, flat-response (FRFR) output. You don't really realize it so much on some sounds, but when you put an acoustic piano sound through it - uh oh.

 

Many of us grew up presuming that's what our boards sounded like...until we put them through any pair of home studio monitors (even the cheap ones) and found all that we had been missing all that time.

 

That's when many KB players first start asking about powered PA speakers, FRFR bass amps, the 5000+ page space station thread, etc.

 

Some folks say this model or that model of the KC line sounds okay. Sorry, in my experience, I can't find a unit where it would be worth spending the money on it - with comparable dollars, there's always a better (more FRFR) option for the money.

 

Just my 0.02.

 

Tim

..
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Part of it is that they are a long-standing fixture at music stores like Guitar Center. So they sort of became the "de facto" keyboard amp for a lot of players - we always saw them at the store, so we just assumed that was what all keyboard players used.

 

They are solidly built, seldom break or fry up, and will take all sorts of abuse. And they can be loud (at least the larger models). They have built in mixers. Some have stereo chaining and other cool features.

 

The only major problem with the KC series is that they are horribly and irredeemably colored in their sound. You can't get them to deliver a reasonably full-range, flat-response (FRFR) output. You don't really realize it so much on some sounds, but when you put an acoustic piano sound through it - uh oh.

 

Many of us grew up presuming that's what our boards sounded like...until we put them through any pair of home studio monitors (even the cheap ones) and found all that we had been missing all that time.

 

That's when many KB players first start asking about powered PA speakers, FRFR bass amps, the 5000+ page space station thread, etc.

 

Some folks say this model or that model of the KC line sounds okay. Sorry, in my experience, I can't find a unit where it would be worth spending the money on it - with comparable dollars, there's always a better (more FRFR) option for the money.

 

Just my 0.02.

 

Tim

 

I agree with all these points. Can I add that before joining KC and reading Moe's legendary "chain saw" sig, I hadn't given Roland amps any thought. I grew up using Kustom Tuck & Roll, graduated to Wire Amps (boutique in Canada), Traynor (forerunner of Yorkville), Gallien-Krueger, AER Amplifiers and Motion-Sound. Roland was just never on my radar!

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

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My KC-550 has been fine. The multiple channels and plethora of inputs/outputs have been very useful and it has a lot of power. The sound quality is ok, there's a ton of hyperbolic exaggeration on this forum about it, but I don't find it offensive. No, it's not neutral or dynamic enough to compete with any studio monitor.

 

My biggest issue with it is the ridiculous weight for what it is (65 lbs for 150 watts) with a single flexible rubber handle to lift the unwieldy shape. If I could go back in time, I'd get something else on that factor alone.

 

My rating would be 3 out of 5 stars. It's a tank like others have said and it serves its purpose, but I wouldn't buy again.

Keyboards: Nord Electro 6D 73, Korg SV-1 88, Minilogue XD, Yamaha YPG-625

Bonus: Boss RC-3 Loopstation

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I actually use a 350 as a practice, very small gig amp....I also offer it to bass players to use for rehearsals at my place and they roll off the treble ... but I replaced the 12 " with a better speaker. I forgot which one right now but I can recall and take a look. ... that helped a bit..

 

I took the old Roland 12 inch 'Cheese Cone' speaker out and I put in a slow-cooker bag inside the "cheese cone" and use it to serve hot Con Queso out of for band parties and music gatherings with a big side of Black Corn Chips... they guys seem to like the vibe..and the sound of the updated 350 for rehearsals ...

 CP-50, YC 73,  FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122

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Aren't KC amps what World's Strongest Man Martins Licis uses in that Geico commercial to crush the recycling?

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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My KC-550 has been fine. The multiple channels and plethora of inputs/outputs have been very useful and it has a lot of power. The sound quality is ok, there's a ton of hyperbolic exaggeration on this forum about it, but I don't find it offensive. No, it's not neutral or dynamic enough to compete with any studio monitor.

 

My biggest issue with it is the ridiculous weight for what it is (65 lbs for 150 watts) with a single flexible rubber handle to lift the unwieldy shape. If I could go back in time, I'd get something else on that factor alone.

 

My rating would be 3 out of 5 stars. It's a tank like others have said and it serves its purpose, but I wouldn't buy again.

 

 

My experience was similar. I used a KC-500 in the mid - late 1990s; also a KC-300 for rehearsals/small gigs. A Hartke keyboard amp (KM-200) took the place of the KC's, and was a substantial improvement at the time. A Traynor K-4 followed that; though it was excellent for clonewheel organ and synths, digital piano tones still sounded slightly 'boxy' - which was the tendency of the old KCs for most everything (though careful EQ' ing helped a little).

 

Like most here, I've gone the powered speaker/monitor route; ocaasionally IEMs. My keys sound better through my EV PXM-12MP and Yamaha DXR-12 than any of those previous enclosures.

 

I do recall hearing that the newer generation of KCs (approx. 2017) are an improvement. I wonder if any here have tried one of those.

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I made the mistake of letting a salesman in a music store talk me into buying an Ampeg B18 amp for my Farfisa Combo Comaq organ in the Sixties, It was reliable, but it was obviously a BASS amp and didn't sound all that great for ORGAN. I replaced it with a Fender Bassman Amp when I was able to put together the money to buy one. It was a great improve over the Ampeg back in the Dark Ages! I never knew who was the Genius that called those boat anchors Keyboard amps!!

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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Peavey TNT 130->Peavey KB100->Ampeg B12 Portaflex (could almost hear it if set up ear level & close)->Roland KC-500->Traynor K-4 (slightly better tone, less actual power maybe)->Kustom K250 (sparkly, loud, too big)->Accugrooves(great sound, speakers blew often, expensive repair)->QSC K12s (solid! sometimes need to roll off low end on APs)

 

Got my KC-500 on layaway. It wouldn't keep up with guitar amps in band & sounded like a tennis ball.

Durable though.. The casters & design made it very roll around-able.

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I bought a used KC-100 at Music Go Round ten, maybe more, years ago and continue to use it at every gig.

 

I have an almost identical KC-150, which is now my backup device for keyboard amplification.

 

Your KC-100 and my KC-150 will outlive the apocalypse.

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