Amp for guitar, bass, and piano

**DanTheMan** · 04-23-2015, 05:22 PM

My son plays mostly piano and is studying for becoming some kind of sound engineer. As he is interested in other instruments as well he borrowed my Strat with my little Vox DA-5 and he would like to eventually buy a bass. His electric piano is a Yamaha stage piano CP33 that he plug into his computer in order to get some sound out of it.

Should someone in his situation buy an amp for each instrument (3 amps =$$$) or would it be possible to buy one amp good for both guitar and bass and use its clean channel for the electric piano and occasional microphone?

Which amp would you recommend that would be good for small gig? He would mike it for larger gig anyway.

Thank you,

Daniel

**newsense** · 04-23-2015, 05:26 PM

These allegedly provide amplification for bass, electric and acoustic guitars - they might also work for a keyboard.

Peavey.com

**Archie** · 04-23-2015, 05:30 PM

You could try things like the Kemper or similar design. That means you buy a separate amp head and a separate cabinet that has a speaker which performs to the best of the functions.

The issue will be with the bass guitar. Keyboard and guitar amps are very similar, sop thats not the hard bit.

**snoskier63** · 04-23-2015, 06:18 PM

I would consider the Roland Jazz Chorus amp. The JC-120 is the most well known, and while it was probably intended to be mainly a jazz amp, it has been used by many professional musicians of varying genres, including Sting (Police - guitar) and Roger Hodgeson (Supertramp - keyboards). The JC-120 is quite heavy, but there are other smaller versions, such as the JC-55 and JC-77. These are much more portable, yet are still very good. The Jazz Chorus amp takes pedals very well, so if your son wanted to play his guitar through it but wanted effects beyond the offerings of the amp he could utilize an effects pedal with excellent results.

Another option might be the Henriksen JazzAmp112. It was initially designed as a bass amp, but is fantastic for jazz guitar. Also, because of its flat response it should take pedals well. I don't know how it is with a keyboard. Perhaps someone else can weigh in on that.

**HugoJacquet** · 04-23-2015, 06:32 PM

Suggestion:

Buy a keyboard amp (roland?) or small "PA" system (yamaha stagepass or similar) or an "acoustic" amp/ monitoring amp.

Connect bass and guitar with/ through a pod or similar. Pod 2 can be found second hand quite cheap and more hands - on then more recent processors.

Just a suggestion

Hugo

**jazzbow** · 04-23-2015, 07:13 PM

It's all compromise. Your best bet would be a mini PA with effects pedals for guitar and bass to liven up the sound.

Or a NewGen digital amp for the stringed instruments and a seperate second hand amp for keyboard.

This is new.

Blackstar ID Beam

It does guitar, bass and bluetooth to an MP3 device. Keyboard might be a bit of a push tho'.

https://www.blackstaramps.com/products/id-core-beam/

Yamaha THR 10 for the stringed instruments and MP3 playback

Again the keyboard may well frazzle the speakers.

**Danny W.** · 04-23-2015, 07:40 PM

Although I primarily play jazz, I've done a number of rock and pit band gigs using one of my standard jazz amps, an Acoustic Image combo, with a modeler. I ran the guitar directly into the modeler and the unbalanced out of the modeler into the effects return, effectively using the AI combo as a powered speaker.

I've also done some gigs where, because of venue logistics issues, I ran a keyboard and/or vocals through one of my AI amps.

In either situation the result was always good.

Danny W.

**pingu** · 04-23-2015, 08:12 PM

mambo amp

**DanTheMan** · 04-23-2015, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by newsense

These allegedly provide amplification for bass, electric and acoustic guitars - they might also work for a keyboard.

Peavey.com

I juste checked and the biggest on at 100 watt and a 12 inch speaker is only $374 cdn. Either the tone is very bad or I am dreaming!!! I think that I should go and try one. Looks lie science fiction to me.

Who tried one?

Daniel

**Silentwiz** · 04-23-2015, 08:59 PM

Henriksen Jazz Amp

Carvin MB Series

GK or Aguilar microheads and Cabinet

Best bet is a bass micro head and a 12" cabinet. Not much you won't be able to do.

If you want to monkey around and get some "tubey" sounds, you can get about 90% there with a cheapie Joyo American Sound pedal for the cost of a nice lunch.

**jzucker** · 04-23-2015, 10:25 PM

my kemper and Alto TS110A speaker sounds great for anything. bass, distorted guitar, clean jazz, vocals, organ, electric piano, nylon or steel string acoustic. I haven't found a single thing it does not excel at.

But it's an expensive setup. I paid $1800 used for the whole setup.

**DanTheMan** · 04-23-2015, 10:34 PM

Thank you guys for all the suggestions. Someone pointed out that if it is good (and clean..) for the guitar it should work for the electric piano.

I do not clearly understand the difference between a guitar and a bass amp. What is the problem if we use a guitar on a bass amp or vice-versa? Is it the speaker? or the bandwith of the electronic circuit? With a little EQ it should be possible to manage the bandwith. I am talking about clean tone of course as it is possible to get some distorsion from a separate device.

What about the fender bassman (more expensive than the Peavey...)? Is this really a bass amp sold today as guitar amp? I presume that it could be used for guitar, bass and keyboard?

Someone could explaine it to me?

Thank you,

Daniel

**Chazmo** · 04-24-2015, 01:50 PM

I tried my guitar through a Peavey TKO bass amp and it did not sound good--it may have been the 15" speaker. On the other hand, I have a Polytone with a 15" speaker and my archtops sound good if the bass is turned down a little to take out the boominess.

I'm with Danny W on the Acoustic Image amps. My Corus is my main gigging amp because I sing and I can plug my mic into the second channel. The guitar sounds good, too. I believe AI and Polytone amps both were both conceived originally as bass amps.

The keyboard player in a trio I once played in had a Roland KC 500 keyboard amp with all kinds of inputs. When we were traveling light, we ran the keyboard, bass, guitar, and vocal mic all through that one amp and it worked pretty well.

**mr. beaumont** · 04-24-2015, 01:53 PM

I've done gigs where I play guitar and bass through my polytone mbIII, 15" speaker. Good option. Sure it could handle keys too.

**Chazmo** · 04-24-2015, 11:58 PM

Right, Mr. Beaumont. My Polytone is MB IV with 15" speaker. I read the III was considered a bass amp and the IV a guitar amp, but I think the only real difference between them is that the IV has reverb. It sounds pretty classic to me.

**snoskier63** · 04-25-2015, 10:07 AM

As I did some research based on my own desire to get something which is portable, yet handles a multi-effects pedal as accurately as possible , it appears that a portable PA would probably work best for your son. The Yamaha Stagepas 400i is one example that got excellent reviews this year, and here is a link...

STAGEPAS 400i/ 600i | PA Systems | Products | Yamaha

With many channels to utilize, either one at a time or simultaneously for an entire band, and each with its own EQ and ability to control feedback, your son can play anything and everything through this type of device. At 41 lbs it is also fairly manageable with one hand, and it will have all the power he is likely to ever need. It can also act as a stereo by hooking up a portable device.

I may just pick one up for myself.

**va3ux** · 04-25-2015, 10:23 AM

Evans could possibly work well in this case.

**medblues** · 04-25-2015, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by DanTheMan

Thank you guys for all the suggestions. Someone pointed out that if it is good (and clean..) for the guitar it should work for the electric piano.

I do not clearly understand the difference between a guitar and a bass amp. What is the problem if we use a guitar on a bass amp or vice-versa? Is it the speaker? or the bandwith of the electronic circuit? With a little EQ it should be possible to manage the bandwith. I am talking about clean tone of course as it is possible to get some distorsion from a separate device.

What about the fender bassman (more expensive than the Peavey...)? Is this really a bass amp sold today as guitar amp? I presume that it could be used for guitar, bass and keyboard?

Someone could explaine it to me?

Thank you,

Daniel

My understanding is that guitar speakers can be damaged with high level bass signals because they are not designed for large movements but I am sure there is an overlap for instance I plugged a Fender Jazz VI into a Deluxe Reverb the other day and played at lower volume with no problem. The other difference is that the bass frequencies require higher dB for the same level of hearing than do mid and high frequencies. You are correct that with EQs and separate preamps all the instruments can be run through the same amp. That's what PA systems do anyway. So one other option is to buy a PA system (powered mixer plus passive cab or an amplified PA speaker) and use instrument friendly preamps or EQs through the universal power amp. There are large number of combinations for this out there. For example, an Alto TS 110A for $200 and use any amp modeler with EQ or a (tube ?) preamp with EQ in front of it and that should work reasonably well with voice, bass, keys and guitar. Fender also has affordable portable stereo PA systems (Passport series) with built-in mixers and speaker cabs that latch together into a suitcase type package and some come with microphones and cables.

**henryrobinett** · 04-25-2015, 10:37 AM

Fractal Axe Fx.

**olliekse** · 04-26-2015, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Fractal Axe Fx.

I was going to troll this thread with this but you beat me to it

Whilst it is the arguably the greatest thing ever made, its not for those who don't want to fiddle about with digital screens and dials, and it requires some engineering knowledge. I've got a few nice jazz patches made, including the JC120, and it sounds beyond amazing. With a fully setup big boy archtop i imagine i would cry with joy....