Which amplifier for the Prophet 6 ?

[Captainflint]

Hi Folks,

I'm a newbie here (also to keyboards in general too) and only just received my beloved Prophet 6. My question to you all through what amplifier would be best to use with it ?

I play guitar too and as such I have a few amps...Marshall 6101, Fender Prosonic (with celestion golds) and two Vox AC15's. They are of course guitar amps , thus designed for their required frequencies... Ive tried them all (via the return input for line level signal) and I've had varying degrees of success..... Hence the question is : what should I buy to go with my new baby ?

[Makes_Synth_To_Me]

I went with the QSC K12 for the Prophet 12. No disappointments.

[kisielk]

A PA, studio monitors, or full range amplifier like one of the Roland KC-series amps would be your best bet. You want something that operates on a fairly large frequency range and doesn't colour the sound too much.

[Sacred Synthesis]

I use a pair of Roland KC 350s.  They sound good and I'm satisfied with them, but they do weigh quite a bit, so you have to place them on the ground. 

[Captainflint]

Thanks for the input chaps.
I was aware of the frequency issue with guitar amps - I'm just a celestion nut that's all....Golds especially.
Are there any tube keyboard amps to think about ? Rather than their solid state brothers. Ive been told to get a bass amp and cab.... but that maybe the beer talking after a gig...

[Sacred Synthesis]

I imagine using a bass amp with a Prophet 6 would produce an overwhelmingly heavy sound on the lower end and be lacking on the upper.  Even with my Prophet '08 (which is thinner-sounding than the P6) and KC 350s, I have to lower the bass EQ at the mixer, or the instrument shakes the house.

[Captainflint]

yes Bass amp +cab would be on the heavier side of life... Mr Lord et al come to mind. The Rolands are a bit of a marmite amp... I've heard a few, but a thin & sterile sound seem to be the norm... with my geetar hat on; my amps have a soul of their own that matches the plank being played & brings out the character of the instrument , they complement each other.

I'm new to the keyboard world and a full frequency range of the amp + speakers are the desired requirements. I do like a warm sound tho , hence the tube preference... what was used for keyboards years before the transistor came along ? speakers are important too I feel..... guidance much appreciated...

[Sacred Synthesis]

I certainly wouldn't say my Prophet '08s and Poly Evolver Keyboards sound "thin and sterile" through the Rolands, but that's one man's opinion. 

I'll be interested to see what others suggest on this topic.  From my reading around, there doesn't seem to be any consensus on this question.  Each person has their own arrangement of equipment.  I would be quite happy to see the "perfect" synthesizer amplifier appear.

[blewis]

I use a QSC K10. The idea is that I want to be as close to hearing what I hear in headphones and monitors during sound design coming from my amp without coloration.

The K10 hit my volume, price, weight, size, sound parameters for me. It can be a bit crispy if you have the horn in your face. But it has a very wide dispersion which is nice for guitar to because you can move around a bit and not lose the sweet spot.

It is setup for linking to a sub and a stereo set which is a plus for future expansion.

[Captainflint]

That's interesting regarding your comments on the Roland amps. Maybe they reflect more on the keyboard being played through them rather the amp itself. I haven't a clue what the keys used when I heard them ,so maybe its down to the quality of the synth itself.....
 My lad has one of those Eden multi jobbies.
So I've just put the prophet 6, a sub37 and one of Native instruments finest through it..... and to be honest I wasn't overly impressed ... thin and sterile again... maybe my ears have just got used to tubes... but you'd think the prophet should sound different to the moog - but not on this one, hence my venture to find an amp that would let the flavours out of the synths... the Fender prosonic sounds great with them... but she's definatly on guitar duty...

[Sacred Synthesis]

I'm all for the venture, since I'd like to hear what works best, too.

[kisielk]

I don't really see the point of using the amp to colour the sound of a synth when there's so many other ways to achieve that. Run your synth through a tube compressor or preamp or something else and then in to a good set of full range speakers. At home I use Adam A5X monitors, which are pretty transparent apart from really low bass. Otherwise a KC150 when jamming with a band, which also does a fairly good job of having an accurate reproduction. Any sound colouring I do via effects pedals or my RE-201. If your sounds are "thin" or "sterile" that's something to address before the amplification stage IMO. It also means that whether you're recording direct, or no matter what system you play your sound through, you should be able to get a comparable tone.

[jmananquil]

For live use, I use a Matrix Amplification GT1000FX 1U rackmount stereo amplifier hooked into a pair of Matrix CFR12 FRFR wedge monitors.  I used to have an Axe Fx II and needed the best for modeling, so I found this full-range, flat-response setup works great for keyboards too.  The GT1000FX takes solid state to another level of tube-like behavior.  And the CFR12's are coaxial so the sound is dispersed evenly and they sound super crystal clear and at high volume.

Peavey and Roland keyboard amps are not quite up to snuff in the sound department.  A little shrilly and too woofy.  Of course, you get what you pay for.  Spend $500 for chinese amps or $2000+ for british engineering and you'll hear what I'm talking about.

[Captainflint]

Good old Jon Lord plugged his babies into a marshall stack 100 watt plexi ....those hammonds rocked... he did have Mr Black more to keep up with though.. I plugged the P6 through my 6101 clean channel..... very nice .... Mr satch himself has his own signature Marshall head designed around that clean channel.... not a crackle at full tilt.... loads of headroom.... the celestions are 200watt with a very wide frequency range so that probably helped too.... its those tubes me thinks....ex RAF radio el34 mullards...
Axe ii... mmm .... very nice as well...but so's the price tag :-)... every thing I've heard thru one of those does sound amazing... good choice
I was thinking of having a look at a rack power amp mesa or marshall...20watts tho don't need to bring he house down... but then the cab..... I'm going to have a look at watt Celestion can offer...
I much behind the British/USA engineering thinking tho...the 'thin' 'sterile' rhetoric relates to the amp/speaker combination....  the source is already proven me thinks ;-)