Amp for Keyboard and Vocals?

[Golaboots]

My wife plays keyboard and sings with a band every few weeks.
The venue they perform at has a mixing desk, amps, speakers the lot.

When they practice however she always has to connect up to whoever's amp has a spare input and doesn't always get a mic.

I was planning to get her an amp for Christmas but know absolutely nothing about 'performance' stuff.
Can anyone recommend something or let me know what these things are called? They generally only practice in different living rooms but she might want to play small venues (say 20 people) at somepoint. Facility to have the keyboard and microphone amped at the same time but able to set the levels between the two would be good.

Many thanks

[megaphone]

What she wants is an active speaker/portable PA, I'm assuming she'll need to lug it around so nothing too heavy, have a look at the Behringer range, the Eurolive B207MP3 will work well as long as she does not want to do the Albert Hall! It can also act as a personal monitor when she does bigger gigs. If she wants a bit more power then some of the other systems will work.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Category/PA-Systems.as...

Or they also do dedicated keyboard amps that have mic inputs and some effects/reverbs, what type of music is she doing?

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Category/Instrument-Am...

Edited by megaphone on Friday 29th November 18:06

[Dave 500]

Don't know what your budget is but have a look at the BOSE L1 compact.

We have a few and they have been fantastic.

Input for mic and keyboard, very light, and so far reliable apart from when i tried to PAT test one and blew it up fixed under warranty

[Bebee]

Mackie srm450v2

Absolutely bullet proof, will require a 4 channel desk but I have plugged direct into the active cabs with decent results, and you may want speaker stands.
Cabs can also be used as monitors for when the band play through a large P.A

Edited by Bebee on Saturday 30th November 16:17

[V8A*ndy]

The Mackie is a good call.

However if the music is not very loud and I mean NOT very loud an SRM 150 might do the job.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep11/articles/mac...

She can mix the two (vocals and keys) in a very simple manner and also output this to a single srm450 on a stand for larger gigs if need be (or the pa system) (it's all you need really) and then use the SRM 150 as a stage monitor for herself.

Also get her a decent mic.

Edited by V8A*ndy on Saturday 30th November 16:43

[Dr Clive]

Marshall AS50R. GF and I have one each, hers is used for keyboard/vocals, mine for guitar/vocals. The latest version has phantom power so widens the range of microphones available to use. A Shure SM58 would be a good place to start, though, mic-wise.

[richwig83]

http://www.aer-amps.org/aer-amps/

The AER amps are brilliant for exactly what you want. The clarity of vocals through them is stunning. I think they all come with XLR and jack inputs so you can do keyboard/vocals through them.

My wife has the AER compact 60 ( i think) and as used it on loads of piano/vocal gigs, and its superb...... did I mention clarity?

If she wants a microphone for live vocal work then SM58.

[NDA]

megaphone said:

What she wants is an active speaker/portable PA, I'm assuming she'll need to lug it around so nothing too heavy, have a look at the Behringer range, the Eurolive B207MP3 will work well as long as she does not want to do the Albert Hall! It can also act as a personal monitor when she does bigger gigs. If she wants a bit more power then some of the other systems will work.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Category/PA-Systems.as...

Or they also do dedicated keyboard amps that have mic inputs and some effects/reverbs, what type of music is she doing?

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Category/Instrument-Am...

Edited by megaphone on Friday 29th November 18:06

I was also going to suggest Behringer equipment.

I use some of this gear in the recording studio, it's modestly priced and perfectly useable for your application.

[singlecoil]

Dr Clive said:

A Shure SM58 would be a good place to start, though, mic-wise.

The good old SM58, the Fender Strat of the microphone world.

[Driller]

singlecoil said:

Dr Clive said:

A Shure SM58 would be a good place to start, though, mic-wise.

The good old SM58, the Fender Strat of the microphone world.

Thread resurrection but I bought a Sennheiser E945 recently and can't believe the difference it makes compared to the SM58.

[V8A*ndy]

Driller said:

singlecoil said:

Dr Clive said:

A Shure SM58 would be a good place to start, though, mic-wise.

The good old SM58, the Fender Strat of the microphone world.

Thread resurrection but I bought a Sennheiser E945 recently and can't believe the difference it makes compared to the SM58.

I've 6 945s in the arsenal. Great live mics.