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Hello,

First post. I'm wondering if any of you have some useful advice on getting a good amp. I'm looking for home use only, no gigging. Good sound, good quality, and hopefully with a few inputs (I'd like to additionally plug in a guitar).

So, size isn't so important, portability, no big deal either. Quality and sound are a big deal.

What do you folks reckon would be some good choices? For $300? $500? $750?

Thanks for the help!

If I only wanted the amp for keyboard I would pick up a pair of powered monitors, there are many different kinds available at a wide range of price points.

You say you also want to play guitar through the amp - what kind of a guitar do you play? The ideal amp for an electric guitar is very different from the ideal keyboard amp. Most guitar players I know would not want to play their guitar through a keyboard amp or powered monitors or direct through a PA.

If you really want to use the same amp for both keyboard and guitar you could still use the powered monitors, but add a mixer and a guitar effects box that includes amp simulation for when you want to play guitar. The rack mount effects units tend to have higher quality than floor units. If you want to do any recordings with your guitar you will find that you can just record directly from the output of the effects box and not have to use a microphone.

First off I doubt you will find an amp that can work for both Guitar and piano. Guitar amps are special beasts only good for guitars.

Next we'd have to know what speakers you have, the size of the room and what volume level you are wanting. Do you want to simulate the volume of a concert performance or is this for bedroom practice late at night?

What else will you use the amp for?

I just looked up the Yamaha Stagepas 300 at Sweetwater, they're selling it for 600 bucks. The Stagepas is a really high quality PA for mic, keyboard, bass, acoustic guitar and whatever.

A transportable unit would need to be especially rugged. But for home use, not. So just choose a good, consumer-grade amplifier or receiver.

It's almost impossible to get bad sound these days.

You didn't specify what kind of speakers you're using. If you're using living room speakers, they can be adequately powered with under 100 watts. So just about any home stereo unit will do. Brand new, $200 or less. Used on ebay, well under $100.

Bump...any advice?

Sorry, tried reloading the page didn't work correctly and didn't see the replies. Thanks.

In answer to a few of the above questions:

By 'amp' I was meaning a speaker cabinet/amplifier combo, like a typical guitar amp...BUT...so many of you seem to be suggesting paired PA speakers, I'm open to any and all suggestions.

The room will likely be fairly small, maybe 8'x10' or so, sort of like a practice room.

As for guitar, I can do amp modeling/simulation with my own effects, so a good, clean, honest, flat sound is perfectly fine by me.

Ultimately I'd like to turn the aforementioned room into a general music practice room. The keyboard we have controls a Roland JV1010. The guitar is just a typical electric guitar, with a jazz guitar soon (Gibson 335, 175, or similar). Because of the size of the space, I'd like to have the best sound and stereofield I can within the bounds.

Hope that clarifies things a bit more. What other info should I provide?

And, once again, thanks for the replies so far.

Drop my suggestion about the Stagepas 300 for such a small room, it got too much power for that.
There is a Stagepas 150 though, I would guess it gives the same nice and clean sound (just can't play that loud), taking up almost no space and got many inputs. Whatever you do, do NOT buy the Roland BA-330 - it's not suited at all for keyboarding.

Cheers