I’m looking to get a keyboard amp. I have a Motif XF board and currently using a Roland KC 550 amp.

I’m interested in the Yamaha Stagepas 300 (great reviews BTW). I currently play in a four piece band but my goal is also to get myself out there and do solo gigs.  With the four piece band, I would be using the Stagepas mainly as monitors b/c I can come out of the amp and into the main PA. 

My question is will the Stagepas 300 give me enough power to do solo work for private parties, small to mid sized or even possibly larger restaurant gigs?  I don’t know if genre of music applies here but I would be performing straight ahead and smooth jazz, soft rock, and neo-soul.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

John

The beauty of the StagePas 300 is the high fidelty sound output and more than decent power levels. It is always recommended, however, to carry more in reserve than you need (unless you are guitar player… ) seems only guitar players fell in love with the sound of their gear behaving like it is about to have a hemmorage.

In general, you want to have a good clean signal without your gear sounding like it is working hard to do what it is doing. That is why I said it is recommended to carry more power than you anticipate using. This gives you not only quality results but great piece of mind.

If at all possible - look into the StagePas 500. However, if that is too pricey, I’m sure for the types of music you mention, and since it is solo work the StagePas 300 will serve you well - get some stands so you can raise them to ear level ( resist the urge to raise them higher than your audiences ears) Rule 1 of sound reinforcement: Aim your speakers at your audience’s ears.

:-)

Thanks Mr.PC,

I REALLY want the 500’s (more power, compression and better reverb) but they are kinda out of my price range.  If someone would introduce a 17% coupon instead of 10-15 % off I wouldn’t hesitate to go with the 500’s.  All n’ all, I don’t anticipate playing for more than 100 people so I guess it will have to be the 300’s.

I picked up the 500 series last summer and it pumps out great.  We gigged out last week in a redneck bar that was very tight.  It handled two vocals, 2 keys and one bass very nicely.

I would always try to figure out what the difference between “what-I-could-afford” and “what-I-really-wanted” by how many gigs it took to make up the price difference. In other words, if the price difference was one or two gigs - I just decided to go and get what I really wanted and made sure I really enjoyed playing - because across all the time and gigs I would be doing, I might as well enjoy myself!

When you do the price difference in “gigs”, it kind of makes you realize the sound system is an investment in what you do, not just an expense. Anyway you cannot go wrong!

Mr. BM, how right you are!

I received the Yamaha 300’s yesterday and they sound FANTASTIC!!!!!  Stereo makes such a huge difference.  I haven’t played with them on stage yet, but I will next Sat.  Hats off to Yamaha once again for making solid and great sounding gear.

If you haven’t gone ahead with the StagePAS, I’d recommend the QSC K series. I have two K12 speakers and they sound absolutely amazing!

i played today with the stagepas500 2 mic motif xf, (roland) vr700 combo and a flute player. The 500 sound very huge solid and great sounding.  It’s coming soon the stagepas800 or a new stagepas in 1 or 2 mos. .

i play with a band and do solo gigs and i have the stagepas 300 set up. best advice you will get for using that system is throw away the bogey “desk” that is build in, and buy a yamaha emx512sc powered mixer. the sound i get is amazing when using both together and it has a build in spx reverb system.

bwhli - 24 February 2012 01:23 AM

If you haven’t gone ahead with the StagePAS, I’d recommend the QSC K series. I have two K12 speakers and they sound absolutely amazing!

I have been searching for powered speakers for monitor and side fill.
What is your live set up and how do you use your K12’s live.
Are you playing piano?  What personal do mixer do you use?
Did you compare the K10’s to the K12’s?  I am thinking about getting two for my use as described. I wondered if the 12’s sounded better for a B3 sound, over the K10’s, and if the 12,s accentuate the hammer sounds in your piano.
Thanks in advance,
Cary

When comparing fruit it is best to compare citrus fruit to citrus fruit… :-)

In a discussion of sound systems there are several factors to consider… Are you doing the entire band or is this your personal system?
Price point
Weight

Sound systems, in general, get better and better the more money you have to spend.

The discussion began here with the dreaded Keyboard Amp. Those using them are doing so (IMHO) because they basically were unaware of the better solution. I cannot imagine someone actually choosing a keyboard amp over a system that features more power, stereo sound, higher fidelity, less weight, and a similar price point.

The StagePas are first and foremost, affordable, powerful, lightweight, and convenient. For those who don’t know the StagePas are a system with a powered mixer and two matching cabinets that is convenient in size and weight… Perfect for a personal keyboard rig.

Powered sound reinforcement systems, naturally are more powerful, a little less affordable, are quite a bit heavier, and therefore may not be as convenient… But of course, they kick more butt (and you’d expect that this would be the case given the significant bump in price)..

Comparing a personal system (like the StagePas) to powered SR boxes is moving from apples to oranges… If you get my meaning.

Boxes like the Yamaha DXR are a step up, no doubt (in price as well)
Boxes like the Yamaha DSR are another significant step up above the DXRs (wood does sound better, but is significantly heavier)
If you’ve ever heard the Nexo boxes (the 10 with horn will bring tears to your eyes and a big ole smile to your face, because you’ll laugh and say… It is true, the more you spend the better they do get)
And so it goes until basically you run out if money… :-)

Same goes for any quality competing brand - there is a method to buying and getting what is right for your situation.

My primary function at Yamaha is sales training… And one of the most important things we try to impress upon sales associates is how to deal with the customer question “which one is the best… “

Of course, that is what you want to know as a customer… But mostly you don’t hand the sales person a blank check (which would go a long way toward moving you toward “the best” but in reality, the one that is “the best” is the one that fits your lifestyle… What you need to accomplish.

You don’t go to buy a car and only buy “the best"… You buy the one that best suits YOUR requirements. This is why most sales people will chuckle to themselves when you start with the “Which one sounds the best” ... Without putting on your ears, they can’t answer that for you. They have to start interviewing the musician

Because the sales associate realizes they are going to have to help you decide this based on:
Your sound requirements in terms of how loud you think you need to be
Your price point requirements… It does him no good to recommend the Nexo speakers if you don’t have Nexo money.
Your physical requirements - saying “the wooden cabinets with the 15” and a horn” does him no good, if later you mention your recent back surgery…
Etc, etc.

If you’ve owned a keyboard amp and that is all you know, I highly recommend you discover the world of alternate solutions…

If you decide to continue to use keyboard amps after hearing and pricing alternative systems, at least you will do so knowing for the same money or for a few gigs worth of money more, you could sound so much better… At least you will do so secure that you have decided not to sound better

:-)

And finally, To answer your question in general....
In general, the difference between any 10” and 12” speaker is the amount of low end it puts in motion. The bigger the surface of the transducer, the more potential it has to extend low frequency response. You may find at side fill distances, the difference between a 10” and 12” may not be as dramatic as you might first think. In fact, you may not even be able to tell… Given the difference in low frequencies often is a result of greater distance more than other factors.

Hello Bad_Mister, I have only played out of monitors at home.
I learned early on about keyboard amps.
Playing live, I wanted to use two DXR10’s coming out mono as monitors, the other out to the board.  It seemed the two did not play well together. something about how the DXR’s are wired, but I could not get the hum out of them using my XF.Tried suggestions of others on the forum, with no success.
Thats why I asked about the QSC’s.  My thread was mis posted in the moxf part of the forum, and dealt with the hum from XF to DXR. Tried an MG mixer and ground lifts, to no avail. DavePolich told me about the way they were wired, and listened to him. Now on the hunt for powered speakers as monitors.
Thanks!
Cary

Cary - 25 February 2014 03:30 PM

Hello Bad_Mister, I have only played out of monitors at home.
I learned early on about keyboard amps.
Playing live, I wanted to use two DXR10’s coming out mono as monitors, the other out to the board.  It seemed the two did not play well together. something about how the DXR’s are wired, but I could not get the hum out of them using my XF.Tried suggestions of others on the forum, with no success.
Thats why I asked about the QSC’s.  My thread was mis posted in the moxf part of the forum, and dealt with the hum from XF to DXR. Tried an MG mixer and ground lifts, to no avail. DavePolich told me about the way they were wired, and listened to him. Now on the hunt for powered speakers as monitors.
Thanks!
Cary

Cary, I noticed you abandoned your original thread in the MOXF Forum without really explaining what you ended up deciding and why.

You have made a couple of cryptic references to the DXR10’s and DavePolich telling you something about a wiring problem, but you have never made a clear statement about what the issue is...even though VikasSharma posed a direct question about the nature of this wiring reference.

What is clear is that I use a MOTIF XF, a Yamaha MG102c mixer, and a pair of DXR10’s...using the unbalanced inputs and TS lines from the board...and I don’t have any of these mysterious wiring problems.  Many others are using the DXR10’s in other setups without this issue.

What ‘wiring problems’ exactly are you referring to?

Hi cmayhle, Thanks for asking.  I was at a dead end, and tried to duplicate your setup, moving into the proper part of the forum.  I did follow the advice of DavePolich.  I bought the Yamaha mixer, as directed. No Help.  I isolated the power conditioner in a room that there was no direct RF, cordless phones, computers etc.) and tried again. No Help If you look back at the thread, Dave said the magic words that” its the way the DXR’s are wired”.  The thing is, I have no hum problems with any other powered speaker I have been able to try ( JBL eon,(ugh) and some Kustom (ugh), Mackies, and some studio monitors (Samson).  They all work great with the Motif, straight out, or through my Mackie 402VLZ4. No HUM.
I need live performance monitors, so I bought the Yamaha DRX’s without trying them out ( great reviews, Yamaha quality, price).  Thats when the HUM/ DRX thread started, and posted(wrong forum, sorry) asking for help from some of the worlds best musicians,and keyboard techs.  I tried most all suggestions, but got nowhere. When Dave said it wasn’t the FX, it’s the way the DRX’s are wired, it stopped all other efforts.  Yamaha support told me to send them back.  Now the hunt is on for powered speakers, that I can use with the Motif XF.  BTW, I don’t do passive DI’s.  They make to sound flat to me.
Thanks,
Cary

Cary - 25 February 2014 07:58 PM

...If you look back at the thread, Dave said the magic words that” its the way the DXR’s are wired”.....

Thanks Cary, I had indeed seen the post by DavePolich in that thread, but it was lacking in detail or further explanation.

You seemed convinced about this as a certain cause of the problem that it prompted you to immediately bail on the speakers...so I thought perhaps he had provided you more information privately!

I guess only DavePolich would be able to explain exactly what the statement refers to.

BTW, did you ever test the setup without the mystery power conditioner...just as an exercise to eliminate its possible contribution to the hum?