Behringer Ultratone K900FX Keyboard Amp

[Sal1950]

There's a long sad thread on my beginning keyboard journey here. LOL

Learn Piano At 70+ ?

Bought myself a Yamaha NP-12 keyboard this week. Never played any instrument before, except for dabbling as a kid. Always wanted to but never put together the time. It will be interesting to see if I can put much together at my age. :oops:

www.audiosciencereview.com

I've never been happy with the sound of my Roland GO Piano88 in the bottom registers.
I know absolutely nothing about pro music gear, this is my first keyboard and the bass sounded
very lame to me over the 2 on-board 2"x6" speakers and their 10w amps. Guess that's to be expected.
Things sounded quite a bit better over headphones but I don't like wearing them while playing.

Anywho, I got a deal on a scratch&dent Behringer K900FX from Sweetwater and it's on the way.
I know we got to have a couple real musicians here, anyone think I did OK or I threw my $250 away
on this guy? No one hears me play except the poor suffering neighbors and it will never leave the
house, I just wanted something to make the toy sound a little more like a real piano.
With a 12" bass driver and a 1" horn tweeter, it should be half-assed capable, no?

Behringer | Not Found

www.behringer.com

Or would I have been much better off just getting an upgraded keyboard?
After 2 1/2 years of practice I still suck, BAD, but at 73 what did I expect? LOL
Wish I had the room for a real piano, BUT.

Please help me Pro-Audio guru's
You just can't take the sound critic out of the old audiophile.

 

[Doodski]

Behringer K900FX

For $250 that appears to be a sweet deal. Lots of stuff one can do.

 

[Sal1950]

For $250 that appears to be a sweet deal.

Thanks, one kool thing about ProGear is you can most always wrangle yourself a nice deal on new gear.
The $250 was the whole deal, shipping, tax, all included along with the Sweetwater 2 year warranty and
tech support. Checking around the net, it gets pretty high review marks, they don't all let the smoke out in a day or 2.
It's always exciting to get a new toy, I'm a kid again for a few days. LOL

 

[Doodski]

Thanks, one kool thing about ProGear is you can most always wrangle yourself a nice deal on new gear.
The $250 was the whole deal, shipping, tax, all included along with the Sweetwater 2 year warranty and
tech support. Checking around the net, it gets pretty high review marks, they don't all let the smoke out in a day or 2.
It's always exciting to get a new toy, I'm a kid again for a few days. LOL

A 12" woof should have some good vibes on the low keys.

 

[Sal1950]

A 12" woof should have some good vibes on the low keys.

Ya gotta make a deal !!!
WOOF WOOF

 

[tomtoo]

You like to sqeeze you nice stereo piano sounds trough a mono speaker at home ???

 

[Sal1950]

You like to sqeeze you nice stereo piano sounds trough a mono speaker at home ???

It's OK, I still haven't learned to play with 2 hands. LOL

 

[tomtoo]

It's OK, I still haven't learned to play with 2 hands. LOL

Hehe. Just liked to make you think about.

 

[Sal1950]

Hehe. Just liked to make you think about.

I worry mostly about the weight. Between all my HiFi gear, the piano gear, my motorcycle gear, and all the rest, I'm afraid
this little double-wide is going to open a sink whole and disappear into the sand. It was only about 10 years back a complete three story condo went down just across the street. That's the complete truth

 

[tomtoo]

I worry mostly about the weight. Between all my HiFi gear, the piano gear, my motorcycle gear, and all the rest, I'm afraid
this little double-wide is going to open a sink whole and disappear into the sand. It was only about 10 years back a complete three story condo went down just across the street. That's the complete truth

Hard to imagine for me. Somehow like living on a place where the devil can invite you for a cup of tee every second.
We have places here like this also. Above old cole mines.

 

[dasdoing]

You like to sqeeze you nice stereo piano sounds trough a mono speaker at home ???

yea, it won't sound like a piano in mono

also, how deep does the sampled piano really go? many pianos have no real bass anyways.
a pair of cheap 5" monitors might have been a better choice

 

[tomtoo]

yea, it won't sound like a piano in mono

also, how deep does the sampled piano really go? many pianos have no real bass anyways.
a pair of cheap 5" monitors might have been a better choice

I would prefer stereo with a sub. Also the reverb and delays are usually stereo effects in this pianos. Pianos go deep, very deep.
From my point of view this keyboard amp is a easy solution for a small gig.But at home i would prefer something with better sound.

 

[Sal1950]

yea, it won't sound like a piano in mono

also, how deep does the sampled piano really go? many pianos have no real bass anyways.

Is a real piano stereo, multich, or just a big mono point source ??? LOL

a pair of cheap 5" monitors might have been a better choice

I do follow your thinking but disagree on your prognoses.
I could have just plugged the keyboard into my 5.2.4 Multich-Atmos rig.
I did that for a test some time back but I didn't care for the result since it put
the sound source in a strange location.
If I ever feel my playing warrants the expenditure I'll just get a real piano

 

[dasdoing]

Also the reverb and delays are usually stereo effects in this pianos.

if there are any stereo widning effects, summing to mono will actually be destructive

Pianos go deep, very deep.

in theory, yes....in reality many will have an unaudible fundamental in the lowest range. I always hated those low keys on a piano...the highest ones equaly sound terible

 

[Sal1950]

if there are any stereo widning effects, summing to mono will actually be destructive

I highly doubt I'll be using any of the amps "effects". During the last 30 months I
only pressed the "effects" keys on the Roland to sample what they did once or twice, no thanks.
If I wanted a organ, I'd buy an organ.
I know for a pro player they can open whole world of options but I'm just a hack trying to learn what the keys do.

 

[tomtoo]

I highly doubt I'll be using any of the amps "effects". During the last 30 months I
only pressed the "effects" keys on the Roland to sample what they did once or twice, no thanks.
If I wanted a organ, I'd buy an organ.
I know for a pro player they can open whole world of options but I'm just a hack trying to learn what the keys do.

No reverb? Not even a tiny bit? Ah, press a c in the bass and a c-dur in the mids, add some reverb and delay and enjoy!

 

[Sal1950]

No reverb? Not even a tiny bit? Ah, press a c in the bass and a c-dur in the mids, add some reverb and delay and enjoy!

OK, If you insist. LOL

 

[tomtoo]

OK, If you insist. LOL

Its all about fun!

 

[dasdoing]

It has one reverb style it seams? I hope it's a hall

 

[Sal1950]

It just got delivered and I unboxed it. (FedEx Ground on Sundays, WOW).
It's offering the exact tonality in the bass that I was hoping for.
Maybe a bit bright on top but that can be tamed I'm sure, maybe it's me needing to adjust.

Instructions don't say anything about how long it needs to break-in before sounding correct
Maybe I Should ship it to @amirm to get measured for SINAD, before and after it's first 40 hours?
Amir, would you need the keyboard to break it in too? Do you play?

In seriousness, Nice amp, seems built like a tank at 40lb with lots of assembly screws everywhere,
holding it together high and tight like a good military build JAN product
Level controls, switches, etc are snug and glassy smooth, that inspires confidence in long term durability,
at least in my prior experience..
So far, so good, if it doesn't let the smoke out in the short term (crib death), I believe it will be good to
go for quite some time in the future.
Thanks Behringer and Sweetwater, both again showing to me how they can offer products to
the Pro user market that seem to give a higher build and parts quality at a fraction of the cost from
the High End's offerings.. All too often we see very expensive, over marketed gear that just doesn't live up
to its hype.
I'm going to go crank it up and piss off the neighbors for a while.
YMMV
Sal