How to bring home the right 61 key Digital Music Keyboard
The main advantage of an electronic keyboard, also referred to as a Digital Keyboard or a musical keyboard, is that it is portable and doesn’t cost a bomb.
It does not mean that all electronic music keyboards cost less. The top of the line professional keyboards can cost up to $4000. The gap in the price between a high end keyboard and an entry level keyboard can be high. A beginner keyboard, a basic one, can be priced below $200. Toy keyboards that are priced as low as 75 dollars are also available but they are meant for kids and do not offer touch sensitivity.
Most digital, electronic musical keyboard guide suggest that professional music keyboards do not have speakers whereas the beginner and intermediate ones do come with built-in speakers. This is because performers prefer keyboard amplifiers instead of the internal speakers since they have to perform in a bigger space.
Yamaha PSR keyboards and their ensemble digital pianos come with internal speakers, in this case even the high end keyboards have built-in speakers.
The top manufacturers or brands, as per most keyboard players, would be Yamaha, Roland, Korg and Kurzweil. This is not in any order of preference and based on budget, skills, personal needs and preferences, these brands offer various choices of keyboards.
You also get keyboards with 61, 76 and 88 keys but if you are just starting out, then 61 keys would be just fine. So go and check out a Digital, Electronic or Musical Keyboard of your choice.
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Choosing the perfect audio amplifier can be overwhelming given the large number of different types and technologies. Regardless of your application, I will explain some essential amplifiers terms which will be useful when picking the right model.
An audio amplifier will connect your audio source with your speakers by converting the fairly weak source signal into a strong enough signal to drive your speakers.
Even though some audio sources have already a built-in amplifier, a separate amplifier gives you more flexibility for picking the model that best complements your speakers. Some of today’s mini amplifier models are small enough to hide them virtually anywhere.
When picking an amplifier, your first consideration probably is the amplifier output wattage. You will need a high wattage if you are driving speakers with a low sensitivity (expressed in dB/W), for driving speakers in large rooms or for outdoor speakers. You shouldn’t use an amplifier with significantly higher output power than your speakers can handle. Overdriving your speakers can do irreparable damage to your speakers.
However, amplifier wattage is not everything. Good sound quality is probably more important than raw power. A 20 to 50 Watt amp should be sufficient for most real-world applications.
There are two conventions for specifying amplifier wattage. The first one specifies how much power the amplifier is able to deliver continuously. That number is often called rms or continuous power. The second number is called peak or maximum power and tells how much the amp can deliver for short bursts. You should choose an amplifier that has sufficient rms power, although 10 to 30 Watts should be plenty for most applications but has enough headroom for peaks that occur in music signals.
There are other parameters that are more important than wattage when selecting an amplifier. One important parameter is called total harmonic distortion or THD in short. No amplifier is absolutely perfect and the amplified signal will include some error components which will distort the signal to some degree. THD is either expressed in percent or dB. The amount of distortion varies between amplifier models. A smaller distortion means higher audio quality. Audiophile amplifiers will have distortion numbers of typically less than 0.05%. Consumer-grade amplifiers will have distortion figures of up to 10%.
Another figure related to audio quality is known as signal-to-noise ratio and describes the amount of unwanted noise the amplifier will add to the signal. Consumer-grade amps will have a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of at least 80 dB. Higher-end amps will have an SNR of 100 dB or more. Audiophile amps will have an SNR of close to 120 dB.
There are several amplifier technologies available. Today’s amplifiers are mostly Class-D amplifiers. Class-D amplifiers have a high power efficiency and waste little energy as heat. Some of today’s mini amplifiers are no larger than a deck of cards. However, when picking a Class-D (digital) amplifier, be sure that the amplifier has low distortion and a high signal-to-noise ratio.
About the Author
Gunter Fellbaum has been engineering audio and electronic products for over 10 years. You can find additional information regarding audio amplifier technologies and mini amplifier products at Amphony’s website.
This Lepai Tripath-based mini audio amplifier is ideal for both home and car audio applications. The amplifier’s TA2020 amp chip is a 20W/ch continuous average two-channel Class-T Digital Audio Power Amplifier IC that incorporates Tripath’s proprietary Digital Power Processing technology. Class-T amplifiers offer the audio fidelity of Class-AB amps combined with the power efficiency of Class-D amp…
For decades, it’s been a general opinion that tube (or valve) amplifiers sound better than solid state amps.
First of all – what is a tube amp? A tube amp is a type of guitar amplifier that operates on valves (or vacuum tubes) instead of transistors. The sound you get from a tube amp is warmer and fuller that what you’d get from a solid state amp.
Valve amplifiers range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, so the choice is really confusing! If you’re reading this article, you’ve probably decided that it’s time that you want to crank your volume past the 10 mark on your current practice amp or the tone just isn’t satisfying you anymore.
There are a few things you have to know in order to make your decision. First of all, the type of music that you play, so that you can decide on the amount of gain that your amp needs to have. What is gain? Gain is basically a synonym for distortion. If you play mostly “clean” music (virtually, no amount of distortion), you won’t need a lot of gain. If the music you play is blues or rock, you’ll need a mild amount of gain, depending on how distorted you want the sound to be. If you play metal, you’ll need a high-gain tube amp.
The most notable clean amp of all tube amp history is the Fender Bassman, the holy-grail of clean sounds. Generally, you’ll want to look at Fender and Vox. Most tube amps have the amount of gain necessary for blues or rock (Marshalls, the expensive Buddas, the budget Blackhearts). Finally, if we’re talking metal, you’re going to want to look at Peavey, Mesa Boogie, ENGL.
The second aspect of a tube amp, why many people crave them, is the dynamic. Dynamic is the ability of the tube amp to sound clean when you’re hitting the strings softly, and distorted when you’re hitting them hard. This allows a great amount of expression. You’re going to have to listen to an amp to see if it has this quality.
You’ll also have to listen for definition, which is the ability to amplify every single note your play clearly. This is very important, otherwise you’ll sound all muddy. The best way to test this is to play some chords, even fewer amps possess this quality.
Lastly, you’ll just have to listen if it possesses the basic tonal characteristics that fit you. If the basic sound of the amp is bad, it will sound bad anyway you will adjust the equalizer, amount of gain, anything. It’s not uncommon that you find bad tube amps made by prestigious brands. There’s no such thing as “not knowing” if it sounds good or not, and although store employees can help you with various information such as amounts of gain, number of tubes, etc. they always want to convince you to buy the products you’re trying. If you don’t buy it, you can always come back another time and try it again, but if you do, you’ll just lack motivation and it will harm your playing. This is important because tube amps aren’t as cheap as a practice amp. Always try before you buy!
About the Author
My name is Andrei Popa, and I’ve been playing electric guitar for 6 years now. I’ve bought and sold a lot of gear over the years, filtered all the guitar playing information I’ve received and have generally been through a lot of trial and error. I maintain a gear reviews website at http://guitar-gear-demos.blogspot.com
Guitar tube amp power lesson Marshall Mesa Vox Fender Line 6
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