Guitar through Keyboard Amp

[RootsRockReggae]

I've played piano for a long time and have a keyboard amp (Fender KXR 60) and recently have taken up guitar. I've been progressing well, but have trouble fiddling with the tone on my amp. I really don't know that much about guitar at all so I'm sorry if this question seems outrageously stupid - but should I buy a guitar amp if I want to have the ability to really switch up the tone on my guitar or is there some way to do it (through some sort of device, like an effects pedal) on my current amp?

My guitar is a Epiphone Les Paul - which effects pedal would you recommend to use on my KXR 60 to get the best tones (anything from Hendrix to Pink Floyd sounding) OR which amp should I get to complement my guitar if I'm being an idiot by using a keyboard amp.

Again, sorry if this post shows my complete naivete toward guitar - but I'm trying to learn and you'd be suprized out tough it is to find this stuff out doing a google search.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Seafroggys]

A $3000 Marshall stack.

No, but seriously, the amp and speaker has probably more to do with tone than anything else, so a guitar amp would probably be your best bet. I'm no guitarist though, so I'll let someone else chime in.

 

[rayc]

Yes, guitar amp - valve/tube particularly for tone fiddling - they evolved from attempts at achieving a fairly uncoloured amplification of the instrument (which is what a keyboard amp still strives to achieve) to celebrating the faults, peculiarities and colouration that are inherent in their components run ragged and to the limit.
That said, & as much as I love my 100w Marshall you need a lot of sace & distant neighbours to get the best out of a big beast. Do a search of this forum for tube amps for suggestions of good sounding & infinitely tweakable small tube amps.

 

[Dani Pace]

Keyboard amps work quite well with acoustic-electric guitar but most aren't designed to give you the overdrive you probably want for electric guitar. It's hard to suggest an amp without knowing several things, price range, music style, for live or recording, tube or solid state, onboard efx, speaker size and a few other things you might think of. You can use almost any efx pedal with your present amp and get ptrtty much the same effect as you would through a guitar amp on the clean chanel. Do you prefer to use a multi efx pedal or are you wanting to use several different efx pedals? Multi efx pedals are convenient and most are fairly easy to set up (user presets) but are sometimes a little noisy for studio use. Give us a little more info and I'm sure you will get several suggestions to help you get the tones and sounds you are looking for.

 

[wbcsound]

Keyboard amps have a full range response which can be unflattering to an electric guitar. However, with some type of amp/cabinet modeler, you will be able to get very nice results with a keyboard amp.

On a strict budget I would check out the new Digitech RP series. They sound good and are flexible enough to cover a wide variety of styles. I've gigged an RP350 and GNX3000 with Behringer Keyboard amp with excellent results.

Good Luck!

 

[stevieb]

I have personal experience with this sort of thing...

My setup was, for a while, a Crate KB80 (keyboard amp), solidbody electric guitars (humbuckers and single coils represented) and a Digitech RP-7. I also ran a piezo-pickup'ed acoustic guitar into it, with an acoustic pre amp. (Leaving brands of guitars out intentionally.)

I would also, on occasion, run a SM58-type mic or two into the amp, as it had three input channels, each with it's own vol. and EQ (as I recall.) My thinking was I had basically a small PA in a box.

It did work, fairly well. I could get good, acceptable electric guitar tones thru one channel, nice accoustic guitar thru another, and good vocals thru the third. I didn't have a small mixer, but that would have expanded my inputs, of course.

Pluses included one-box PA, good tone for what I needed, ability to let a keyboardest use the amp at a venue (if I knew about it ahead of time).

Minuses included one-box PA (heavy, unweildy, compared to small PA's) limited inputs (3) and NO EXTENSION SPEAKER capabilities. (I could go from line out to a monitor system, or to the house and use the KB80 as our monitor.)

Ultimately, I sold it, feeling like a small PA was a better solution- but it did the job well enough. The KB80 was almost the same size as the Yamaha mini-pa I have occasional access to, and the mini-pa is much more flexible. So, I would probably not do it again, unless a KB80 (or similar) fell into my lap, dirt cheap.

 

[Tadpui]

As you're discovering yourself, keyboard amps don't really flatter an electric guitar. It works fine, but like was mentioned above, they're not designed with guitars in mind.

You basically have a couple of choices. You can find a different amp that's designed specifically for guitar, or you could find an amp modeller and run it through your keyboard amp like steveb did.

Since you're just beginning, a Digitech RP series modeller or even a Behringer VAmp could suit your needs for now.

If you decide to go with a guitar amp, there are some good entry-level models out there. The Roland Cube series has built-in effects and gets good reviews on sound quality. Then there are fancier beginner-friendly setups like the Fender G-DEC series of amps. Line6 makes a pretty big array of amps with built-in effects as well.

Or, if you're more of a purist, you could find a small, low-wattage tube amp like the Epiphone Valve Jr. It'll provide superior distortion to the modellers but it won't be as versatile.