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With the advent and popularity of keyboard in the early Eighties serious thought was given the subject of dedicated amplification. Until then, the keyboard player had to utilise the guitar combo or 4 by 12 inch cab for live performance. For various reasons this was less than adequate.

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The modern keyboard has a wide range of frequencies, far greater than other traditional instruments. It is possible to create sub to ultra high frequencies. This puts great demand on an amplification system where is essential to clearly reproduce this wide spectrum of sound. Consider a rock band “going through the P.A”. The P.A. has to reinforce everything from the bass drum to a high guitar harmonic – in fact P.A.s are wonderful thing when direct injecting the keyboard into mixing desk providing adequate monitoring is available.

My own personal preference is to use a stand-alone keyboard setup. Be aware that it is a fact the lower the pitch being amplified, the greater the amplifier power required. Don’t make the mistake of choosing an underpowered system. For live work, anything below 100 watts is pretty useless.

Typically a high-powered rating 15″ speaker coupled with a horn will give adequate reproduction. Having experimented over the years, I am still a fan of the Peavey KB series(even better when fitted with Blackwidow speaker if you don’t mind a bad back). Three channels each with its own EQ and master volume and reverb allows you to have plenty of control, without relying on an engineer when lining out of the P.A.

When using as a stand-alone, without the P.A the onboard 160 watts of power is loud enough to cope with most situations. Don’t be fooled into trying to reproduce stereo capability in the performance situation. Unless it’s a very small venue the effect is usually lost. Leave this feature for recording.

In summing up, the points to remember is – adequate power, speaker devices that can reproduce a wide spectrum frequencies and adequate equalisation.