Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hi UNH,

How goes it? This old timer no longer has to worry about playing 
through anything but a board and headphones, but I've had an 
interest in sound for a long time. You certainly don't need an amp 
marketed solely for e-drums to get decent sound quality. A good 
keyboard amp would do, but what you need for e-drums live--assuming 
high quality parts in the amp and speaker sections, is as much power 
and as much size in the woofer, or subwoofer, as your wallet and 
physical space can afford. Keyboard amps usually have the advantage 
of a wide frequency response, translating into a punchy, deep kick 
and shimmering cymbals. A ten-inch woofer can be sufficient for some 
purposes, but a fifteen is better. If the speaker and power are 
clean but not too big, you can still get a pleasing sound out of 
them. The kick might still have punch, though not much depth. A lot 
of home and/or portable stereos feature this sort of sound, and most 
people don't know what they're missing until they hear it for the 
first time. A drummer, however, might not be able to get away with 
thin sound in a band situation, though, depending on the kind of 
music and the kind of room. 

I've played the Roland Session set in a live situation with the 
dedicated PM-3, and although I liked what I heard, it simply doesn't 
have enough authority to survive a live setting with a lot of space 
and people, especially in competition with the drummer's natural 
enemy, the guitarist. The satellites are rated at 50W and the bass 
section, with 10-inch woofers, at 100W. I think that the KC-500 
keyboard amp, rated at 150W, would have basically the same problem. 
At home, you'd sound like you were in a stadium; in a stadium, you'd 
sound like you were at home playing with two boxes of Q tips stuck 
in your ears. Live, you could certainly use both of these amps as 
personal monitors. It's hard to know exactly how to supplement them 
without knowing the venue. That's why it's always safest to have a 
group PA that can handle any situation. It's easier to adjust 1000W 
downward if necessary than to get 150W to make a big noise that 
anyone would want to hear--that is, if they could hear it at all. 
Remember also that 200W doesn't play twice as loud as 100W; it takes 
1000 to do that. The safest thing to say is that you need as many 
watts and inches as you an afford and hope for the best.

Ed


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "underneathheaven" <realvast@s...> 
wrote:
> Is it vital to have an amp made for e-drums to get the best sound 
> out of your e-drums?  I mean you could also use a keyboard right?  
> Also, how much power would (watt wise) would the amp need to have 
to 
> sound good in a live situation?  Thanks!
> 
> -UN.H