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PORTABLE AMPLIFIER

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Chickers

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Hi Folks:
I need help in understanding how these things work.
I have never used an amplifier before.
My Excelsior accordion has microphones in the treble, and in the bass as well. It has separate volume, and tune controls for treble, and for bass.
The cord that was furnished has a 1/4" single bayonet to plug into the bottom of the accordion, and the other end has two separate 1/4" bayonet
plugs.
What type of amplifier do I need ?
It appears as though I need some sort of stereo amp since I have separate treble, and bass controls.
I know the separate controls work as I tried them on a simple guitar amp. The amp only has one "in-put" port, so tested each control,
and they both work independently
I would appreciate any comments, and / or help you can offer.
Thanks,
CHICKERS
 
For your amp you need --

It will work fine the channels can be controlled on the accordion
 
there are a number of ways to go about this, and it depends on
how you intend to use amplification, for what goal

in general, if you merely want to boost the right hand a bit
so you get more control and nuance in your performance,
in small settings you don't even need to amplify the Bass at all

in general, amplifying in Stereo allows you to tone control your Bass
to kill all frequencies above @ 2000 Htz
and to separately amplify the Treble plus apply FX (like reverb)
while you tweak the tone controls for the right hand to kill
feedback and rumble

you can also amplify in Mono and accomplish about the same thing
when you use a Powered Mixer that has at least 3 way tone controls
per channel, and there ARE small mixers with quite nice capabilities
now (including Bluetooth) like the new small Peavey heads

personally i prefer to have separate power and speakers
as everything is lighter when it is in components, as well as
any head can be used with any speakers, so you can have large, medium and small
speakers to choose from for whatever the Gig demands even if your
Powered Mixer is tiny

but there are also, now, many affordable and Battery Efficient decent little
all in one amps out there to be had for under $300, and some
with excellent FX (though some, the FX is horrrible bucket brigade echo)

then you might expand your needs to add backgrounds to play along with,
or a Mic for Vocals, so you want to think about choosing something that you
will not outgrow too quickly

unfortunately during COVID, spending a morning at the Music store trying a half dozen
audio solutions is not on the table...

some used Music stores like Atomic (here in the DC region) or Music go Round offer
guaranteed trade back (up to 90%) for regular customers who want to take
stuff home for awhile then bring it back and try something else

let us know more as you figure though your needs and goals
 
Get a "keyboard" amp or a powered speaker with two 1/4-inch inputs and two channels. It will not work well with a guitar amp. I often use a small Traynor TVM10 battery powered amp which is small and provides enough sound for hours of playing. There are other brands/models available. For bigger gigs I plug into a 100-watt Yamaha powered speaker.
 
For portability simply get a Roland Street Cube. Tried and proven stuff

works on batteries if you want to, has the two channels you need (three if count the stereo aux line-in), and the basic FX

and - it actually has two speakers that work in stereo
 
For portability simply get a Roland Street Cube. Tried and proven stuff

works on batteries if you want to, has the two channels you need (three if count the stereo aux line-in), and the basic FX

and - it actually has two speakers that work in stereo
Jozz
Have you used Roland's Street Cube with your Fr 1X?

When I use (stereo) headphones with my FR 1X, there are subtle but obvious improvements to many of the orchestral and accordion sounds, that are not apparent to my ears when playing without the headphones.

Have you noticed the same when playing your Fr 1X and Street Cube?
 
While I haven't used it on a Cube I have had it directly into an audio interface, into quality earphones and into my acoustic amplifier.

And yes, imo the FR1x speaker-system in itself can't do justice to its own onboard sounds.

I still have to plug it into a full live stage PA, but because of corona that room hasn't opened yet.
 
pretty much all modern Digital electronic sound generation devices have their
core tonality (whenever in imitation of real instruments) sampled and waveformed
to take full advantage of a Stereo Soundscape

even the Leslie simulations and Chorus and Echo and Reverb subroutines that are
applied are crafted with TWO EARS in mind

in order to reap the audible benefits of this programming, you need quite a bit
more than a nice little cube with two speakers a 1/4 inch apart trying to project
a stereo image

for Stereo to work:
the speakers need to be reasonable separated in space, usually the wider the better,
and your ears need to receive the information accurately/equally enough for your Brain to
decode the positioning of the instrumentation and sound reflections

the stereo of a Cube cannot really do anywhere near the separation your headhones exhibit
 
I have played accordion both acoustic and digital for many years and the amplifier is a problem. Many years ago I purchased a Polytone amplifier however it was heavy and it didn't give stereo separation, although it was powerful enough to work in a venue with several hundred guests.

Stereo separation is a major issue for me and I found a nice solution that works well for me. About a year ago I discovered the HK Audio Nano 300 amp and it has a lot to like. First of all it's quite portable at 10kg and despite it's size puts out about 230 watts, if you believe the brochure. I have a couple of microphone stands to which I attach the small tweeters and they can be spread out and aimed to avoid feedback and give really good stereo separation.

It works well in rooms up to about 120 people and let's face it, our audiences tend to be mature so they don't want the music too loud, or perhaps I don't play as well as I think I do.

There is also a larger version that is about twice as powerful, although purchasing a second Nano 300 would give me a lot of flexibility since I could use one or both as required. The 300 that I purchased came with a very simple 4 port mixer that can be used directly or even with a stand alone mixer to add effects. I bought mine in Canada and don't know about it's availability world wide however they're made by Hughes and Kettner which is based in Germany, although the prices in Europe were more expensive when calculated against the price here.

These days I don't tend to play larger events and prefer smaller, more intimate events. Even this lightweight rig, my Roland Fr8X, the amplifier, the Bk7m, my mixer, various stands cables and music books makes for a lot of loading and uploading. I'm being hopeful here that we'll get past the pandemic and that the world will return to normal soon.

I've looked at various accordion forums but never seen anyone using this handy little PA System so thought that it might benefit others.
 
Hi,
I think the Bose S1 pro could be a nice solution .
Only 7 kgs and with a battery. The sound is very natural and powerfull.
Pierre
 
Hi,
I think the Bose S1 pro could be a nice solution .
Only 7 kgs and with a battery. The sound is very natural and powerfull.
Pierre
The Bose looks nice however you might lose stereo separation especially with a Roland digital accordion. I also looked at some battery powered units but none were compact and with good stereo separation. That's why I settled on the HK Nano 300 because it's compact and has good stereo sound. Unfortunately it's not battery powered.
 
The Bose looks nice however you might lose stereo separation especially with a Roland digital accordion. I also looked at some battery powered units but none were compact and with good stereo separation. That's why I settled on the HK Nano 300 because it's compact and has good stereo sound. Unfortunately it's not battery powered.
I didn’t notice the Hk Nano was stereo. It is indeed nice to have the stereo even with an acoustic accordion. I intend to buy a second Bose S1 because of the nice sound and its portability. With their tone match mixer it is also possible to have stereo but this setup is of course more expensive than the Nano (that I have also tested but found the sound s little less natural than the Bose.
Greetings,
Pierre
 
I didn’t notice the Hk Nano was stereo. It is indeed nice to have the stereo even with an acoustic accordion. I intend to buy a second Bose S1 because of the nice sound and its portability. With their tone match mixer it is also possible to have stereo but this setup is of course more expensive than the Nano (that I have also tested but found the sound s little less natural than the Bose.
Greetings,
Pierre
Hi Pierre, The Nano 300 is stereo and you get great separation because you can mount the small "tweeters " on stands and position them for optimal sound distribution. The basic version comes with a simple 3 channel mixer that works fine when playing alone because I play an Fr8x and the Bk7m. When playing with a vocalist I use a separate Mackie mixer with effects. Each satellite speaker can produce 35 watts of power and the subwoofer 160. It weighs 10kg so it's nicely portable and produces enough volume for a hundred or so people. I also looked at the Bose L1 compact model but it was priced at almost twice the cost.

The Nano is better known in Europe than in North America so it has a larger acceptance. If I needed something larger I would consider buying a pair of HK Audio Polar 10 units which are much more powerful than the Bose systems as well as being priced lower. Since I now play at smaller events and have no desire to appear at large venues the Nano suits me well and these days more and more venues have their own sound systems which are matched to the room so there is less need to own large and heavy sound systems.
 
This Nano concept looks nice indeed. When I tested it the two satellites were mounted on top of the sub so I didn’t realize it was stereo.
Anyway we are lucky to have these new lightweight and nice amplifiers compared to the heavy and harsh sounding systems in the past.
 
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