Marshal guitar amp for use with synth?

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   I'm kind of desperate and those Marshal Mini-amps are the cheapest I can find, (I have a buget of £23), how awful would that sound plugged into my synth? Also, would it be loud enough to make a bit of a racket? Finally, if that's really not adviseable, does anyone know where I can get a keyboard amp for this price? Thanks, I'm desperate!

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Squirrel_monkey Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: January 05 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 32	Topic: Marshal guitar amp for use with synth? Posted: January 06 2005 at 16:11
	I'm kind of desperate and those Marshal Mini-amps are the cheapest I can find, (I have a buget of £23), how awful would that sound plugged into my synth? Also, would it be loud enough to make a bit of a racket? Finally, if that's really not adviseable, does anyone know where I can get a keyboard amp for this price? Thanks, I'm desperate!
	i!i!i!i!i! SqUiRrEl MoNkEy i!i!i!i!i!

arcer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: September 01 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1239	Posted: January 06 2005 at 17:09
	it will only sound as bad as you want it to sound. A guitar amplifier should be fine for most things, you can even growl up the lead sounds with judicious use of gain and a little reverb never hurt a lot of synth sounds. Just go easy with the gain stage - don't introduce distortion on sounds that don't cope well with that kind of effect (strings, pads etc) by all means go mental on leads and basses however, they can sound really good. Also careful use of distortion on electric piano and organ sounds always adds some welcome colour. I used to use a wah-wah pedal, a phaser or a roto-vibe on a fender rhodes sound all of which was then put through a screamingly overdriven Vox AC30 and it sounded coooooool. If you're recording try taking a dry signal to one channel and them a miked signal from the overdriven amp to a second channel and the blend the two until you get something really sweet. Enjoy.

arcer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: September 01 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1239	Posted: January 06 2005 at 17:11
	oh i just noticed that it's a mini-amp! duh! might be a bit tinny. save up and get a Behringer v-amp and some headphones (instant access to many digitally modelled amps and cabs for about £80). they're sweet.

James Lee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: June 05 2004 Status: Offline Points: 3525	Posted: January 07 2005 at 17:47
	honestly, any cheap stereo with a line-in jack would do most synths better justice than guitar amps, which are typically focused on specific frequencies in the midrange (so you'll lose a lot of the bass and treble, especially). but arcer's totally right, too...a guitar amp can make even a cheesy synth patch sound killer, if that's what you're going for! I know plenty of synth users who run through distortion pedals for basses and leads...Fatboy Slim & the Chemical Brothers especially.