The older one was a 30-watter, Donny, which was the one I tried. I saw the new 50-watt model last week in the store, asked the owner's son about it, and he said, pretty much the same thing his father did - it's a practice amp for guitar students - nothing more - nothing less. He said he didn't think it sounded any better than the 30-watt amp when it came to sound quality, and only slightly louder, but not much. As for vocals through it - he said fugettaboutit!

Almost forgot, Donny, the amp is advertised as a 50-watt amp, but that's 50-watts peak power - not RMS. The amp is only 8.76-watts RMS power, which is not nearly as much as the onboard sound system in your PSR-S950, and the sound system in the S-950 is matched and balanced to the keyboard. Additionally, this tiny, practice amp for guitar players sells for $500 plus tax, which is a big chunk of money to lay down for a tiny amp that doesn't handle vocals very well at all. Yeah, I know, there will be someone that will claim that it's a 50-watt amp, but that same person doesn't know beans about Ohm's law. It's very easy: 12-volts DC X .730 amps = 8.75-watts. Those are the specs from the manufacturer's spec sheet - not something I made up.

Also, keep in mind that if the amp were capable of punching out a true 50-watt RMS output, those 4 D-cells wouldn't last 20 minutes, but instead, the manufacturer rates them at 4 hours. The current drain for a 50-watt RMS amp is 4.1 amps, which means those D-cells would be dead in 20 minutes, and that's flat dead. However, the amp would cut off when the voltage dropped below 10-volts DC, so it might last 10 minutes at best if it were truly a 50-watt RMS amp.

Most of the outdoor performers here connect an inexpensive inverter to their car or truck battery, then just fire up their normal gear. That car battery will provide 3 to 5 hours of solid power for the gear, and when it gets low, you just start the car and let the battery charge for about a half hour. A car's alternator can punch out 50 amps at engine speeds just above idle.

Over the years, Roland and others, have been notorious for make ridiculous wattage claims about these tiny amps. Every time I check them out, their own specifications provided the real truth about what you can expect from them when it comes to power. Peavey and Yamaha used to do the same, but over the years, they included the RMS power in their specs as well as peak power. When it comes to amps, especially PA systems, peak power is almost meaningless. Logitech has always provided RMS and peak power in their specs. You could purchase 3 LOgitech Z-5500 5.1 systems for the price of that Roland Cube. And, I can assure you that the sound quality and coverage coming from that Logitech would easily blow away the Cube.

All the best,

Gary