roland keyboard amp kc 350

I just brought home my 2nd roland amp. 1st one had bad rattle, this one doesn't even turn on. I thought roland was a good name?

Roland makes excellent gear.....sounds like a bunch of used gear you bought from a pawn shop or?

where did you get these amps?
where they new or refurbished?
Did you bring your KB into the store & test them before your purchased?

I'll await your reply before further replies.

I second what Donny (DNJ) said. Roland KC amps, IMHO, have a rawer, harsher sound than a PA type amp. I definitely hope you are dealing with a reputable dealer. And I suggest you try many types of amps before buying. As a child of the 60s, I find that sometimes I even like the sound of a good guitar or bass amp instead of a keyboard amp. If you are using the amp for keys and vocals, maybe a PA system would be a better fit.

A few years back I bought a Roland KC100. It also had a bad rattle with any sounds with any low frequency content and that was even at low volume settings. It wasn't the power amp or speaker but the ported enclosure that was the problem. I thought it may have been just a one off problem. I took it back and exchanged it for another. It had exactly the same problem. The store would only give me store credit so I just exchanged it for a powered PA cabinet they had in stock. If it hadn't been for the rattle the amp would have been just fine for my needs, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

It sounds a lot like the problem you had with yours.

Roland really do make some great gear but I would be reluctant to use the KC keyboard amps again. I have to think there are some design flaws that have been overlooked.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 03-02-2008).]

I use a Roland KC100 for some of my small gigs....great little KB amp never a problem great sound.
http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/SNAMM97/Roland/KC-100.html

It must have just been a bad production run I encountered. But after trying 2 I wasn't about to try a third time. I like Roland gear which is why I went for it in the first place.

Nigel sorry I posted your reply, I'm so new at this. Anyway the problem you had with the port rattling on your roland is exactly the problem I had. I'm going to the Guitar Center to pick up another amp. If it has the same problem, I wonder if some sound dampening material would help eliminate the rattle? Bt

Are you talking about the port hole insert?

Yeah the rattling was coming thru the port but it wasn't the port itself rattling. It was probably just a component or wire inside the cabinet. Probably easy to pin down and fix but I just didn't feel like troubleshooting a brand new amp.

Thanx Nigel...

I too had a rattles on both of my Roland 350 amps. I bought them when they first came out.

John C.