Roland KC-300 Stereo Mixing Amp

Good basic keyboard amp for the price. Heavy! Have used it for gigs for the last 3 years and use the line out to provide signal to the "mains" (so use it like a monitor).

Using it for keyboard and organ (synth) only. Two channels (one for each) so I don't really use the others features (mic in, etc.).

Piano sounds are great - Organ gets muddy - especially low notes.

I have also used it with my iPod/CD Player for background music - works great!

My unit's power amp failed after about 10 months (during a sound check). Luckily I had a back up (guitar) amp to use (for a monitor) since the line out still worked - but I bought it for the reliability. Repaired (under warranty) but I still feel like it's going to fail again (need to be more trusting).

Once I showed my receipt to the authorized repair center I didn't pay a penny - otherwise the repair would have been in the $125 range.

This is my primary amplifier. If I had to buy another (and the budget), I would probaby move up to the KC550 (oh, my aching back). But for the price/performance (and since there's only about 10 keyboard amps on the market), it works well.

The Roland KC-350 is a 4 channel keyboard amp. I have two, one made in 2005, the other in 2006. The fourth channel can be switched to headphone only, speaker only, or the line out, like the other three channels. Useful if you want to use the speaker as a stage monitor with your own personal mix. These amps are pretty loud for a 120watt amps. I use them like everywhere and for everything...mainly for guitar processor (GT-8), bass guitar, drum machine (DR-880), keyboards, even CD players! Sometimes all those things at the same time! They are the most versatile pro audio purchase I've ever made.

They DO NOT color the sound in any way. I use processors for that. They are full range amps...like a mixer and PA system rolled into one cab.

They are extremely reliable.

These things work flawlessly, pure and simple. Granted I don't do arena size concerts, but they will fill small to medium sized venues easily with my guitar, and work great as monitors.

Four channels - one that allows XLR input (with the right connecting cable), two that are stereo, and one that's a monitor (i.e., only for the speaker, not for output to an external PA system. Good EQ, easy to use interface. The stereo link feature is very helpful when using two of these amps -- or when using a KC-300 and a KC-350, or a KC-500 or 550. Stereo link is great for controlling volumes of both amps from the amp nearest you on stage. I like the stereo out OR mono out options for sending to the house. At first I didn't like the lack of XLR inputs and outputs, but, again, if you buy the right (balanced 1/4") cables, it doesn't matter -- you can still plug a mic'd motion sound leslie unit in, or feed an XLR cable to a direct box or house mixer.

These amps cover piano, organ, clavinet, synth pads -- even sequenced drum/bass/keys program very well. If you buy a good submixer like a Mackie 1202 and go from your keyboards to the mixer and then to the KC300 you will get an amazing improvement in your sound. The mixer's preamps clean things up significantly. I like the KC300 (I have two) because of their flexibility. You can use one with no mixer for small gigs, one with a mixer for small gigs where improved sound is needed, and two (ideally with a good submixer) for larger gigs where a fuller, stereo sound is needed. The 100 watt KC-300 has recently been replaced by the 120 watt KC-350, so it's now bargain priced at around $279.00 retail (cost). That means you can get TWO KC-300s for about the same cost as ONE KC-350 (retail = $499.00 or so). I know what I'd rather have...200 watts/stereo/2 - 12" speakers/2 tweeters/more inputs beats 120 watts/mono/1 - 12" speaker/1 tweeter/fewer inputs any day!

The KC300 is a bit muddy without a good submixer, but still very adequate. I use mine for rehearsal, but would not hesitate to do a live venue (even a larger one) with two stereo-linked KC300s -- provided I sub-mixed first. The KC500/KC550 is better for bass, but two 300s work quite well, too. I run a Motion Sound Pro 3t into one or two 300s, and it really works well.
The amp is very quiet (unless you use noisy effects -- not the amp's fault there!). It is also very easy to carry. I do wish it could be propped up wedge monitor-style and still provide easy access to the volume and tone settings. When you lean the amp back, the knobs are harder to reach. This, too, supports using a submixer when playing live. You can control what you send to the amps remotely, and lean them back without issue.
The amps can buzz a bit when the right (low-mid) frequency is sent to them at high volume, but I find that (again!) this problem goes away if you use a decent submixer and/or preamp. Garbage in, garbage out, I guess!
For its size and weight, this amp really can't be beat -- and I love that you can mount it on stands. This is a great feature for larger stages...

Bulletproof. I've used KC amps for over 7 years, and have had one of my current KC300s for over 4 years. They don't fail. You do need to keep an eye on the little gold tone/volume knobs. They can fall off and disappear if you handle the amp roughly. With normal handling, though, no problems at all! I wouldn't hesitate to use a KC300 onstage without a backup.

Not as bad as you might think! Roland is pretty good when ordering replacement parts, etc. The phone is usually answered fairly quickly. I'm not sure how good the phone support people are with detailed technical questions, but they can look up parts and ship them out withoug incident. Roland products are popular, so local service is usually easy to find. I currently own about 8 Roland products, and have owned about 20 Roland items over the years. Outside of two cases where I abused something (note to self: keep beer away from vented rackmount modules, and buy SKB cases for all keyboards!), none of my Roland products has ever needed service.

For what this amp is designed for -- mid-size gigs where you don't want to haul heavy gear but still want to sound good, it's great! I'm really glad I picked up a second one -- the stereo link feature is nice, and the stereo separation allows more sound, less muddiness and less buzzing. If you buy two of these, a Motion Sound Pro 3t for your organ sounds, and a good submixer like Mackie's 1202 or the new Tapco, you have a really nice basic keyboard amp setup.

100W, 4 channels, plenty of inputs, a cool monitor channel, yeah, does the trick.

BOOO!!! HISSS!!!! THROW TOMATOES!!
I use this with keyboards and wind synths, all sorts.
Yeah, not so much happy. For the first 2 months or so that I had this amp, played it only in my house. Small house, low volumes, nothing really past 2. Then I finally took it out for a small gig. But not too small, still needed the sound. crank the volume up to about 5-6. Any piano note played below C2 made the thing buzz, sputter, fart, and sound like crap, essentially. Notes played on piano sounds, any wind sound, and even clean leads, between about G5 and E6 had some of the worst treble distortion I had ever heard. Sounds almost like a resonance frequency issue. Very disappointed. Very disappointed indeed. Some of them have this issue, not all of them. I used a friend's, which lacked the treble issue [didn't try any low bass power]. But it is not consistent.

It works consistently, if you can call the way it sounds working.

It seemed to be the most prepared to cover my needs, and is definitely the most popular keybd amp out there. But it was a failure. I'm not happy.

multi-line inputs and a head phone jack are vital to me. The monitoring channel is great too!! I'd perfer a 3 band EQ in it though. Cant have everything.

I use this stickly for electronic percussion. Probably much more demanding than a keyboard in that sense. It sounds great. The highs will kill you if you dont back them off. that tweeter is everything! I wish it oculd handle a little more bass. 12" speaker just isnt made to pound you.

I've used this thing every weekend for 5 years. I've had to replace the tweeter once, along with the power cord (ground fell off) and a knob. This thing is a tropper. I wish Roland included a slip cover to help it out. I made one myself and its made a lot of diffrence in keeping it all together

didnt use Roland, I needed it back the same week!

It would be nice if there was an XLR jack in it. I wish the input jacks were higher up on the back of it. (like the 500)
light wieght, very protable amp that will kick you! super reliable and very versital. I'd definatly buy another one, and I just might! Stereo link anyone?

Features: Purchased Feb. 2003 for $399. Four inputs, one can take a 1/4 inch balanced mike cable, and one is for monitor mix (comes out speaker but not line outs). It has basic tone and volume controls.

I purchased it because I was fed up depending on sound persons to provide adequate monitoring on stage while performing on sax. Using this, I can provide a supplemental feed to monitor myself and control my own stage volume.

My thinking is that this amp would also double as a cool jamming rig since I also play guitar and sing. This could work simultaneously with vocal mike, sax mike (after preamp and effects via line input) and guitar via my J-Station (like a pod) to be a relatively light weight all in one jamming amp.

Sounds: I suppose this might work well for a keyboard (I haven't tested it), and it works OK to monitor my sax, but it was not very satisfying with the J-Station. Basically, it has a really crispy "ice pick through the head sound with extremely exagerated highs. I don't like this boosted of highs for sax or J-Station. It really is not appropriate for much of anything in my opinion. I was able to mitigate this problem somewhat using the tone controls but the character remained kind of piercy.

However, there is also some kind of problem it has with low end. Several of the distorted settings on the J-Station caused some kind of scary warbling effect on lower notes that sounded like it was going to blow up. It definitely doesn't cut it for J-Station. Possibly these problems can be worked around by not using the more distorted heavy rock settings, but why should we have to? It simply cannot reproduce what the J-Station is feeding it. I may try to upgrade to the more powerful version to see if this problem goes away.

Reliability: No Clue.

Customer Support: no clue.

I give it a 7 overall rating only because it is very versatile by having 4 inputs and line outs. I don't like the over exagerated highs and the low end warbling problem makes it difficult to use with a J-Station or POD. If nothing else, I'll keep it as a personal stage monitor for my sax.

This amp is very versatile, sounds good and seems to have enough power for what I'm doing. I use it for keys and guitar (with a J-Station). An extension speaker jack would've been nice. The AC power cable is not removabe and there no place to put it when moving the amp - unbelievable. I need to find some winder hooks (Roland, what would they have cost you? Fifty cents?)

It seems to stay clean at higher volumes - a necessity for a keyboard amp.

Mine's brand new so time will tell, I guess. Frineds who have the same amp say it's reliable.

I considered Carvin, Motion Sound, Barbetta and others but they were all more expensive than the KC300. I think I made the best choice for the money and size. The KC500 was only $60 more at GC but it weighs almost 2x as much and is a lot bigger. If you don't care about the size & weight, the 500 is probably a better value. I'll use the direct out into the PA at most venues we play and the 300 is fine for onstage monitoring and rehearsals. The KC amps have been around for a while so it should be easy to get it serviced if it ever needs it (and Roland US HQ is right here in LA, CA).

4 Channel stereo mixing amp. Stereo & mono line out + setreo link with another KC300. 12" woofer and a tweeter. Treble and Bass controls. I give it somewhere between an 8 and a 9. And FX loop would be nice so I could run everything through an EQ, maybe even a reverb unit.

This thing has a lot of power in it but I've got 2 complaints about the sound. The first is that when you turn a channel or the master volume up, there is a LOT of white noise. Now, my amps been busted and the tweeter blew on me a few weeks ago so I may just have a dud one, I'll see how it is when I get it back from being repaired, but the hiss is pretty bad.

The 2nd thing, is that this thing BOOMS like all hell is breaking loose! Its almost like its feeding back on a G 2 octaves below middle C. But its so sensitive to that G, even if I play an octave above it, the harmonics in that note are enough to rattle the windows. I'm not joking about the windows either, they litterally do shake, this thing has a LOT of power in it!

I give it a 7-8 for sound. I think its about time I started tweeking the global EQ on my synth. Try and eliminate that boom.

The tweeter stopped working a few weeks ago and the unit's in being repair under warrenty. Not having to pay for the repair is good though. Other than that though, the thing is built like a tank. I'm really surprised that it was the speaker to go, I've really given this thing a beating. It's been thrown around into station wagons and vans and I've even beaten it up with drum sticks in a 'found sound' percussion performance and rehursals. Very sturdy, think I'm gonna have to get wheels put on it though, I'm getting sick of having to carry it.

I give it an 8 for reliability coz I've never heard of anyone else having a problem with any of the KC amps so I think its just mine. And other than the speaker dying, the thing is built so solid.

Roland suck. That's about it really. I'd heard horror stories about their customer support and I've just found out. My amp is in having the tweeter replaced (it broke) and its been in a week and they haven't even looked at it yet. They said if they've got the parts in, it will probably be ready in about a week!! If I had the parts I'd have fixed it myself in an afternoon 'cept I didn't want to void the warrenty!!

If it were stolen, I would probably look around to see what else is on the market. I'd defineatly have a look at the KC-1000. But something with an FX loop would be nice. Its a good amp though, I'm glad I bought it.

Mine is 3 years old, hasn't broke down, yet.
I'd say more, but the first guy covered it well.
7 because ease of use was sketchy. Some things aren't very clear to me about operation routing. But I never read the book, I'm a guitar player that plays keyboards. Don't have much interest in keyboard amps. Just use one.

Great for amp simulators/preamps, Acoustic guitar & Keyboards.

Yes , no backup need.

The power is good for guitar but when playing keyboards it lacks the power & bass that a 15 inch speaker & say... 300 watts could provide?
Should have got the KC-500. Oh Well....for small gigs, it will do.

4 Stereo Channels, Bass and treble controls, Mic & Line in/outs, headphone jack, channel volume controls, monitor jack, stereo links. Full range frequency reproductions.

This amp is good for any clean acoustic instruments, or any other full range appilaction. PA, guitar synth, and preamps such as rocktron or line 6. A very clean amplifer, 100 watt power amp and 1X12 speaker. I primarily use it with a roland ready strat, gr-30 and Line 6 Pod 2.0 preamp processor. Have computer, guitar, keyboard and processors connected.

Seems very reliablible; roland electronics.

Very good product. Works well as a clean amp for practice or driving a preamp such as a rack effects, or amp simulator. Has stereo connections to hook up both left/right signals to a single channel. Has an option to connect another speaker via link. Output is good at low and high levels and seems like it would be sufficent for a small gig. An Excellent product if you want a portable mixer, poweramp, and speaker combination all in one unit. The Pod amp simulator sounds fantastic with this unit, same story with the Roland Gr-30 synth and multieffects units such as the gt-3.