Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System 

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

this amp does basicly what i need. it has been said that it is not loud enough, but does nicely for my requirements. i get a great sound after i learned how to set the eq. the effects are not that great but maybe i need to spend more time learning to set them. i've only had this for a month.
This amp has more features than i need i.e. effects
this amp is well built, not too heavy
great price

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

Don't look further. Even if you have $1,000 to invest in a keyboard/small PA amp, get this one.
A lot of inputs to accomodate my whole band for practice. 7 key EQ. Great, great effects.
One year since purchase and no problems at all. Sturdy construction and seems strong. Sound is fantastic. Lots of low-end. For smaller to medium venues I plugged my Yamaha DTX drums and all the voices from a mixer to take advantage of the great reverb and punch bass for the kick drum.
Excellent value for the money. Other brands like Roland and Peavey do not offer, even in their high-end amps, all the features of this Behringer amp. I had a Peavey KB3 and a Roland KC-60 before this, but when I heard this amp in a local store, I sold them both and bought this one.

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

great
great amp-solid sound-I would recomend highly.

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

Be aware of the lack of bass response. Other than that, you can't beat it for the price. Great amp!
Feature packed for this price. Equalizer, FX module, FX return on each channel, stereo tracks, slave amp IN and OUT, CD IN.
Disappointing bass response for a keyboard amp. You have to boost them on the equalizer which affects all channels. Power output lacks linearity. It feels like a 80W amp until you turn the knobs to about 3/4.
You get what you pay for and you get a lot based on that equation!

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

overall ,...spend a few more bucks on a peavy or roland and save a trip dragging this thing back to UPS to return it.....i must say that the cutomer service people that handled my situation at MF were great and helped me find a better alternative for the price.... thanks...
bought this item and returned it.....piano sounds immediatly distorted....a cool little amp w some effects and a mic imput,...really wished it would have worked out for the price ...you know what they say, if it sounds too good to be true..............
quality seemed good on first impression, .... it was built like a little tank... but the quality of what came out of it was dissapointing
if this thing could handle a keyboard being played through it the value would be great, ...too bad..

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

You do get what you pay for. As stated in the many reviews: This amp has a great feature set but it's woefully underpowered. It does have many thoughtful features I find useful: Such as XLR outputs ( WITH ground lift switch, thank you!) and flexible routing matrix for bringing in external monitor feeds etc. I play jazz and variety type gigs at home, and spend the other half of my life on the road with some well known oldies acts who play 900-1800 seat type venues. I prefer 12" speakers because unless I'm doing a solo gig, I don't really need all that low end mucking things up or getting in the way of the bass player.

Real world applications for my fellow keyboard players:

As the sound source that the audience hears:
For the average jazz gig with rompler piano or rhodes sounds, this thing sounds ok, not a hi-fi or inspiring sound by any means. For solo piano, small trio, or quartet who might also need to plug in a mic for the sax or announcements, and an ipod for breaks- it works great. However, it has a threshold that get's nasty in the midrange if you push it, which luckily for the typical musical wall paper type jazz gigs we all do doesn't happen too often. For the average jazz cocktail hour, or corporate event it's fine, again just not inspiring.

Use as a stage monitor with send to house PA: With my multi-keyboard stage rig of piano, synths, and a nord organ- it'll run out of steam fast competing with a typical loud band of guitars and drums. In a larger concert/theater stage setting, if I don't feel like bringing my mixer and rack, I'll sometimes use this amp for it's stereo mixer capability only, with the speaker option available in case they are short on mixes (...or the monitor guy sucks). In that application it does well. The montior rigs provided in the venues I typically play range from incredible, to utter garbage, or non-existent. So it's always wise to have your own options just in case.

As to Behringer: They deliver stuff that musician's need at very attractive prices and I'm grateful. Though often accused of reverse engineering and copying other designs, sometimes they go one better and actually improve what they copy. Their keyboard amps are an amalgamation of the best features of Peavey-Roland- Traynor family. Just don't expect boutique quality for chump change. Qaulity control is no worse than others. Most of the big brands are now made in China too. I've found with Behringer, if it works out of the box, then it's got about as much road worthiness as most Mackie gear. I have no shame in using thier stuff- but will admit when recently doing a fairly hi-profile TV thing, I took the logo faceplate off the amp in an act of sheer vanity.

What do we do ?
As keyboard players we have unlimited options for keyboards and sounds, but amplification choices even in 2012 are still sadly limited unless you go with a mini-PA system.
I too, am an older professional who has played it all, and forever looking for a lightweight and great sounding way to hear my rig.. I positvely love in-ears, which is a simple, and sane way to hear yourself in true stereo fidelity. But ....unless the entire band is using them you are cut off from communicating or locking in. On a show gig I've played a milliion times, I can get away with that, but if it's a new artist or set list- then I need to be able to hear 360. Other solutions I've tried is the mini pa ( bringing smaller powered speakers and a mixer) But then you have to hook up more stuff.

Using the Behringer with a satellite powered 12" pa speaker (fed from the link output), has been a reasonably good stereo experience and solution for it's lack of power. When used as control for in ear system, it's also been handy being able to bring in the house monitor feed. At least with in-ears, your're just using the mixer and the sound is about as good as any low end Mackie-Yamaha mixer type thing.

I would kill for a medium priced lightweight combo amp with Tons of Class D power that has this Behringer's feature set. The bigger Roland and Peaveys are loud, but too darn heavy, and lacking in options and not really all that great sounding. The Canadian (Yorkville, Traynor ) stuff looks very promising, but a little too pricey. I've already got finicky boutique amps (rhymes with Feta ) but I'm tired of having to send them back to the company for constant (expensive) repairs. I've also got a Mackie PA setup, but too much to bring if I'm already toting 3 keyboards plus stands, and other junk.

I chose this amp for that fact that I can leave it in a trailor or truck, and not worry too much if it got stolen or destroyed. It gets the job done, and it's many routing and input functions have saved my bacon many times in the past. It's a utilitarian type amp/mini PA, it would be the "Great Value" brand if sold at Wally World. If you don't expect more than that, (and play at a medium volume) then you'll probably be happy.

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

Overall this amp does the job. I plan on playing multiple keyboards/synths so having four channels is good. The amp also doubles as a much lighter option when I want to take an amp home to practice bass. If you are buying this amp because it has on board effects don't; the majority of the effects are terrible. Taking all of this into concideration I would say that if you need a cheaper option because you can't afford a Roland I would say buy this one.
I play both keys and bass for my band so I use this amp to boost my bass sound using the xlr imput. The fact that this amp has this imput is great. When I bought this amp I knew that I would be using it not only to play keys but to also boost the volume of my Ampeg BA15 so when I saw that the amp had effects I assumed that the majority of them would be terrible, which they are, but I thought I could add a bit of delay to the bass. I did and it sounds pretty good, however, I would say that 99% of the effects on this amp are awful.

I plan on using all 4 of the imputs on this amp. At the moment I am using 2 and the sound stays pretty good but we'll see.

The reason why I am giving this amp a rating of 7 in Features is because it has 4 imputs, 100 effects (most of which are awful), knobs to control not only the effect but how much is getting sent to each channel, foot switch imput so you can turn off your awful Behringer effects, and the fact that the amp is 180 watts.
In total the price gets a four channel amp rated at 180 watts. It's not bad for the price and now my guitarist is contemplating getting one for his mini synth.

The last time I used/owned a Behringer it literally fell apart and it was the worst buy, to this day, that I have ever made. I was a bit apprehensive about buying this to say the least but I did because I'm a broke musician who didn't really have any other options. The quality is actually pretty good. I personally believe that the amp is well put together and it actually supprised me.
It has okay tone, 5 usable effects (in my opinon), and is loud enough for me to compete with my drummer and guitarist. I would have prefered a Roland but for the same wattage I was looking at paying more than twice as much.

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

Time to move on...
I've had this guy for almost 2 years and played probably 100+ shows with it. I regularly used it at near-maximum capacity and it finally blew. Now it's a risk using it becuase I'm not always sure whether it'll crackle like it has been recently. So after almost 2 years, I'm upgrading. A good first amp, probably worth the low price, but time to move on...

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

I've run my keys through the PA for the past several years and have always had a great monitor mix and a great sound man. I've picked up some gigs with a very promising 3 piece (now 4) blues band that, when not running through house PA's, has a very limited PA and runs sound from the stage. I need some stage presence and volume and thought I'd give this a try. And now that I'm 50, I'm really tired of dragging around big, heavy amps.

I've got 2 Behringer mixers, a 2442FX and a UB802 for my keyboards, and have been very happy with their performance. This K1800FX is the first Behringer amp I've bought, and I'm guessing it is no more than 30 watts, not 180. It's very disturbing to me to look at an amp with the volume knobs at 3/4 and higher and still need more - just for practice. I'm used to my vintage Peavey tube guitar amp that can't be turned up more than 1 at rehearsals, maybe 2 at gigs. Great for guitar, but it just doesn't have the response for bright pianos and high register B3 voices.

Needless to say, this was not a solution for me. The Roland 350 would be my next choice. At an in-store demo, I liked the sound much better, but am still not sure if it will have the power I need, either. I don't want to lug around a Roland 550, but I'm sure that's where I'll wind up.
On-board effects is a nice addition, versatile inputs and outputs
Sound is decent, output power is disappointing
The price is great, but you get what you pay for

Comments about Behringer ULTRATONE K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System:

I purchased this Behringer Ultratone K1800FX Keyboard Amp/PA System a year and a half ago, and so far it has exceeded my expectations. It's use mainly has been as a keyboard amplifier for music worship in a small church. It has one good characteristic when used as a keyboard amplifier for workstations. When the volume is turned up, it sounds more pleasing, really boosting the base while rounding out the mids and highs. The PA system works really well, but make sure you use good mikes with it. The Nady SP-33 although cost effective works really well on Channel 1. I tried a cheap Realistic (RadioShack) one off an old Karaoke system, just was not able to put out the volume. The amp works really well in small club / church auditorium atmospheres.