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Just out of curiosity I just tried my DP through a '70's valve Fender Champ and doesn't sound bad! It's only a temporary measure until I buy something more suitable (Roland Cm-30 probably) but I was wondering if using the DP through a guitar amp is likely to do any damage if I keep the volume down and avoid the lowest notes?

Guitar amps are used to distortion, so I don't think you'll do it any harm within reasonable volume levels.

Since the specs on your Korg SP-200 indicate "high-quality stereo samples" in use, you had best go with a stereo system for optimum reproduction.

You can get an extremely efficient but affordable sound system using the Logitech Z-2300 2.1 speaker system, that has been thoroughly approved by many keyboardists looking for a great home system. I've had personal experience with this system, and it is very impressive.

If you are playing on stage, I highly recommend (through experience) the Traynor K4 Keyboard Monitor amp which is a stereo unit, and is rugged, very powerful, and reasonably priced.

Most, if not all, digital piano stereo samples (and VST's) do not collapse well to mono, and most of an instrument's internal effects(DSP) are at their best heard in stereo. Some pianos have a mono piano sound specifically for use with mono amps, but the rest of the instrument's sounds are usually in stereo.

A friend of mine and I modified a Fender Twin Reverb (guitar amp), using full range Celestion speakers, for use with a Fender Rhodes piano, but we weren't all that pleased with playing the acoustic piano sound of a digital piano through it...the Rhodes, however, sounded wonderful.

Snazzy

Thanks for the info! The SP200 has a mono piano in addition to the stereo pianos plus a mono output if required and doesn't sound bad at all in mono. I hope to get a stereo speaker system for it eventually and I'll certainly consider the Logitech system. I won't be gigging I'm not nearly good enough yet! , thanks again!

You can't damage the amp. By playing a keyboard through it.

The Fender Champ has a pretty clean sound if you don't turn it up. So I imagine the sound is not bad for non-acoustic piano sounds. The frequency response how ever is anything but flat. I'd expect a kind of warm Fender sound.

Fender is sure a better choice then say a Mesa Boogie Duel Rectifier. But still, even the Champ is not an accurate or hifi amp. You can make it beter by using any 8 ohm hifi speaker you might have. The champ is very low power so any speaker should work fine.

The old Rhodes keyboards where played through Fender valve amps so you might be able to get the best electric piano sounds using the guitar amp.

I have a Champ too. but mine's the re-issue I tried using it with a Rolland Synth and even but a Boss DS1 in the chain in an attempt to get a conving electric guitar sound out of the keyboard. It only sort of worked. No synth has good guitar sounds

I've heard many players say they get better results playing keyboards through bass amps rather than regular guitar amps. I got great results myself with a JBL EON15 G2 for years. These days I use a Bose PAS L2 which is amazing the way it doubles as a stage monitor. My wife often takes a little Mackie Srm150 instead on her solo gigs which is ultra-light and works and sounds great in smaller venues. I highly recommend any Mackie SRM or JBL G2 but the Bose PAS is my fav.

Howard

I play my Roland RD700GX through a Fender Twin 100 watt all tube amp. All of the electric piano sounds are outstanding. The acoustic sounds are not nearly as good. As Snazzy said, the K4 is a great amp. I just ordered one.

Thanks for the replies! True the pianos don't sound as good as the other voices but they're good enough for now, the EPs and Vibes sound great!