Anyone heard of Ktone powered mixer heads?

droptrd

Active member
My trusty old carvin PA head ive had for 12 years went hiroshima last night :( I need another pa head quick. I dont have alot of $$$ right now. I was looking on ebay at these 10ch 1000 watt Ktone heads for $207.99. Are these things a piece of shit or are they a good value? Any other recommendations will be appreiciated. I need at least 6chs and 2x250watt min. Looking to spend no more than $500.
 
Never heard of those mixers. But the problem in general I have with powered mixers is they don't usually have an input gain knob and are often way underpowered and have bloated specs.

I think for $500, you would be better served to get a used yamaha mixing board and a QSC RMX series power amp....
 
I'v had this crate 8 channel mixer for years. It has 2 amps inside, 150 watts a peice. I mean real watts. I'v done huge rooms with it. It began sounding crappy and distorted. I took it to the shop and the guy said it needed alot and I should just look at replaceing it. I know that in todays electronics everyone lies about wattage. We got a 12 channel 300 watt behringer mixer and I HATE it. Not even enough juice for the monitors. I like packing light. What a bummer!
 
Well, I ordered mine on Ebay last night. It seems like a lot for the money, but I had to give it a shot. Wish me luck!
 
OK I got my new ktone 1000watt 10 channel head in last night! I hooked it up and tried it out and I'm going to give you a full reveiw free of charge! I payed $207.00.
*It came well packed via Fed-Ex (free shipping)--impressive
*It looks rugged and well made. Looks like a lot more than $200 worth.
*I fired it up and 1st noticed that there is a fan inside the unit.
*The handbook is tells what each knob and button is, and thats about it.
*1000 watts? no, but we knew that would be the case. It is very much comparable, in power, to my old 300 watt crate head which I loved so much. It definately will have enough for the club scene, in my opinion.--satisfactory
*it has 10 channels, however channels 1-6 have a button called PAD. I really don't know what the hell that means, but I noticed that when you push the button, the mike that I had plugged in lost most of its volume. Channels 7-9 do not have this PAD button. A regular mike with the 3prong cord, won't work because you cant get the volume up on 7-9. I noticed that when I plugged a 1/4 jack into those channels, it was much better. I think they are for things that are'nt passive. I beleive it will be perfect for when the keyboard player gives me a line which always seems really hot.
channel 10 is only outfitted with RCA jacks for a CD player or somthing. I did'nt get to try that.

*it has 16 preset digital effects, which cannot be manipulated. Only the level in the monitor mix and main mix are the only adjustments. If rolled in too heavey, sounds cheesy. Must go light on the effects!
* the only real bummer that I found is that when you roll the main master volume down less than half, it brings in some hum that intensifies when you roll it all the way to 0. Its not a loud hum but an annoying one. I emailed the seller asking if this is normal, no responce yet. It really won't be a problem because its easier to turn the master up and then ease in the channls. It won't bother me much.
* all in all, its definatly useable, and a freakin steal for the money. It will be a good replacement for the old crate.
* I say YES! do it!
 
Cool sounds like a descent buy. Hope you get many reliable miles out of it. I was going to pick one up too but at last min I found a minty barely used Mackie 808S 8ch 600 x 2 watt head for $300. @ GC of all places. Its flawless. An upgrade over my old carvin. Good luck with your new mixer, sounds cool
bigbluesman":24qpivhf said:
OK I got my new ktone 1000watt 10 channel head in last night! I hooked it up and tried it out and I'm going to give you a full reveiw free of charge! I payed $207.00.
*It came well packed via Fed-Ex (free shipping)--impressive
*It looks rugged and well made. Looks like a lot more than $200 worth.
*I fired it up and 1st noticed that there is a fan inside the unit.
*The handbook is tells what each knob and button is, and thats about it.
*1000 watts? no, but we knew that would be the case. It is very much comparable, in power, to my old 300 watt crate head which I loved so much. It definately will have enough for the club scene, in my opinion.--satisfactory
*it has 10 channels, however channels 1-6 have a button called PAD. I really don't know what the hell that means, but I noticed that when you push the button, the mike that I had plugged in lost most of its volume. Channels 7-9 do not have this PAD button. A regular mike with the 3prong cord, won't work because you cant get the volume up on 7-9. I noticed that when I plugged a 1/4 jack into those channels, it was much better. I think they are for things that are'nt passive. I beleive it will be perfect for when the keyboard player gives me a line which always seems really hot.
channel 10 is only outfitted with RCA jacks for a CD player or somthing. I did'nt get to try that.

*it has 16 preset digital effects, which cannot be manipulated. Only the level in the monitor mix and main mix are the only adjustments. If rolled in too heavey, sounds cheesy. Must go light on the effects!
* the only real bummer that I found is that when you roll the main master volume down less than half, it brings in some hum that intensifies when you roll it all the way to 0. Its not a loud hum but an annoying one. I emailed the seller asking if this is normal, no responce yet. It really won't be a problem because its easier to turn the master up and then ease in the channls. It won't bother me much.
* all in all, its definatly useable, and a freakin steal for the money. It will be a good replacement for the old crate.
* I say YES! do it!
 
I am seriously looking at the 10 channel 1000w head myself. I have a 3 piece band, and we want a simple pa setup for our small clubs, which we'll do without a soundman. Heavy Classic rock. We have two full range cabs and four small wedge monitors. I figured this head would work pretty decent for the money. If you have had any other issues with it, can you let me know? We'll probably mic the drums and the guitar, but not the bass. I'm glad I finally found a review of this thing, I've been wondering about it. Thinking about sitting a pair of bass cabs under the full range cabs. I know it won't be crossed over, but would it still sound okay just running to all four pa cabs, even if I don't use a crossover?



oh yeah, and now it looks like the craigslist guy is down to $500 cash...
riiiiight... I think I'll buy mine off ebay for $207...
 
^ Some Subs have passive crossovers, so you might be able to run the signal into the sub and then from there into the tops. It just depends on the subs you have.

Crossovers are pretty cheap though, that is the best way to go, if you have the amp channels.
 
I used mine for the 1st time last weekend in a club. I have a 6 peice bluesband, with a mic only on the bass drum. The guys bitched about the effects. The problem is that you can't adjust the effects in any way except for the amount that goes in the mix. I think the trick to a good effect is going to be in the amount. I was thinking about using this microverb I have, and as I look I see no effects loop. so I don't know if I can use it. Anyway we used a setting called "room" and turned the send way down. Wife said she heard no effects. But she said we sounded good. She knows our sound, and she thought we sounded like we did when we used the old head. Plenty of power it seems, but not a 1000 watts. We have 2 of those old yamaha 15's with horns, and we were running 4 monitors. The Mains were 3/4 the way up. The place isnt real big. I don't think you could run subs in addition to this. It "feels" like 300-400 watts. But man, for the money and the warranty and hell the shipping they use is worth half the mixer lol. You can't go wrong. Easy to set levels appears to provide a stable mix. I will use mine on as many gigs as I can, because I hate messing with all that big PA shit. I hope this helps. I was like you, could not find a reveiw, a web site, nothing. I just took a chance. It did'nt blow me away with its awesomness. But certainly got my bucks worth and then some. Keep on rockin!
 
*in best Mr. Burns voice*
"excellent... excellent..."

My thanks to you. I am very used to a full PA with 3 way crossover and 24 channel snake and board, but for my side project, I want to do a 3 piece power trio with no soundman, running from the stage. I don't think we'll have a prob with the effects. Right now, for the trio, I only use a reverb, so I don't think I'll miss the adjustability, we just need a little bit of "something" so it's not completely dry vocally. Plus, I don't see us needing the bass bins, really, that's just an old habit that I am trying to break. We don't always have to have the "Kick drum from Thunderous Hell" y'know? haha. So, I should be able to run my two full range frontal cabs on the "Mains" side, and then run our 3 or 4 wedges on the "Monitors" side, and have separate control, correct? I don't want to run the drums through the monitors, just vocals, and a little guitar. What ohmage are you pulling? Because maybe if you are pulling 8 or 16 ohms, you aren't getting the 500 watts. But the 500 watt/side rating may be at 4 or 2 ohms instead. Just a thought. So, maybe if I ran two 8 ohm cabs per speaker output, I would get closer to the rated 500 watts. So many questions, so few gigs booked, haha. Thanks again---
 
its my pleasure bro. Yes it has 2 channels. there is a switch that toggles between stereo mode or main/mon mode. I guess the stereo mode is for DJ's , dont need that.so you have seperate controls for main and mon. you also get an eq for each as well as seperate effect level controls. Hell yes I'm too old and fat for that stuff. 3 power amps ,crossover ,eqs ,chords everywhere. If someone else is running it fine. But I hate that crap. lol ..I like the 30 minute set-up..Good luck with yours..if u get it, be sure to tell me what u think!...rock on!
 
bigbluesman":3e2ewmto said:
its my pleasure bro. Yes it has 2 channels. there is a switch that toggles between stereo mode or main/mon mode. I guess the stereo mode is for DJ's , dont need that.so you have seperate controls for main and mon. you also get an eq for each as well as seperate effect level controls. Hell yes I'm too old and fat for that stuff. 3 power amps ,crossover ,eqs ,chords everywhere. If someone else is running it fine. But I hate that crap. lol ..I like the 30 minute set-up..Good luck with yours..if u get it, be sure to tell me what u think!...rock on!

Haha!!! I'm with ya on the too old and fat for that comment, ha... I am really tired of set ups and tear downs that take two hours, I want to go back to the simple life, where I don't carry a lot of crap, and don't have to pay a soundman, haha..

I saw that stereo/mono to Main/Monitor switch, and thought that was the case. I like that a lot. So, I'm guessing that two speaker outs are main/left, and two speaker outs are monitor/right, depending on how you flip the switch, excellent. I llike the separate eq's and effect levels in there, too. I prefer almost dry monitors, with more effects in the mains, of course. Right now I am just borrowing a six channel Peavey 300 watt head with reverb only. It doesn't have the separation of mains/monitors, plus I kind of need one or two more channels. Saving me moola for the ktone right now. I will post my own review when I have used it. Maybe others can benefit from our experiences, eh? I'm sure many purists may cringe at the sacrifices in certain areas of sound quality, but different situations call for different strategies, right? Thanks again-
 
Was wondering the same thing on this Head.. I can tell you the PAD is for just that.. If you have a hot output you can use the PAD to reduce the input level so you are not overdriving the input. Some keyboards and amps have pretty hot line outs or direct outputs.
Glad to hear it is working out for you.

Also on your hum problem.. Try disconnecting all your inputs, connect the head to your speakers and turn it on and turn it up to your usuall listining level, if you hear hum try using a power conditioner or filter at the AC plug between the amp.. if that don't clear your hum send it back.. It's junk!
 
Update. After using this head on a few gigs, I can no longer recommend it. It is a piece. The hum thing got worse. Even with nothing plugged in it, it hummed like a bitch. The effects are completely unusable. They sound horrible. 2 of the channels were unusable because of this pad feature. Also has no effect loop, so any chance of tasty vocal effects are nill. I sold it, lost $50 on it and don't even care. I looked at a Beringer head that is supposed to be a good one, but honestly it looks just like this crappy one I just had and that tells me it was probably made in the same Chinese sweatshop factory and probably is also a peice. I'm telling you what fellas, its a sad day for powered mixers. They all have digital processors. The spring reverb always served me well and I will miss the simplicity of it. I am always interested in suggestions about a powered mixer. so let me know if you have any.
 
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