E Drum Amps: How to choose an amplifier for Electronic Drums
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Looking for advice on how to choose an e drum amp? Are headphones not cutting it for practising your electronic drums? Then let us guide you to the best options for an e drum amp….
E Drum Amps
Electronic drums offer a wide range of options when it comes to practising, recording or playing live. The most obvious one is the ability to control the volume of the drum kit. What options exist though, when you want to amplify your drums through speakers?
Nothing kills the vibe of playing drums more than bad monitoring. When you can feel your kick drum as well as hear it and enjoy crisp clear cymbals, you’ll enjoy playing your e-drums much more. Let’s take a look at the requirements for an e drum amp.
What makes a good e drum amp?
Firstly, consider why you need an e-drum amp. If it’s for playing out live you may find that the house PA and monitors may be more than adequate. Equally for home practice a good pair of headphones may also do the job. However, having your own e drum amp guarantees being heard and may be useful if you’re jamming with other musicians without a PA.
E-drums require an amplification system that can reproduce a wide bandwidth; that is to say from the very lowest frequencies to the very highest frequencies. It also needs to reproduce those frequencies with a minimum of distortion.
With that criteria in mind, here are our top 5 choices for amplifying your electronic drums.
Millenium DM-30 Drum Monitor
Starting off with our most affordable and most compact option, is the Millenium, DM-30 Drum Monitor. Adequate enough for bedroom or living room practice, it’s a good starter option. There’s a convenient aux input allowing you to practice to an external audio player.
Source: Milenium
As a place to start, the DM-30 will be adequate for home use. However, if you want to practice at more Rock ‘n’ Roll volumes, or hang with a band, you might want something more substantial. Talking of which…
the box MA120 MKII
A good quality, powered monitor speaker can be a great choice as an e drum amp. The box MA120 MKII offers superb value with a high power output, large woofer and multiple inputs.
Source: Thomann
A 12″ woofer and tweeter should ensure good, full-range reproduction of your kit while 120 Watts will ensure loud and distortion-free reproduction at practice volumes. There’s also an additional balanced mic input if you ever need to add a singer or use the monitor as a stand-alone PA. A great budget choice.
Roland PM-100
Next, we move on to the first purpose-built e drum amp, the Roland PM-100. Roland is, of course, behind the wildly successful V-Drum series of electronic drums. As such, you’d expect they know how to make an amp that works great with electronic drum kits.
Source: Roland
The Roland PM-100 is lighter and more compact than the box MA120. It also features a separate line input with separate level control. Great for playing along to backing tracks or for feeding a friend’s amp modeller into for combined practice.
Alesis Strike Amp 12
Coming from another huge name in e-drums is the Alesis Strike Amp 12. This is a compact powerhouse offering big power in a compact and versatile package. Offering a huge 1000W RMS bi-amplified power amplifier, coupled to a 12″ woofer and tweeter.
Source: Alesis
Of the e drum amps shown so far, this has the most fully-featured inputs, with a pair of combo jack inputs that accept unbalanced jacks or balanced XLR inputs. The Strike Amp 12 is a compact package that offers a whole lot of punch.
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the box pro Achat E-Drum Monitor Bundle
Finally, here’s an option for those wanting a neat, integrated Stereo e drum amp setup. This time it’s a Thomann bundle including a subwoofer, a pair of stereo satellite speakers and all the clamps and cables needed to rig it to your e-drum kit. You get a powered subwoofer, which also includes the stereo amplifier for the included satellite speakers.
Source: Thomann
The beauty of this system is that you can rig the satellite speakers directly to your e-drum rack frame. As a result, it’ll take up no more space than a single, floor-mounted e drum amp. And yet, you’ll get an immersive, stereo playing experience. Superb value and a really neat package.
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