Keyboard amps?

Well, I've now got loads of dough to spend on a new amp.

BUT.

My younger sister, who shares my amp at the moment, wants me to buy a keyboard amp for both of us to share, because she plays keyboard and guitar in a high-school garage band. I have a few reservations about this:

-I don't know what keyboard amps sound like for guitar, ie. whether it's possible to dial in a decent sound with one, and whether they are appropriate for effects and distortion;

-I may be moving out of home before the year's end, which would mean that either my sister would keep the amp and I'd have to buy another one, or that I'd keep it and be left with something that might be inferior to a proper guitar or bass amp; and

-This one's perhaps quite selfish of me :(, but I am thinking that it's my money and I don't want to shell out possibly more than $1000 on gear that would be of more use to my sister than to me.

This got me thinking, and I wondered whether perhaps a guitar amp could also double as a keyboard amp. That way, we can both use it for the time being and get decent sounds out of it. Then I could take it with me upon moving out, give her the little amp that we're sharing at the moment, and let her save up for her own larger amp if she wants one.

So, my questions are:

-Is it possible to get a half-decent guitar sound out of a keyboard amp?
- Failing that, can a guitar amp double as a keyboard amp?

Thanks very much!

I dont really like Keyboard amps alot. keys sound better though a PA. but if you have to buy an amp, I vote get a bass amp. Bass amps will sound fine for Keys and great for guitar and bass too.

Keys just need a really big speaker. so anything with a big speaker will sound fine for keys.

There's a very important difference in amp requirements here.

Modern keyboards have circuits that generate all of the tones and effects internally, so they sound best through an amp and speakers that reproduce that sound accurately. Guitar sound is the combined result of contributions from the guitar, effects pedals, the amp, and the speaker(s). Not the same thing at all. The cruchy distortion that guitar players love would trash the sounds produced by a synthesizer.

Jon Lord of Deep Purple used to play his Hammond B3 organ through Marshall 100 Watt stacks. But that sound was more akin to the way a guitar player uses an amp's distortion to define his tone. I have loaned my old Ampeg VT-22 to a keyboard player, and it worked well for him only because that amp has a lot of clean headroom, and he didn't push it hard. In fact, I have used this amp for vocals a couple of times. Which brings us back to rockonn91's point - keyboards need clean amps, like a PA system. Not suitable for guitar, unless you only use a clean amp setting, and base any distortion on pedals.

Sharing is comendable - good on ya! Having said that, it's your amp, and you play guitar. So get a guitar amp that gives you the sound you want, and continue to share it with your sister if you wish. If she likes the sound she gets from it, good (Jon Lord would approve), but if she wants something more suitable for her keyboard, that's her responsibility.

Go with a guitar amp! You'll never be happy using a keyboard amp for guitar. The amp is part of your overall guitar tone, so get one that's made for a guitar. Your sister is the one that should make do with what's available, and buy her own amp when she can. Spend your money on a good tube amp that will do your awesome skills justice!

Cheers for the advice, everyone. :)

I brought it up with her again and she'll be happy with a new guitar amp and my current amp until she saves up to buy her own gear.